Connecting Food, Family, and Culture Lynne Christy Anderson |
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Reader Comments |
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Breaking Bread Recipes and Stories from Immigrant Kitchens California
Studies in Food and Culture, 29 Follow me on… |
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FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS How
did you come up with the idea of a book about food and immigration? I grew up in a family that loved
food: my mother and grandmother were
wonderful cooks and we all loved to eat and talk about recipes and our
favorite meals. I ended up cooking in
restaurants for many years after college until I began teaching, first working
with immigrant adults learning English.
I knew I needed to find a way to connect with my students—mothers and
fathers from places like Was
it difficult to find people to interview for the book? Absolutely not; people seemed to
welcome the opportunity to talk about their favorite things to cook and eat
and their memories related to those foods.
Would
you say the people you interviewed are different from the typical American
home cook? People like Xiu Fen from What
about mealtime? Is it different from
that in most American homes? Most of these families eat together
almost every day or, if work schedules don’t allow for this, consciously try
to have a family meal once each week.
Very rarely do the families I interviewed purchase take-out for meals. Everything is cooked at home; recipes are
drawn from the culinary traditions of their childhoods. Were
there any recurring themes you noticed as you interviewed more and more
people? A sense of deep appreciation for the
opportunity to be here but also a profound sense of nostalgia for what they
left behind and the way that food tempers this, allowing them to hold onto
cherished memories while forging ahead. And
what exactly did they leave behind? Nearly everyone I interviewed
lamented the lack of time here, the constant rush in What
are their hopes for the That they can forge a new life here
and find opportunities for themselves, their children, and
grandchildren. But they also want to
hold onto certain aspects of the past, to remember what was always important
to them. They do this through food, by
continuing to attend to the rituals relating to eating: the foraging, shopping, cooking, and
finally, gathering around a table. What
do you hope readers take from Breaking Bread?
A desire to cook and eat together, to
break bread with family and friends over a relaxed meal more often. After interviewing people for the book,
I’ve thought more about trying to slow down, to spend more time with family
and friends. Fausta from I also hope the stories reveal
something the reader may not have known about the immigrant experience. I always sensed there was a lot of sadness
when my own great-grandmother immigrated from |
Ř FAQs GLIMPSE INSIDE by
Corby Kummer SCOOPING THE
MEMORIES: Dmitra’s Lebanese Stuffed
Grape Leaves, Hommus, Tabouleh, and Pita IT’S LIKE A
CONTINUUM Nezi’s Cape Verdean Cachupa MAN IN THE KITCHEN: Zady’s Rice
and Lili’s Kedjenou and Aloko from Cote d’Ivoire |
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Copyright: Lynne
Christy Anderson 2010 Puddingstone
Design |
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