Category Archives: Foodways

The Purple Hooter

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: N/A
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/26/2021
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

“It’s a vodka, a raspberry liqueur and lime juice. It all goes in a single shot. On the night before my parents wedding night, my dad was feeling really sick so he went to the bar and the bartender said that this would cure all his ills. I guess it’s a panacea.”

Background:

The informant is a 19- year-old female from St. Louis, Missouri. However, she now lives in Los Angeles and attends the University of Southern California. She lived in St. Louis Missouri for the first 18 years of her life. It was here where her father first told her the story of the Purple Hooter. He said that it worked and the next day he felt a lot better. The shot is to be taken at any time that someone needs a pick-me-up. The informant herself, not being 21, has never tried the shot.

Context:

The informant is one of my college roommates, who I asked to relate any folk beliefs or legends she had for the purpose of a project.

My Thoughts:

I think that this is a classic example of folk remedy, where an unexpected drink acts as a panacea. It’s a remedy that has little scientific backing but was reported by the informant as successful. I think considering the proximity of the event to a wedding, it could possibly be explained as alcohol helping pre-wedding jitters. However, I also think that a lot of cultures have different beliefs surrounding alcohol as a remedy for illness, particularly alluding to its ability to kill germs.

Italian Grandmother’s Pasta Recipe

Nationality: American
Age: 53
Occupation: N/A
Residence: Chicago, IL
Performance Date: 05/03/2021
Primary Language: English

Main piece

“Onion, Garlic, Tomato, Olive Oil. You dice up the onions finely, mince the garlic. My grandmother didn’t put quantities down. Put some oil olive at the bottom of a pot, put the onions in first and cook until transparent. Then put the garlic in and cook until fragrant. Then add canned Marzano tomatoes. Cook down the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and Italian seasonings. Taste. If it needs more seasoning, put in more seasoning. And then put into a blender and blend to preferred consistency.”

Background: 

Informant: “Even though, my grandmother lived in America, since she was Italian, at any holiday she would always have a pasta with her sauce on it for the holiday dinner.  To this day, I use this simple recipe often when making pasta dinners.”

The recipe can be made at any time. Its not necessarily a holiday meal, despite the informant’s grandma making it on every holiday. The recipe can likely be found online but the informant specifically learned it from her grandmother, who learned it from her mother. The informant grew up living in a split house with her grandmother so often could witness her cooking.

Context:

The informant is my mother. I learned of the recipe over a Facetime call in which I inquired after any folk knowledge she had.

My Thoughts:

This is a fairly simple Italian pasta sauce that has been passed down through a family. I think it shows some different aspects of Italian culture. The first one is the importance of family. This recipe was specifically passed down and taught by females of a specific family line. Also the environment in which the recipe was often cooked, meaning holiday dinners, indicates a highly social family that is close-knit and spends at least holidays commonly together. Another aspect of Italian culture that might be shown is the importance of certain foods, in this case a pasta sauce. Considering it was always made at special events, including all holidays, many of which usually have their own specific cuisine that one is supposed to make, its possible that this meal was seen as a delicacy or important in indicating the celebratory nature of the event in which it was being eaten.

Upset Stomach Remedies

Nationality: American
Age: 53
Occupation: N/A
Residence: Chicago, IL
Performance Date: 05/03/2021
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

“My grandma would tell me to drink prune juice if you are constipated. Or if your dog has stomach issues feed them rice and real chicken instead of dog kibble.”

Background:

“The informant is a 53-year-old woman living in Chicago, IL. She has never tried the prune juice in her adult years so cannot speak to its effectiveness, but does use the dog remedy, which does in fact work. Her grandmother was Italian and either born there and immigrated to the US at a young age or was born in the US soon after her parents immigrated. She remembers any time she had an upset stomach, her grandmother would make her and her sister drink prune juice.

Context:

The informant is my mother. I acquired this information during a Facetime call with her, on which I asked if she had any folk knowledge or beliefs.

My Thoughts:

I think that these folk recipes are classic examples of people using un-official knowledge to cure illnesses. Upon some research of my own on google, it appears that prune juice is now advertised for alleviating constipation. I doubt the knowledge would’ve been as easily accessible in the 1970s. I think that is also is interesting to think about the transition where people might’ve been more inclined to use prune juice as a remedy before now most people might just use a laxative.

Almond and Luck

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Oregon
Performance Date: 04/18/2021
Primary Language: English

Context

The interviewee is one of my housemates and we often engage in conversation about his Danish heritage. This folklore is a food ritual that he practices as part of a family tradition.

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Performance

The following is transcribed from the story told by the interviewee.

“Every Christmas eve we would eat pickled herring and rice pudding. The tradition is that we would have a bowl of rice pudding and at the bottom of one of the bowls there would be an almond. And whoever would get the almond would have good luck the next year. And in order to celebrate this good luck, the person who got the almond would get a marzipan pig. Sometimes if we got too lazy to go to the store to buy the pig, we would just make a different animal out of marzipan. Last year we made a penguin out of marzipan and I remember once we made a spider. It’s just a fun thing that we would do every Christmas eve.”

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Analysis

This is a Danish tradition that serves to celebrate a festival. The ritual happens near the end of the dinner and is meant to bookend the festival by giving a person luck for the coming year. For the interviewee, this custom is very much about having a shared experience with the family, and one that is fun and wholesome. The tradition has clearly developed over the year, the family not just using a marzipan pig but allowing the children in the family to create new and interesting animals such as the spider or penguin. But ultimately, the spirit of the custom remains the same. On a cultural level, this custom helps enforce the end of a year and celebrate new beginnings.

Minced Pork Stew Ng Family Style

Nationality: Singaporean
Age: 56
Occupation: Homemaker
Residence: Singapore
Performance Date: 04/12/2021
Primary Language: English

Context

This is a recipe passed down to my mother from my grandmother. I reached out to my mother for the receipt of Pork Stew. It is a very traditional Chinese dish, specifically within Hokkein families. Hokkein is a dialect spoken by Southeastern parts of China, and in Singapore, it is one of the most common dialects spoken.

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Performance

Ingredients

Dried Chinese Mushroom – 6 medium pieces

(wash ns oak in hot water for ½ hour. Thinly sliced)
Tau Pok – 1 packet

Minced garlic – 2 tablespoon

Chopped onion – 3 tablespoon

Chinese wine (Hua Tiao Qiu) – 1 bottle

(around 375ml)

Chicken stock – 800ml

Rock sugar – 5 small cubes

Dark soy sauce – 4 tablespoon

Light soy sauce – 1 tablespoon

White Pepper Powder

Cooking Instructions

Add a bit of oil, stir fry the garlic lightly, followed by onion

Stir fry until both is translucent (don’t brown it)
Add mince pork and make sure all of the pieces break up nicely, when the pork is cooked, add the mushroom

Add dark and light soy sauce, stir fry a little longer until fragant

Add the rice wine, rock sugar, add chicken stock until it covers above the pork. Around 1 inch. Let is simmer for ½ hour or longer.

Add the tau pork and cooked hard boil egg (optional)
Simmer another ½ hour. If the water evaporates, add more chicken stock.

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Analysis

This was my absolute favorite dish growing up and the first dish I asked my mother for the recipe when I left for college and had to start cooking for myself. It is a comfort dish that reminds me of home. On a personal level, it is a recipe that everyone in my family knows how to make and something that I had eaten growing up, thus it feels incredibly nostalgic. On a cultural level, this dish comes from China but has a Singaporean take on it. Pork stew is often made using large pieces of Pork Belly. However, this recipe using minced pork instead. In Singapore, most of the Chinese population were immigrants that were working to send money back to their families. Thus, they did not have a lot of money. The pork belly was a much more expensive cut of meat and minced pork was much more readily available. This pork stew, while having the taste of the dishes in China, the cut of meat is different and that is what makes it uniquely Singaporean. On a cultural and historical level, it reminds me of what makes Singapore, Singapore. And it reminds me of the hardship that was faced by my grandparents as they worked hard to make Singapore go from a fishing village to one of the busiest and most cosmopolitan cities in the world.