Category Archives: Material

Onion Sugar for a Cold

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Dad: You take an onion, uh, usually I put it– I cut it in half and I put it inside a cup and then I sprinkle sugar on it and then I let it sit, um… At some point someone told me that this is called sweating an onion

Context

Dad: You give it to somebody who has a cold or, you know, where there’s just congestion or respiratory stuff going on or whatever. I mean, not pneumonia obviously, and this became, in our family, uh, what we called magic juice and so, then I would feed the magic juice to, especially my son when he would get a cold, which were quite, um, productive, lets just say. Um… I would feed him a spoonful. Now, is it just a spoonful of sugar with a little bit of onion flavoring? Who’s to say. But I’d give him a spoonful of, of, what we called magic juice, um, whenever he had a cold. And it was something he kinda looked forward to. And I don’t know if it made him feel better, but certainly the ritual was something that made, I think us both feel better in some degree– to some extent.

My dad learned of this home remedy from his good friend RL. RL is of Chilean descent, who grew up in the bay area of California.

Analysis

I remember taking this cold cure when I was younger, but it was never as important for me as it was for my younger brother. He used to have the worst colds when he was growing up that were violently contagious, so it was important that he felt cared for during those difficult periods.

As my dad points out himself, he is not certain of the benefits of this home remedy. That is not what is important to him. In the case of the ‘magic juice,’ the most important component is the fact that it is a remedy that takes time and care to make. It served much of the same purpose as a chicken soup in that it makes you feel cared for. In fact, my dad never made this home remedy for himself, and he stopped making it when we grew up.

Paper ring chains

Text: Pieces of paper cut into long strips – those strips are taped or stapled into interlocking rings, creating a chain. The chain holds as many links as there are days until an event–a holiday, the end of school, etc–and every day, a ring is removed every day until the event occurs and the chain is gone.

Context: AB recalls making these chains with her friends in elementary school as a countdown to Christmas. They would use colored construction paper and hang them up in her friends’ houses as a fun activity to commemorate the season.

Analysis: This is a simple and fun activity to commemorate an upcoming holiday or event. It works well for children, as all that is recquired is cutting paper and either taping or stapling it together–it does not need much supervision or materials, but works well as a festive activity. AB mentions learning this at her friends’ houses, but this is also an easy enough craft to do in school, allowing for lots of decoration and chances for children to express their creativity.

Buñuelos

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Context: A dessert RF would make with her family during Christmastime, which they call buñuelos. RF recalls the making of this food being an event–her great-grandmother was well-known in the family for making them and would use a specific cooking instrument (a kind of ornamental iron on the end of a long stick) that has since become a family heirloom. The recipe wasn’t written, only in her great-grandmother’s head, but it included some kind of whiskey or bourbon in the batter, and the buñuelos were to be fried in lard. The iron was dipped in the runny batter, then submerged in the hot oil–the batter would instantly begin to fry and fall off of the iron while maintaining shape (usually a snowflake or a pinwheel). Once cooked to a golden brown, the buñuelos would be placed onto a paper towel to drain excess oil, then placed into a large basin of cinnamon sugar. RF recalls being in charge of this step, when she was young, using a fork to roll and coat the buñuelos in the sugar. They would make multiple trays of them for the big family Christmas party, and everyone would take some home at the end of the night–with a reminder to keep them uncovered, as they would get stale otherwise.

Analysis: This is a Latin American dessert that obviously holds significance for this family and their culture. The act of making the food is, in and of itself, a big deal, and it was clearly important that there was more than enough in supply. I see it as a way to provide for the entire family, and a connecting kind of ritual of cooking, especially during the holidays.

Tamales

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RF: The making of the tamales was a big group activity. With everybody, you know, around the table, and the big pots of the masa, and all that stuff. Most of the time we were over at my [aunt]’s house, and my great grandmother was there, and my mom, and–it seems to me like there were so many aunts and uncles around. But, you know, we’d have the big pot with all the masa that they’d mixed, and they’d mixed it up with their hands. We would go to [store name] and get the masa for tortillas, and then we would hand-mix the lard in, and they would do it with their hands and I was always like, “that’s disgusting.”

Interviwer: [laughs]

RF: And then they would have to soak the hojas in water, and you’d have to clean them because there would be like, the strings from the corn, right? And you would have to make sure there were no bugs in there. And then there would be this big spread out on the table and everyone would have a seat, and there would be… the cheese, the grated cheese with the Ortega chilis. And then there would usually be the pork, like shredded red pork. And sometimes there would be the sweet ones, which I didn’t care for–they would put pineapple and cinnamon or raisins, or something, and they would dye the masa different colors. You know, it was just a big deal, very familial. Everyone had the spoons, and spreading out the masa, and then lay the cheese very carefully, and then roll it and tist it and fold it and prop it up, and–it was a big deal. I don’t think it was hours, but it seemed like it did go on all day.

Interviewer: Yeah.

RF: And then they would fill the big pot. And uh, we’d wait and wait for these things to cook, and then we’d have, you know–we’d have dinner the night before, of tamales, and then we would make enough tamales for the party, and then everybody would take home tamales as well.

Context: RF is a woman of mixed Mexican heritage in her mid 50s. She mentions this food being made in her family during Christmastime, and the making and preparation of the tamales being a big event in advance of a large family Christmas party that happened annually. She was born and raised in Southern California, and mentioned the event of going to a very specific store to search for the ingredients for the tamales with her great-grandmother.

Analysis: I think this ritual of food preparation before a big Christmas celebration is a common one, though one as communal and joyous as it is here is not always the case. I think this is a celebration of family, community, and culture, and a way of expressing care for the people around you. This is especially evident in the point made to allow every family member to bring tamales home with them after the event–a show of care and excess made possible only by a festival atmosphere, a way to take care of every member of the family.

Vicks Vaporub

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SG: I’m hispanic, from Nicaragua, and a lot of hispanic people use vaporub to cure like, pretty much anything, and it weirdly works. So, at least my mom, she would get a little bit of vaporub, she would put it on a spoon, and then she would put, like, a flame under the spoon to warm it up. And then she would rub it on our chest, our feet and she would put socks on us, behind our ears… And then that would, honestly, kind of help us–it wasn’t a fool-proof cure, but it would feel better the next day.

Context: SG’s family is from Nicaragua, and she is a college student in Southern California. She mentions her mother using Vick’s Vaporub for most any ailment that she or her family had, and that she says it’s a “hispanic mom thing.”

Analysis: I’ve encountered this remedy before–I think this is a very clear way of showing care to the people you love when they’re feeling under the weather. It makes sense that this tradition be passed down through parent to child, through various families, especially in a marginalized community that might have less income, as vaporub is relatively cheap and readily available.