TOPIC: Tradition
SOURCE: I first started making old
family recipes at home with my grandparents.
Now that I am living on my own, away from family, I am able to make
these recipes and share them with my friends here in Arcata.
RELATION: “Modern societies have not
been kind to groups that have maintained or tried to retain a way of life that
is thousands of years old” (RR p. 51).
DESCRIPTION: Although my family recipes may not be thousands of years old, I
still feel it is important to keep them alive for everyone to enjoy. When I was younger, and still today, my
grandparents have enjoyed sharing, teaching, cooking, and eating old family recipes
with my siblings and me. As a young
child, I just thought it was fun to cook and spend time with my
grandparents. We would go up on the
weekends and make food for the family, always with tons of leftovers to bring
home. Just recently, my grandfather
shared with me two family recipes from both of my great-great grandmothers for
Italian meatballs. The first recipe, from my great-great grandmother Mary
Scarpelli, is a traditional meatball with ground beef and various seasonings,
cheese, and herbs. The second, from my
great-great grandmother Rose Esposito includes all of that plus raisins and
pine nuts and are shaped like an egg. A
few days ago I finally had the chance to make both recipes at home, and share
my Italian culture with my roommates.
COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS: When I was young making recipes with my grandparents, I
never really thought much about it; it was just a fun weekend activity. However, now that I am older and living away
from my family, it is nice to be able to have and share the familiar taste of
home. Not only am I learning recipes
that I can continue to pass on to my children as their great-great-great
grandmothers recipes, but I am sharing my culture with my peers of this
generation. As the quote from our Cultural
Anthro textbook above states that modern societies, such as our own, have made
it difficult for very traditional elements of a culture to stay alive. During the late 19th and early 20th
centuries was waves of immigrants from all over (mine from Southern Italy) were
arriving in the United States, there was a great effort to assimilate them to
the “American Culture”. This effort made
it hard for the immigrants to fit into their new country, while keeping their
old alive as well. I am lucky enough
that my relatives have kept these old recipes alive and that I am able to share
them with others today.
It's great that you get to get history of your family through food. It's a way of connecting to our loved ones and family from past times. Tradition is so essential to culture and without tradition we would lose so much of different cultures.
ReplyDeleteReally cool that you have those memories and recipies that you can pass down. Reading about the meatball made me want to come over and have a few:) Your tradition of cooking with family members is deeply treasured. Great job loved this post:)
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to hear that your family has been able to keep your family recipes alive and keep your tradition rich within your family. I believe it is very important for people to continue to eat the food that their culture had eaten. It is always nice to see college students eating home made food that is healthy for you, instead of just eating at the J or going out to eat. It is so easy just to go out to a restaurant or buy boxed foods, but what culture or tradition are you supporting or keeping alive when you do this? The corporate world? The meat ball recipes that you mentioned sound so delicious that I am going to have to try them! Thank you for sharing! Where would our cultures be if we did not keep our traditions alive?
ReplyDeleteI really loved how you spoke from such a personal level. You speaking about your family culture and how much it means to you really drew me in and I just wanted to know more of why Tradition is important.
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