Growing up in the United States, my food background was fairly common in some ways, but in other ways it differed. My dad grilled steak and hamburgers and my mom packed us sandwiches for lunch and made casseroles. When I began to learn how to cook, a casserole was one of the first things I learned how to make. There isn’t anything much more American than casseroles. Other American or Americanized dishes that we commonly eat are hamburgers and fries, pizza, or meatloaf.
Even though a lot of the food we eat in America has foreign influences, those influences have been watered down or altered so that once international dishes have become something traditional to America. An example of this is pizza. My family does similar things to food and recipes, like stir-fries, but there are some foods that have retained their originality. One of these dishes is kima, an Indian curry. The dish came into our family from a family friend who was Indian so the dish is fairly authentic. Another international food that has come to be a cultural symbol in our home is the Mediterranean salad, tabbouleh. It was inspired by a vegetarian restaurant in New York, where my aunt went to college. My mother tried it out on my brother and I, and we really liked it. Now, tabbouleh is a common offering from our family at family gatherings and potlucks. They wouldn’t be the same without tabbouleh.
Another part of my unique food background hit a little closer to home. My mother's side of the family are German Mennonites. Through this group I have access to a culinary heritage unique to a specific people group. These dishes are different from average American fare, and have interesting names, like verenika (cottage cheese dumplings served with ham gravy) and borsht (cabbage soup). Dishes like bierocks (buns filled with meat and cabbage) and german sausage are common additions to our supper table and my grandmother brings zwiebach to almost every family meal. For Christmas my mother makes peppernuts (small anise cookies), but with her own twist. My Mennonite heritage has played a big part in diversifying my food culture.
Although my food culture takes references from vastly different sources, they all combine to create one big beautiful and diverse experience. My childhood and my life now would not be the same without these foods. They have had a vast impact on my life. I am able to retain some of my ethnic roots through food, consider myself to be a true American, and am still able to appreciate foods made by other cultures.
Note: This is an assignment done for my International Communications class at school. Some of it was inspired by an assignment I did for my Language and Food class several semesters back, since they were answering the same questions.
