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Different foods define different cultures. In Mexico we have a few. My family is big on tamales. Making them on thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Tamales indicate unity, in my family; it means family gathering, and new memories. For as long as I can remember, my grandma would make tamales, it signifies family.
Christmas of 2005 will forever be my favorite memory. 2005 was the year my grandma came to visit us. The reason she did was because of her husband, Bartolo, was getting violent with her. Bartolo was never involved as a parent. Leaving my grandma, Rachel, to take care of eight children. She did an amazing job though. Three woman, including my mom, and five men, three of which are now lawyers. Bartolo was and probably still is an alcoholic,
In her article, “Sweet, Sour, and Resentful,” Firoozeh Dumas directs us through on how her mom readies a feast. She gives us detailed description on how her mother cooks the food for the guests by starting out grocery shopping until the part that the food is ready to be served. She writes about how because of their Iranian traditions they have to prepare a Persian feast for their newcomer friends and family, which brought joy to everyone, but her mother. Yet, we can see that she is trying to make sense to it all, every weekend they have guests over since the Iran’s Revolution started. Vitally, traditions stay great just when they convey satisfaction to the individuals celebrating those traditions. Also, the food that we choose tends to be based upon our culture, economic and social aspects. I agree with her even though traditions within various cultures are very different, but they all are supposed to do one thing that is bring everyone closer to each other, and bring happiness. However, that’s not always the case, especially in this article.
What are some of the native foods, and/or dishes that are special from their homeland?
I was told from a young age the easiest way to get in touch with your cultural heritage is through food. Many good memories and cultural traditions are passed down via food. Food is a way of connecting people to each other, bringing up good memories from the past. Food has a way of healing old wounds and making people happier. You have a sense of pride knowing you are connected to your culture through the use of food. However there are times when you question your cultural food choices, particularly if you haven’t grown up on certain dishes.
Coming from a mexican culture, I am blessed to have a rich variety of traditional delicious home made recipes. Most people my age always salivate to the idea of their grandmothers making that amazing dinner. Mostly all americans can agree on the superb taste of the mexican food, and one of my favorites and most traditional of them all is the famous “Mole sauce”. It is made on special occasions such as birthdays, christmas, new years, and teenagers first communion at the church. This complex dark red spicy/sweet sauce has a legend behind its creation. It is believed in the mexican culture that it was made for the first time at the Convent of Santa Rosa in Puebla early in the colonial period. The convent nuns went into panic one day as they found out the archbishop was paying them a visit and they had nothing to prepare for him due to lack of wealth. The nuns prayed and put together the scraps of ingredients that they had left including chilli peppers, day old bread, nuts, some chocolate and spices. After they killed a turkey, cooked it and served it with the sauce on top, the archbishop fell in love with the dish. They asked the nuns about the dish and they responded truthfully with “I made a Mole” which is the anctient word for mix in spanish. There is also a few variations of this sauce within the mexican community, but the one I will be instructing you how to make is the traditional recipe that my grandmother learned from her grandmother; Mole poblano.
The preparation and flavor of food in Mexico can vary significantly based on the region. The basis of most cuisine is rice, beans, meats, and vegetables served with either flour or corn tortillas. Dining is considered a time for socialization with varying mealtimes that can begin late into the evening. Depending on the people, their socioeconomic status can influence the availability and nutritional value of food in certain areas of Mexico. Due to geographical and climate limitations the Polish food choices are limited to potatoes, vegetables, meats and dairy products. All of which may be changed depending the growing season that can have a significant impact of food availability. The Polish American diet is frequently high in carbohydrates, sodium, and saturated fat (Purnell & Paulanka, 2008). This type of food preparation should be taken into consideration when interacting with individuals from this culture. The influence of the catholic religion impacts both the Mexican and Polish cultures...
The children have many activities, including the decoration of pan de muerto. Kids can also try throwing beanbags into a skeleton's mouth, making cascarones (confetti-filled eggshell wands), or creating clay whistles, paper flowers, pinatas or masks. Mexico and other Central American countries to include visits to graveyards, where families decorate the sites of deceased loved ones. I have researched the traditional foods served, or offered during this holiday. During el Dia de los Muertos the following foods are prepared: pan de los muertos which is bread of the dead (there are over 200 different kinds of breads), mole which is a thick sauce made from a variety of ingredients including chilis, sesame seeds, herbs, spices, chocolate/fruit, atole which is an ancient drink made from corn meal and water flavored with various fruits, alfenique which is a special confection used to fashion skulls, fruits and other figures.
Food is very important in people's culture. Everyone loves food, but not everyone enjoys eating the same food. For example, gumbo is an extremely common dish in Louisiana. People in Northern states might not know what gumbo is or they might cook it different. In Louisiana, we put seafood in our gumbo and some people even add sausage. We also like to make it spicy. Another food we love in the South is crawfish. We take a big pot, and add water with crawfish boil seasoning to make it spicy. Some people put corn and potatoes in there with the crawfish. Then, after it's done, you pour the crawfish on a table and everyone eats. Those are the two most known foods that people love in Louisiana.
Thanksgiving is a holiday in the United States, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November every year. Although the way holidays are celebrated over time, thanksgiving has always been a holiday feast. However, Thanksgiving is more than just eating food together with your family. For instance, some families do charity work for the poor people and create a Thanksgiving dinner for them, other family’s watch sport in addition to the food that they eat together. One part that is common at almost every Thanksgiving dinner is the type of food that is served. Families in the United States have celebrated Thanksgiving for hundreds of years, but the way it is celebrated has slightly changed from the first Thanksgiving. To be able to explain
Many people enjoy their burritos, tacos, dancing to salsa, which originates from the Mexican culture. The Voice of Mexico Magazine, introduces the subject on “Pan de Dulce”, or how everyone calls it Sweet bread, which was brought along by Hispanics in the colonial period. It began in pastries in France served with coffee and then sold piece by piece. There are many that are are identifiable, for example a sweet kiss would be two rolled breads with jam in the middle. Over the years, it became a competition because you would have fresh authentic sweet breads, replaced by store made or ordered breads. The most widely tradition would the day of the Three Wise Men/Kings, in which sweet bread is decorated with dried fruit and gel, representing the voyage to see Baby Jesus. Inside the bread would be an artificial Baby Jesus, and whoever gets the piece with it, has to make tamales for the following
It is what makes them who they are. Food is part of their traditions. In everything they do it will always feature food. The older women are always the proud cooks who love to cook, and do not mind cooking. Good home meals are the answers to any and every thing in these families. Food solves all kinds of problems as long as it is always good food.
The rich warm smells of Mexican spices permeate our house during every season. Family and our Mexican culture is an issue that is important to my family and me. I was born and raised in the United States; however I am still deeply rooted in my Mexican culture.
Generalizing broadly, the holiday's activities consist of families (1) welcoming their dead back into their homes, and (2) visiting the graves of their close kin. At the cemetery, family members engage in sprucing up the gravesite, decorating it with flowers, setting out and enjoying a picnic, and interacting socially with other family and community members who gather there. In both cases, celebrants believe that the souls of the dead return and are all around them. Families remember the departed by telling stories about them. The meals prepared for these picnics are sumptuous, usually featuring meat dishes in spicy sauces, chocolate beverages, cookies, sugary confections in a variety of animal or skull shapes, and a special egg-batter bread ("pan de muerto," or bread of the dead). Gravesites and family altars are profusely decorated with flowers (primarily large, bright flowers such as marigolds and chrysanthemums), and adorned with religious amulets and with offerings of food, cigarettes and alcoholic beverages.
On a cold winter day, my family was getting ready to meet at my grandma’s house like we had done our whole lives. Christmas was one of the most important days of the year for the Robertson’s. Each aunt made entrées and deserts along with the delicious food that my grandma made each year. Food and family were the two main reasons everyone loved Christmas. On the way to Triune where my family lives, my mother started to cry which I thought was odd for
As previously mentioned, food was traditionally considered as a mere means of subsistence, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries. The early history of food involved its use to define shared identities and reflected religious and group customs. Furthermore, food was filled with psychological, cultural, religious, and emotional significance. During this period, a unique court tradition of cuisine and sophisticated table manners emerged to distinguish the social elite from the ordinary people. However, during the 19th century, the history of food slightly changed as it became a defining symbol of national identity. This period was characterized by the association of several dishes to particular countries and cultures (Mintz, par 1). For instance, American hamburger and tomato-based Italian spaghetti are cultural foods that were in...
My most memorable Christmas is one from my past. I was about six years old. I clearly remember sitting in class on the last day of school before Christmas vacation anticipating the bell to ring and signify that the classes were finally over. As the bell rang, I ran out of that class, and once I got home I was ready in an instant to leave for my grandmother’s where I would spend my holidays. It was a two hour drive to my grandmother’s house. I was very impatient throughout the entire drive. I couldn’t wait to see my grandma, my cousin, and my aunts. To make things better, however, snow started to fall filling me with hopes of a snowball fight the next day.