Category Archives: Foodways

The Origin of the Řízek

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

Interviewer: So you just gave me a recipe for… I’m not going to try and pronounce it. You said you also have a story about its origin?

Informant: Yeah, during some battle of the Austrian-Hungarian army in Italy, the general that led his battalion there from the army saw the locals making some sort of food where they would take a piece of meat and cover it in parmesan and fry it. He thought, “well how could I recreate this for our emperor when we don’t have parmesan back home?” So, when he got back from the war, he had the chef at the royal palace recreate the recipe and that’s how this recipe came about

Interviewer: I assume the general was Czech?

Informant: Yeah, yeah.

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 probably learned this story from his grandmother. He remembers it because Řízek is a traditional food that every Czech person knows how to make. He places great importance on this story because it disputes the Austrian and Hungarian claims to Řízek, a food widely considered by the Czech population as their national dish.

Analysis: I personally find this legend very believable. Řízek the food closely resembles chicken parmesan from Italy, and the story itself is quite believable from a historical sense. The Austro-Hungarian army was in Italy, and a general would conceivably had seen the traditional Italian dish prepared. From a more objective perspective, this story legend is also interesting because, despite being a Czech legend, it refers to a time period before the Czech people had an actual sovereign nation, but is still used to reinforce the claims of the Czech people on Řízek.

Matzah Ball Soup

Nationality: American
Age: 58
Occupation: Psychiatric RN
Residence: NYC, USA
Performance Date: 4/5/18
Primary Language: English

“First I bake the chicken and then cut the chicken off the bones, into cubes. I changed this part of the recipe from what my mom did. Grandma always puts the whole chicken in the soup but I never ate the chicken meat because it was always dry that way. Add whole Potato, yellow onion, turnip, parsnip, a handful of parsley, 1 leek, peppercorns, salt and pepper to taste. Put the chicken aside and put the bones in the pot with broth, bouillon cube, and water and veggies. Cook 2-3 hours. Strain out the peppercorns and all the veggies, add carrots and celery during the last 15 minutes of cooking and then add the chicken later.

As Jewish tradition, having Matzoth ball soup in the fridge is a staple. If it wasn’t in the fridge, it was frozen and ready to be defrosted. This soup is traditionally served during the Jewish holiday of Passover; a time that commemorates the liberation of Israelites from Egyptian slavery, which lasts eight days. During this time, individuals are not supposed to eat bread; they primarily consume various meals and snacks are made with matzah. While chicken soup can be made at any point in the year, adding matzah balls to the soup makes is a classic Passover tradition. There are many different variations and there is not a “right” way to make this recipe or how the soup should taste, however, it is very typical for people to say things like “my Mom’s soup is the best ever” and have joking argument about it.

It is common for recipes to be passed down through generations of families, especially when they are related to rituals and ceremonies. I personally have grown up cooking with my mother and from a young age I knew this recipe by heart. She told me that her mother taught her the recipe, and made modifications to it which she then taught me

 

Latkes

Nationality: Jewish-American
Age: 15
Occupation: Student
Residence: Seattle, WA
Performance Date: 29 Mar 2018
Primary Language: English

COLLECTOR: “Do you know how to make latkes?”
INFORMANT: “I mean, it’s like really easy.”
C: “So, how do you do it?”
I: “You just take a bunch of potatoes and an onion—or three or four if you’re my dad—and put them through the spinny grater thing in a Cuisinart. And then you can wring it out with a towel, and mix it with flour, and salt, and an egg, and I think sometimes baking powder. And then make… patties… and you fry them. In like a bit of oil—not too much.”
C: “How long do you cook them for?”
I: “Just, like don’t burn them. I mean, I like mine kinda crispy. And raw potato is disgusting. Don’t try it.”
C: “And do you just eat them plain?”
I: “Yes… I do. Remember to put them on a paper towel to soak up the oil, first. And most people like applesauce or sour cream or other weird stuff on them, but why?… I’m a potato purist.”

I decided it would be interesting to see if I could collect religious folklore from someone not particularly religious, so this recipe comes from teenaged girl, who is ethnically Jewish, but neither practicing nor bat mitzvahed. I simply asked her to explain different components of how she celebrates Chanukah. The cooking of latkes has become so ingrained in her as part of the Chanukah tradition that, from her nonchalant description, it seems an almost thoughtless process, now. The folkloric quality of this traditional recipe is clear, though the lack of any measurements, heats, times, or anything quantifiable in the instructions; a major part of being able to cook them properly is intuition gained from seeing and helping others cook them over and over again.

Italian Cookies and Christmas Celebrations

Nationality: Caucasian American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Carlos, California
Performance Date: 4/19/18
Primary Language: English

Interviewer: Do you have any holiday celebrations that you do every year?

 

Informant: So for Christmas every year we start celebrating Christmas Eve.  We get a new set of pajamas that we wear to sleep on Christmas Eve but before we go to sleep we do games and visit with family. Each year our cousins from my dad’s side of the family go to our grandpa’s house and we play white elephant while we are there.  We also make special cookies known as Pizzelles which are traditional Italian sweets.

 

Interviewer: Who makes the cookies? And are the first gifts you get for Christmas, the pajamas that you get to wear on Christmas Eve?

 

Informant: My mom used to make the cookies and now we make the cookies together.  It is something we get to do together and a way to spend time with each other. And the pajamas are the only gift we get to open on Christmas besides whatever we get in the White Elephant game. We get to open the pajamas when we come home from our grandfather’s house.  So it is something you just do with my immediate family.

 

Interviewer: What do you do on Christmas Day?

 

Informant: We sleep in and then the first thing we do is open our stockings. My dad always puts scratchers in our stockings so we scratch those right away.  Then we all have our “assigned” seats in the family room and my brother and I separate the presents out and then we kind of open our presents in a circle so we see what we got. My grandfather also used to dress up like Santa Claus and come surprise us while we opened gifts.

 

Interviewer: How long have you been doing this? And are any of things you do, things that either of your parents did as they were growing up?

 

Informant: I have been doing it for as long as I can remember.  When my mom was growing up, her and her mom used to make Pizzelles for the holidays and we still use our neighbor’s recipe.  I say “our neighbor” because my mom grew up in the house that we live in now so she’s still our neighbor.

 

Interviewer:  Wow that’s really sweet that you still use that recipe.  What do they taste like?

 

Informant: They are like thin crisp cookie with a design on the front, but we have to use a Pizzelle iron to make them so it takes a while and it’s a big deal when they are done.  But we put anise and lemon in them and then we do a lemon glaze on top.

 

Interviewer: That sounds delicious.  Thanks for sharing.

 

Background:  The informant is a sophomore in college and studying communications.  She still lives at home while attending school and is very close with her family which consists of her parents and one older brother.  She is a great friend of the interviewer and is often baking or engaging in other crafts.  This piece was very special to her because it is ongoing and reminded her of the way she and her family has kept these various traditions alive.  Christmas is also her favorite holiday and something she looks forward to every year.

 

Context: This interview took place over the phone since it was not possible for the interviewer to see the informant in person and it was past Christmas so the interviewer was unable to be a part of the celebration.  The informant has been experiencing this holiday and these rituals for as long as she can remember and some were even passed down and experienced in similar ways by her mother as stated in the interview.

 

Analysis:  I found this piece to be really interesting because it is not often that you encounter someone who lives in the same house as their mother did when she was young.  I think the fact that the informant is able to recreate these traditions in a similar setting as when they were first started is really special for all involved and an important part of folklore.

Chinese New Year

Nationality: Half Chinese Half Caucasian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Burlingame, California
Performance Date: 4/20
Primary Language: English

Interviewer: Are there any cultural celebrations or holidays that you engage in?

 

Informant: Chinese New Year is a big part of my culture and it’s a big holiday that I usually spend with my family. We usually celebrate at my grandmother’s house and the first thing we do is exchange red envelopes. And my grandmother makes “long life noodles” and then “gold bars” which are actually spring rolls that symbolize money.  There are also eggs with oysters for fertility and then we have a Chinese candy to stand for a sweet life.

 

Interviewer: What do the red envelopes symbolize? And is there any part of the celebration that you directly do or a role that has been passed on to you?

 

Informant:  The red envelopes stand for good fortune and they are usually filled with cash money, and the elders of the family or the older generation like parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles hand out the envelopes.  And then my grandmother used to make spring rolls every year but now my sister and I are the ones who make them.

 

Interviewer: And how long does the celebration usually last?

 

Informant: We usually just celebrate one the actual day of Chinese New Year, or if it doesn’t fall on a weekend, then we celebrate on the Friday of the closest week.  My grandmother also gives everyone a stuffed animal of whatever animal or zodiac sign of that year.

 

Interviewer: And do you have a special meal or prayer or ritual?

 

Informant: We usually do a special meal and my mother’s whole side of the family comes to my grandmother’s house for dinner.

 

Interviewer: And that meal is the same as the noodles and the spring rolls and?

 

Informant: Yes, it’s the same just larger portions so that the whole family can eat.

 

Interviewer: Wow that sounds good! Thank you for sharing.

 

Background: The informant is a sophomore at Loyola Marymount University studying psychology.  She is half Chinese and half Caucasain and her grandparents on her mother’s side immigrated from China when they were young.  Her and her sister have been raised with many of the traditional Chinese holidays and often share their customs with friends.  For the informant, this piece was relating something that takes place every year and is often a way for her to spend time with extended family.  It is also a reflection of the Americanization of the holiday given the way her and her family celebrate.

 

Context:  This interview was done while in the car on the way to Disneyland to take part in the Chinese New year celebration theme.  She has been celebrating the holiday since birth and her family has also been celebrating the holiday both back in China and in the states.

 

Analysis: It was not the first time I had heard of the various traditions but the first time I understood their meanings and reflected on the importance for my friend’s culture. It is also fun to the different variations of the celebration and the added twist of giving out stuffed animals or engaging in other things.