Category Archives: Foodways

Friends and Spicy Food

Nationality: Gabon
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/25/2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandinka

Subject:

Social custom regarding spicy food

Informant:

Saran Kaba grew up in Gabon. Her family is mostly from Gabon and Guinea, and strongly identify with Mandingo culture which is prevalent throughout the region. Saran immigrated to the United States in 2014, where she now lives and studies at the University of Southern California.

Original Script:

“We are not allowed to pass, like, directly pepper, to like somebody, because that means that you want to, like you will be in conflict. So like if you like a person, you don’t give pepper at first. You know, like, pepper, like something spicy, because it will lead to some sort of conflict or miscommunication.”

Informant’s Background Knowledge and Relationship with this Piece:

Saran doesn’t know where she learned this, or the reasoning behind it, only that it is a widespread custom not to give somebody any kind of very spicy food.

Thoughts About the Piece:

Very spicy food can be painful. Perhaps this custom arose from the concern that feeding people food that is more spicy than they can handle might upset them, and hurt the relationship. Spicy food also causes your nose to run and tongue to hurt, which might make it difficult for them to have a conversation or maintain a graceful countenance, which may cause awkward social situations.

Ziti Recipe

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Forest Hills, New York
Performance Date: April 23
Primary Language: English
This informant comes from a Middle Class, New York Italian family. He learned the recipe from his father, he has never bothered to ask his father were he learned the recipe from but here is how he describes it.
“we melt mozzarella and Polly O’ String cheese and onions and garlic
it’s like a layer cake made of pasta… one layer of pasta,then meat, then cheese then sauce…
shove it in the oven… we are a very white family”
This dish really follows no real traditions, it seems to be made whenever. The informant has made the dish by himself but usually makes it with his father. It seems to be a recipe passed down from his family.
I believe that this dish is a combination of both of the informant’s cultures. It’s a very traditional Italian dish of layered ziti but with American bought items. His phrasing of how he must use Polly O’ String Cheese as supposed to any other brand of string cheese. A string cheese found in many New York supermarkets and convince stores. It’s a homogenous blend of both of the informant’s cultures, combining both cultures from his family’s past in Italy and his family’s current situation in Queens.

Roast Chicken Recipe

Nationality: American
Age: 55
Occupation: Musician/ Web producer
Residence: New York City, NY
Performance Date: April 20
Primary Language: English

“Roast chicken is something that everybody loves and it’s great when somebody wants a homey dinner or a guest… so here’s the recipe… I’ve learned it from various people but I’ve changed it and made it my own… You take a cookie sheet… you cut root vegetables carrots, potatoes, onions, whatever you want and put them down. Then over the cookie sheet, you put a roasting pan grill. Take the grill out of the roasting pan and put it on the cookie sheet. Then you take your roasted chicken your roasted chicken… wash it and dry it very carefully… Then you take… thyme… rosemary… salt and pepper and my secret ingredient which is baking powder and you put it all in a blender and you blend it so it’s fine. almost like dust. and you take that… mixture and you put it all over the bird and inside the bird’s cavity. You don’t put anything inside the bird’s cavity at all. You keep everything empty and then you put the bird on top of the ummm… pan… grill… wire… then you ummm… preheat the oven to four hundred and fifty degrees which is very hot then you take the chicken and put it in the oven for four hundred and fifty degrees. Because there is nothing stuffed in it like lemon or anything like that, it’s empty it’s gonna cook very quickly and hour fifteen or an hour and a half depends on the size of the bird. very quickly. When it comes out the skin is very crisp. all of the juices and fat have gone into the root vegetables at the bottom of the tray and it’s very good. The perfect way to cook a chicken”

 

This cooking seems to be less traditional as it utilizes modern cooking techniques. It seems to be a very modern piece of folklore derived from various new methods of cooking weather they be based in folklore or fact. The informant isn’t very sure where he got said methods.

Sauerbraten – A Christmas Tradition

Nationality: American
Age: 49
Occupation: Accountant
Residence: Phoenix, Arizona
Performance Date: April 14. 2017
Primary Language: English

My informant is my mother, remembering a Christmas tradition that has been passed down generations.

“As far  back as I remember every Christmas night family dinner was sauerbraten. Sauerbraten is a German meal. It is a roast beef with sweet gravy mashed potatoes and usually carrots. Part of my family is German.
Every year we had to help my mom make the meal. The meat would be marinated two days before Christmas. The marinade is what makes the gravy gravy is the best part. We would only have this meal once a year on Christmas day which would make it special.  So special that when I had my own family we would have the same meal sauerbraten Christmas Day.. so special that my three siblings would have have the same Sauerbraten Christmas day meal.  The meal would be something we could talk about even though we all left lived in different states. All of us being careful to make double the gravy because the gravy is the best part.”

Analysis:

This tradition is a part of keeping the identity of family alive by performing this tradition and sharing it with her family. The recipe had been passed down from generation and is a German tradition to have at Christmas time. Performing this tradition is part of keeping in touch with German past and the traditions that stayed over time. It is important to the performers because of performing it among family and at such a specific and important time of year. Meals are a very common tradition to pass down and recipes even more so. This particular recipe had been amended and changed over the decades by many hands, as each sibling has a photocopy of a handwritten recipe card.

Krumkaka

Nationality: Norwegian
Age: 22
Residence: Seattle, Washington
Performance Date: April 23, 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant:

Evan is from Seattle, Washington but is in a family that loves to practice the traditions of their Norwegian roots at home.

Cuisine:

Evan: “Krumkaka is a cookie similar to, like, a pancake, but has a little bit of a rougher consistency. So you first flatten the dough out and put it in a frier, or however you want to cook it, but you don’t let it get too hard yet. Then you take it out and like roll it out with a special cone that leaves an imprint or design in it. Then you cook it a little more to however hard or soft you want the cookie.”

Context:

Evan says that this dish is always brought out on special occasions as a surprise dessert.

My Thoughts:

Cookies are my favorite dessert and pancakes are my favorite breakfast, so this dish sounds amazing to me. I am definitely going to try making it myself soon because a mixture of two of my favorite foods sounds like heaven to me!