Category Archives: Foodways

Mardi Gras Cake

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Lewiston, Maine
Performance Date: 5/1/22
Primary Language: English
Language: N/A

CONTEXT: 

E is a junior at Bates University where she skies for their cross country team. She grew up with me in Sun Valley, Idaho.

TEXT: 

Me: “How does your family celebrate Mardi Gras?”

E: “Well there is this figurine, a little, small plastic, baby. 

They bake it into a cake

And when the figurine—or—when you’re cutting the cake, 

whoever gets the baby is supposed to pay for the cake next year.”

Me: “Did you ever get the baby and pay for the cake?” 

E: “No. They would just always tell me that I had to buy the cake next year—I was about 10 years old when I got the baby, 

but it was a very exciting moment to get the baby and I would keep it forever and ever.”

Me: “What does the tradition mean?”

E: “It’s from a biblical story. 

The three kings who brings gifts to Baby Jesus 

The baby represents Jesus

the cake was always the colors of Mardi Gras—

Purple, Yellow and green.”

ANALYSIS:

Receiving the baby (who represents Jesus) in your slice of cake, symbolizes luck and prosperity. In E’s family, the person who gets the baby has to pay for next year’s cake, however, traditionally receiving the baby means that the finder become the ‘king’ or ‘queen’ of the evening.

To read more about these cakes, and a different variation on the story you can click this link:

https://www.southernliving.com/holidays-occasions/mardi-gras/king-cake-meaning

Pineapple, Ungratefulness, and Pain

Main Piece: 

It’s this folklore or like this tale my mom used to tell me about how this poor family. The mom had like this child and she did like a lot of work to try to make sure her kid was happy. But the child was always like disrespectful, and like unappreciative of the mother’s hard work. And she kept asking for pineapples and like kept asking like I want pineapples. Like why don’t you ever feed me pineapples? All you feed me is like plain plain food. We never get like any good pineapples, the neighbors do. And so it was it like a fairy or like some celestial Spirit came down and was like, Hey, kid, do you want a pineapple? You keep fucking asking for like, goddamn pineapple. Maybe if you helped your mom out with like the work you got some pineapples. She’s like I shouldn’t have to and he’s like, You know what? I’ll give you pineapples. You can have all the pineapples you want. The only condition is you have to eat it all in one sitting. And so the kid ate a shit ton of pineapples. And because it’s a super acidic fruit, it burned through her tongue. And so it was just like, kind of like a scary little folk tale of like, how you should be appreciative of your, you know, elders and parents. 

Informant’s relationship to the piece: 

“This was like a common tale that like both my mom and dad used to tell me, and I was like, ‘Can I have McDonald’s’, and they’re like, ‘No’. And it’s yeah, a little manipulative. But, I mean, it is true. Like our parents do so much for us. And sometimes we forget how much they do for us. Um and they’re all a little cryptic in cursed ways. But they have sacrificed a lot for us and sometimes by not acknowledging that we end up harming ourselves. Like the little girl who didn’t help her mom and just wanted pineapples and burned her tongue. 

Context: 

The informant is one of my roommates, a 21-year-old Vietnamese American college student at the University of Southern California. This performance was collected in our living room with one of our other roommates as we were talking about our family and the stories we grew up with. 

Analysis:

Me and my informant are both Asian, and we both grew up with a lot of stories that were supposed to scare us into being good, but this story specifically focuses on appreciating what you’ve been given, and as my informant mentioned, she was told this story when she would ask for fast food, and in addition to being told no, she would also be told this story. This story also imparts the cultural values of respecting your elders and not asking for too much. I think these stories are an easier way to convey these values than just being told that by parents because there’s an element of fear and consequence of major physical harm, which most parents would never threaten their children with. Although, I will say when I was looking into this story to annotate it, I couldn’t find any version of it, but I did find one about a girl who was turned into a pineapple that follows the first half of the story my roommate told me. So who knows, maybe this story was a way for my informants parents specifically to scare her.

For the closely related pineapple story that’s found both in Vietnam and the Philippines see: https://saigoneer.com/saigon-food-culture/11645-a-food-folktale-the-savage-clapback-that-turned-a-girl-into-a-pineapple

Rakhi

Main Piece: 

Informant: Oh, during ​​Rakhi, so Rakhi, when you the sisters in the family will tie a string like if you can, you can see them on my arm. (gestures to his wrist where he’s wearing strings). Of course that’s not going to be known but like you can see them on my arm. You tie them around the brothers. And the point of it is for the brothers to say I will protect you no matter what like this. I do it with my sister as well as my cousins every single year because they’re near and dear to me and I want to show that I will protect them through whatever happens to them. So every single year we do that I give them money as well. And then on top of that, and then they give me a specific treat that I prefer the most. So for my uncle and myself we both like this Indian treat called Jalebi it is-all Indians treat like desserts and everything are really sweet in general, but this one’s like- It’s like fried and then dipped in syrup. It is the sweetest thing you can get. But it is it’s so good. It’s amazing and that’s what I tell them to get me every single year. It’s my favorite. 

Context: 

My informant is a 21-year-old Indian American gerontology major at USC, this folklore was told to both me and his girlfriend (my roommate) in my living room. 

Background: 

He said that this is one his favorite celebrations because he gets to renew his commitment to his female relatives while also getting one of his favorite desserts. 

Analysis: 

It almost sounds like siblings are bartering for protection in this ritual, but my informant wears the proof of his commitment to his female relatives and is reminded of his promise every day. There’s visible proof of his relationship with his family and this ritual is a way to celebrate it. 

A Mouthful of Sugar


Main Piece:

Informant: So whenever like there’s like an exam or like something big that we have to do. You take a like, a teaspoon or a spoon of sugar. Put it in your-right hand? Yeah, right hand and then you… Sorry. And then you just you take it like you….

Me: You ingest the sugar straight? 

Informant: Yeah, just sugar straight up. It just supposed to be for good luck. You do it every single time I’ve done it. Ever since I was in like high school. And my mom was just like, hey, do this. And it’s like, good luck for like to be prosperous. That’s all you learn. Like I think Hindus do it a lot. My mom again taught to me and I think it’s like something big.

Context: 

My informant is a 21-year-old Indian American gerontology major at USC, this folklore was told to both me and his girlfriend (my roommate) in my living room. 

Background: 

My informant learned this from his mother and he still does it before every test or interview for good luck. 

Analysis. 

When he was telling me this, I kept thinking of the saying “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down”. I think sugar because for such a long time it was so hard to get, it becomes something that is saved for special occasions, so using it for important exams it a way to use some of that luck. I know in kitchen magic you’re supposed to add sugar to sweeten the spell, so it’s cool to see how sugar represents luck and good in multiple cultures. 

Eat Your Crusts

Main Piece:

Collector: “So tell me about this food-related hair on your chest belief?”

Informant: “So my grandfather would always tell me stories about certain foods and why I should eat them. One, in particular, was the crusts on my bread. I never particularly cared for them, but he insisted that I eat all of them so that I could grow up big and strong. My grandpa would always tell ‘Eat your crusts, it will put hair on your chest!’. When I got a little older, I asked him about this and he told me that he had learned this from his grandfather when he was little, or my great-great-grandfather. He believed that eating bread crusts was a way to grow strong and manly, so he insisted that I eat all of them every time I was at my grandparents’ house.”

Background:

The informant learned this tradition from his grandfather and is something he grew up believing until he was in his twenties. His grandparents were born in France and immigrated to Montreal Canada when they were kids. They later moved to the United States in Vermont near the Canadian border. The informant explained that this was a widely held belief among all of his extended family on his mother’s side of his family and the main memory of tradition among his grandparents.

Interpretation:

This one is unique. In the present day, it does not make much sense for someone to think that eating crusts of bread would make someone grow hair on their chest. However, I feel like this may have roots in an older time of society. As a passive bearer of this lore, it makes me think about a time when masculinity was at the forefront of our society, and therefore being more masculine was something that everyone sought. So, from a behavioral perspective, it makes sense that lore from long ago would be used to influence a child to do certain things so that they could achieve the ‘positive’ outcome of being more masculine. As it relates to the bread crusts in this folklore, I feel like maybe it has roots in a time when food was scarcer and it was a way for families to not waste food by ensuring that their children ate all of their meals.