Category Archives: Foodways

A New Year’s Salad

Nationality: Russian/Ukrainian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4-1-18
Primary Language: Russian
Language: English

Nationality: Russian/Ukrainian
Primary Language: Russian
Other language(s):  English
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4-1-18

 

 

What it is: Traditional Salad

“On new year’s eve, Russians traditionally put this salad on the table including potato, bologna or meat, egg, pickles, cucumber, boiled carrot, onion, mayonnaise (Russian) (sour cream can be replaced), canned peas, and salt. Always has to be there for New Year’s Eve, especially when hosting a New Year’s Eve party. I have been told this and it is a common belief among Russins: It is said that if you get drunk enough on New Year’s Eve one person (usually a man) will get drunk enough and pass out in the salad and its good luck for that person and everyone for a year.”

Why they know it:  She is Russian/Ukrainian and has eaten this dish many times.

When is it eaten: New Year’s Eve

Where did it come from: Russia/Ukraine

Why its eaten: This is a traditional dish and is often thought to give good luck to the person (and people at the party) if someone gets drunk enough and passes out in the salad.

How they know it and what it means: Valery has eaten the dish every New Year’s Eve and has seen her grandmother make it many times. Not only is it a traditional Russian/Ukrainian dish but this dish has also become part of her family’s traditions.

Thoughts: Through my investigations I have found that there is always a traditional dish, perhaps not a salad, but un every culture and every family. While I cannot relate to this specific dish, nor do I know what it tasks like, I can relate to the experience, the feelings you get when you make the dish and eat it with the ones you care about. This tradition definitely seems like fun, what’s better than good luck for everyone?

Galumpkies

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Occupation: n/a
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4-1-18
Primary Language: English
Language: French

Nationality: American

Primary Language: English

Other language(s):  French

Age: 52

Occupation: n/a

Residence: California

Performance Date: 4-1-15

 

What it is: Galumpkies

“Galumpkies are a traditional Russian/Ukranian dish where you boil cabbage and then peel the leaves a apart. Then you pan fry ground beef, rice, onions, red and green peppers (chopped super finely) salt and pepper, and you then put a dollop of the mixture in the middle of the cabbage leaf and you seal the leaf (kinda like a dumpling). Put in a 9 x 13 pan. And then coat the top in tomato sauce and cook in the oven. Intensive labor. My great aunt would smell the meat and the rice to see if it was flavored correctly. There were no measurements. Done by smell.”

Why they know it:  My mother’s Great Aunt Mary would make this dish on special occasions and remembers watching her make it. The recipe is quite simple and there are no measurements, so the recipe is not typically written down, it’s shared in person.

When is it made: This dish takes a long time to make and is thus made on special occasions. It is not made in a specific season or for a specific event, it just is not made for a weekly dinner. My mother says it typically made around the holidays.

Where did it come from: Ukraine/Russia

Why its done: Special events require special dishes. It is made because everyone tends to enjoy it and they are easy to share, its just the process that takes a while…and a good sense of smell.

How they know it and what it means: Mary was raised in a family were this was a traditional dish and was made on the special events. Thus, it was passed down from her mother and so on and so forth.

Thoughts: I have personally never tried this dish and don’t think I would like it as I am not very fond of cabbage but my mother tells me it is delicious and beautiful. I am not very adventurous when it comes the food I eat, and I tend to stay away from red meat; however, with my prior knowledge of Russian dishes and dishes in my family I can imagine that this dish would smell amazing.

The occasional Vegetarian

Nationality: American, Indian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4-20-18
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Nationality: American, Indian

Primary Language: English

Other language(s):  Spanish

Age: 20

Occupation: Student

Residence: California

Performance Date: 4-20-18

What it is: Tamal traditions

“Tamal is a Indian religion. Here are two Tamal traditions. In the tamal religion it is customary to shave the babies head before christening. Based on the tamal religion, cows are sacred and traditionally, some families select on day of the week to honor the cow and are vegetarian on that day. In my family we were vegetarian on Mondays.”

Why they know it:  As a child, Navina was super curious, and would ask her parents about their traditions.

When is it said: There isn’t a specific time in which this is said. It comes up more when asked about it.

Where did it come from: India

Thoughts: To me, this is one of the most unusual folklore I have collected. I was raised in a semi-vegetarian household; however, designating a specific day to be vegetarian is a new thought for me. None-the-less, I can respect that this is a weekly tradition for her family because I have a tradition similar in mine. These traditions help shape the person into who they are and what they do in life and in the world. It provides them with values they can hold onto.

Life Cycle/Celebration

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: New Jersey
Performance Date: 4/10/18
Primary Language: English

I asked one of my good friends from school if he had any celebrations in his family that he was proud of and wanted to share. What he told me was very interesting and related to my family as well.

 

Jo said that, “My great grandpa was a German exile, and traveled to the east coast near New York and New Jersey area. That is where he primarily grew up. When he got older, he wanted to open a restaurant so he opened a steak house near where he grew up. His signature dish was the T-bone steak, and whenever he would eat it, he would grab the T-bone by the top of the bone and eat it with his hands, it was his way of celebrating the meal and celebrating life. He passed away a while back, but my whole extended family and I always go to eat at the steakhouse which is still there once a year. What we will do is order one T-bone, and pass it down the table for everyone to take a bite from it while holding the bone in their hands, it is our tradition of celebrating my great grandpa as well as celebrating being together in that moment at a family owned restaurant.”

 

Background Info: Jo’s family is from the New Jersey area, but his great grandpa is from Germany so he has ties to parts of the country. His family still owns the steak house and he still partakes in this tradition/celebration every year.

 

Context: Jo told me about this fascinating family celebration during lunch between classes.

 

Analysis: This was one of my favorite collections from my 20 that I gathered. I think that the celebration is cool to pass on, but I was very fascinated by the bigger meaning of the behavioral action of eating the T-bone with your hand, the meaning of celebrating life and freedom as done by the care free action of eating with your hands.

Řízek

Nationality: Czech
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: N/A
Performance Date: 4/13/18
Primary Language: Czech
Language: English, Spanish, French

Interviewer: You said you had a family recipe?

Informant: So you take a piece of meat, usually it would be turkey or pork, but it could be whatever honestly. A lot of people use chicken. You first flatten it out by hitting it, so you basically make it into a flat piece of meat. Then, you have three key steps.

First, You have flour. You put the meat into the flour and cover it all with flour. Then, there’s egg, beaten, you cover the whole thing in the beaten egg. The final step, you cover the whole thing in breadcrumbs, that you would traditionally make yourself from old leftover bread. Then, you fry the whole thing, flip it in the middle of the frying process.

Interviewer: Then serve?

Informant: Yeah, then serve. Usually you would serve it with mashed potato and a pickle.

Interviewer: You said your family modified the recipe a bit?

Informant: Every family does it a little different. What changes usually is the type of meat people use, whether or not they add other stuff to the mix. Maybe herbs or something, each family uses different things. Furthermore, you could not use meat at all. A lot of people just use different vegetables and make this recipe with them, which strays further away from the original recipe but, it’s still a variation that’s common. Personally, me and my family use turkey. We think it gets the most tender during the frying. Also, we add a few small pieces of rosemary into the batter , not a lot, but enough for it to be noticed.

Context: My informant is a nineteen year old Czech national attending school in the United States. He’s lived in Prague for most of his life, and Czech is his first language. The interview was conducted face-to-face in a college dorm room.

Background: My informant was taught how to make Řízek by his grandmother while back home in Prague. He likes Řízek because Czech cuisine is a fusion of German, Austrian, and Slavic cuisines, and as a result doesn’t have many uniquely Czech dishes. My informant told me that, because of this, Řízek is considered a sort of “national dish” in the Czech Republic, and is thus close to his heart. My informant himself has made it many times, and considers Řízek one of his favorite dishes.

Analysis: Usually, recipes don’t strike one as the material for folklore, but Řízek is an excellent example of the malleability and word-to-mouth nature of cuisine. The dish apparently had origins stemming from Italian “chicken parmesan”, but used flour and breadcrumbs to make up for a lack of flour. From there, ingenuity led to it further being changed, to the degree that the meat, herbs, and even recipe of the batter itself are subject to interpretation. Řízek is a dish of variation, everyone makes it differently. I also found it interesting that the dish was considered uniquely Czech. Considering that the Czech Republic is still a young country, it appears to be a valuable source of national pride. One might note the use of folklore in this instance to reinforce a nationalistic attitude.