Personal Narrative: My Food Heritage As Second-Hand Heritage

I am irish, german, polish, and american. I don't know much about my heritage all I know it that my grandpa on my mom's side is german while my nana on that side is irish. While on my dad's side i'm Polish and that's all i really know about that part of it. I've had german and irish food and very little culture when i was five to seven. I don't remember much about the culture but the food is great i don't know the names of the dishes but i know that they're good.

Tradition has been said to mirror a way of life. Observation has concluded that participants in tradition “actively construct as well as reflect culture and community” (Sacks 275). For most people in the 21st century, tradition only reveals itself during special times or certain seasons. For others it is simply a way of life. The foodways of Mexicans and Native Americans are of particular interest in this study because of the food that grew from necessity and is maintained as sacred or reserved for only special occasions. The tamale is one such food. Significantly changed and altered throughout history it has remained a

For most of my life growing up, I was extremely culturally unaware of even my own heritage. In recent years however, my life experiences have instructed me to gain a fonder appreciation of my own family’s culture and others around it. Specifically, the acknowledgement of my own cultural background and time spent as an emergency medical technician in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) have given me unique viewpoints to appreciate human culture on a grander scale.

Regarding my family heritage, a large part of my food identity is Polish food. My great grandparents on my dad’s side immigrated from Poland in the early 1900s. When they came to the United States, they

  My immediate family built the basis for my knowledge of food with the atmosphere they created by gathering different descendants of my family to indulge on the cuisine of our cultural

My grandmother Lynne Murphy is who I chose to interview for my heritage project. This summer at a family birthday party I was speaking short phrases in Spanish while joking around with my dad. My grandmother, sitting beside us, joined in the conversation and starting speaking fluent Spanish. I had no idea she could speak Spanish, so I asked her, “How can you speak Spanish?” Before answering my question she laughed. She went on to tell me that she lived in South America for many years as a teenager. I didn’t have the chance to learn anymore about her childhood until this project was assigned. When I learned we were to focus on a family member’s experience growing up, I immediately thought about my grandmother and the interesting life she seemed

David Rosengarten writes articles about food, wine, travel, and restaurants for multiple publications. In his article “We Are What We Eat: We Are a Nation of Immigrants!” Rosengarten informs readers about the history of what American food is and how it was conceived. Several influences have affected the way cuisine has developed in the United States. Native Americans, slaves from Africa, and Chinese and Italian immigrants have contributed to the development of foods that are commonly eaten in America today.

My earliest memory of food is lentils and rice cooked in a pressure cooker. Lentils were cooked at least three days a week. Other days we had different vegetable curries, curd and more rice. This was what I took to school as my lunch every day. As I grew older and started caring more about my social life and people around me, I started noticing what my classmates brought for lunch from their homes. I started understanding how food reflected different cultures and communities. One day, in our

First and foremost, there are many different types of food around the world that were discovered and founded by many distinct cultures. The food I eat, some may eat differently. For instance, not many people know what redneck soup is. When they see it, they may think that what’s in it is weird.But to me it’s a red soup with vegetables and meat that we cook all the time. One of the other biggest foods I like to eat in our family is my great grandmother’s famous chilli. You can’t buy it in stores, and if you don’t wing it just right, it’s not the same. There are so many recipes that have been passed down in my family, both meals and desserts, and everyone loves the famous chocolate pie. This recipe has been passed down for a good while now, and when you taste it,it tastes nothing like store bought chocolate pies. Many people in Louisiana love to eat gumbo, and they cook it in many different ways. In my family, not everyone cooks their gumbo the same, but my personal favorite is my dad’s. He usually never measures any of the ingredients exactly, he just

I am a true country southern bell from Georgia with roots that goes back to the Cherokee tribe. I am the daughter of Beanbug and Mann although they have real names where we are from we do not use them. Beanbug started off working at the chicken house but after gutting chicken for a couple of years she decided to get a degree. This is how I came to be. I come from a more rural area modern time and where I did not have to farm like my grandparents. I know who I am. I am come from a family that would cook Sunday dinner which include fried chicken, mac and cheese, collard greens, cornbread and many more food that sooth the soul. I am a special person that believed to see spirts at night that kept me up. One night I went to my grandmother bed and

The Mexican culture is typically characterized for being colorful and flamboyant, and I believe that Mexican food allows us to find a way back to our roots. I was reminded of the vital role food plays into every culture after analyzing “The Secret Latina” by Veronica Chambers. Chambers states “Because of my mother, we ate Panamanian food, listened to salsa and heard Spanish at home.” (Chambers pg 1) Just like Chambers I to would come home to a Spanish-speaking mother who cooked spicy Mexican food and played Mexican folk music. I believe that like, in Chambers case my mother also ensured that my Latin identity remain intact despite Americanization.

While debating the food cultures I wanted to compare for this project, I reflected on my childhood and the various types of food and how they were prepared. The personal food culture that I selected is southern food, also known as “Soul Food” in the South. I chose this specific culture of food because I can make a connection to it. I grew up in a small town in Mississippi and most Sundays, my family would drive to my grandmother’s house. Our meals consisted of foods such as like fried chicken, country fried steak, cornbread, black eyes peas, butter beans, and mashed potatoes. An important tradition growing up in my family was fellowship and sharing our meals together. We also have a family reunion each year. These traditions influenced my

Food and cultural appropriation: a topic that has sparked many controversies in recent years. Food and cultural appropriation is the act of taking a part of another culture other than your own and using it for your own profit. Two recent articles discuss this issue and provide different insight to how we should be handling the problem regarding food appropriation. Food editor of Uproxx.com, Steve Bramucci, with the help of three other food writers discuss a main controversy in the food world and how common food appropriation is in the article "Examining The 'Kooks Burrito' Uproar & The Fight Over Food Appropriation." A popular Portland business, Kooks Burritos, started talk about food appropriation when the owners appeared to discredit the

Globalization has played a pivotal role in determining the food that we consume on a daily basis. The typical American meal has drastically changed over the years as a result of new foods being introduced through globalization. Changes over time often go unnoticed, considering we usually do not take the time to analyze the changes that have taken place. After conducting an interview with my parents, however, I was able to see how much the eating habits in our daily lives have changed over the years. With a whole new array of foods becoming available to us through globalization, the food we eat is different than what it was years ago. At the same time, however, some foods have remained part of my family’s eating habits for many years. The prevalence of certain foods is linked to the different aspects of my life that were the same in my grandparents’ and parents’ lives too, like religion and socio-economic class.

Although I m not Japanese, I have lived in Japan for several years. I have to admit, I fell in love with Japanese cuisine. The taste and the aroma fascinates me and I can not help going back to Japanese restaurants every now and then. More than anything, I love rice!