Category Archives: Material

Locro

AGE – 18

Date_of_performance: april 28th 2025

Language: Spanish

Nationality:  Argentinian 

Primary Language: English

Locro for holidays and other special occasions

text:

“This traditional food, I don’t remember when I first heard of it. It was probably just my family doing it, and I have a good relationship with it, as I enjoy eating locro a lot. Although I gotta be honest, the first time I started doing the tradition was last year, and basically in this tradition, what we would do is gather around with friends and/or family and prepare and eat locro for any of Argentina’s national holidays. It can be for National Independence Day or Homeland Day. This Friday I’m gonna eat locro for National Workers Day, and the point of it is to pay honor to the locro, which is a regional typical and traditional dish from here, and at the same time celebrate the holiday. It’s like a stew, and its primary ingredient is white corn. You can add stuff like cow meat or red chorizo. We eat Locro to celebrate the holiday and pay honor to the locro and be grateful for the person who made it. “

Analysis:

Locro looks like an appetizing dish. It is a hearty, thick squash or potato stew found commonly in Argentina. Much like C’s description, the most common ingredient is corn, but there are different ingredients added in as well, in different parts of the country, such as some parts having some squash, potatoes, meat, beans, etc. This traditional dish reminds me of a traditional dish I eat now and then called “Caldo.” It is a Mexican stew/broth we eat on holidays, much like C does here. It mainly contains chicken, corn, and vegetables, and sometimes comes with tomato soup. I imagine part of the reason C enjoys this soup so much is that not only is it good, but he also shares it with the people he loves. 

Chinese New Year Food Practices

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Brooklyn, NY
Language: English

Text:

Collector: “Do you have any traditional foods that your family makes for any holidays?”

Informant: “For Chinese New Year, we make certain foods based on how they sound in Chinese. For example, we eat something called “fat choy” that sounds similar to “good wealth”. We also make oysters, which is “ho” and also means “abundance”. We always makes either 8 or 9 dishes because 8 in Chinese sounds similar to “good luck” and 9 sounds similar to “longevity”. 

Context:

My informant is Chinese American and lives in proximity to her grandparents who often cook traditional Chinese food, especially for Chinese holidays. Her mother explained to her why they eat certain dishes. 

Analysis:

These traditional food practices for Chinese New Year largely relate to cultivating good luck, wealth, and prosperity for the upcoming year. The foods are symbolic and consuming them is supposed to produce what they symbolize, such as good wealth. It is a form of homeopathic magic, in that consuming a food that sounds like a certain word will evoke that outcome. The number of dishes prepared, either 8 or 9, represent good luck and longevity, respectively. The new year is seen as the fresh start, and individuals do everything they can to cultivate success.

Fete des Rios

Title: Fête des Rois (Epiphany / King’s Day)
AGE: 55
Date_of_performance: May 1, 2025
Language: French
Nationality: American grew up in Paris
Occupation: Consultant
Primary Language: English
Residence: Toronto, Canada
Folklore Explanation:
“We always did Fête des Rois growing up—it was just part of the rhythm after New Year’s. We’d have the galette des rois, that puff pastry cake with almond filling, and there’d always be a fève hidden inside. The person who got the slice with the fève was the king or queen for the day, and they got to wear the paper crown that came with the cake. In our house, the winner would either kiss the person they loved, or if you were sitting with friends or siblings, it was the person to your left. It was lighthearted, but it felt kind of royal as a kid.
What I remember most, though, was in elementary school. They made a big thing of it. We’d all sit under the table—literally under it—while someone cut the galette, and then they’d call out who got each slice. That way it stayed random. And the second someone found the fève, it was chaos. The winner had to kiss someone, and in a room full of eight-year-olds, that was about the most dramatic thing that could happen. People would scream, laugh, hide under desks. It was silly, but it was something everyone looked forward to. It made January feel less gray.”
Analysis:
Fête des Rois is a form of religious calendar custom celebrated on January 6, tied to Christian Epiphany, marking the arrival of the Three Wise Men (Les Rois Mages) to visit the newborn Jesus. The tradition of the galette des rois with a hidden fève (originally a bean, now often a porcelain figurine) is a blend of symbolic folklore and ritual foodways. Its transmission is both domestic (within families) and institutional (through schools and bakeries), making it a hybrid of private and public tradition.
The custom of crowning a “king” or “queen” and engaging in playful rituals like kissing someone at the table represents performance and participatory folklore, especially powerful among children where the act becomes a rite of social play. Though rooted in religious narrative, the modern version often emphasizes community, chance, and lighthearted social interaction over doctrine. Its survival in French and Francophone cultures is supported by oral tradition, seasonal food marketing, and educational reinforcement, making it a strong example of enduring cultural folklore with evolving forms.

Holi – The Festival of Colors

Nationality: Australian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Hyderabad, India
Language: English

Festival: Holi — The Festival of Colors

Background/Informant’s Interpretation: Playing with colors, since a young age in India, Holi is something fond to him, and is happy to find in the United States, being abroad and away from home. Introduced by his family, specifically, his dad, at the age of 4, Holi is a Hindu festival where individuals throw color and water at each other. To him and those across the country, it symbolizes that good has beaten evil hence spring has arrived. Music, loud drums are played and people dance in the streets with traditional food being passed around normally cold drinks and desserts like thandai and khulfi. Sweets are also made to be shared with family and friends. Recently, playing holi at USC brought fond memories of throwing colors at his sister, demonstrating shared memories through a heritage-centered festival

My Interpretation: Besides sounding like a good time, this festival is key in his development as a person, and also symbolizes how part of your heritage can be shared and showcased with others. With traditions such as the type of food and the objects being used in the festival remaining consistent, we can see that the past is being shared with the present through a shared means. Furthermore, culture is something that is shared here as it is with family and loved ones. This association plays into the idea that this festival appears on campuses and nontraditional locations, which previously would have been colorless.

Kaju Katli – A Staple Sweet

Nationality: Indian
Age: 18
Residence: Hyderabad, India
Language: English

Text: Kaju Katli

Background/Informant’s Interpretation: A sweet that roughly translates to cashew diamond, this good is enjoyed and can be found at any festival or pooja being performed in India. Traditionally, sweets are offered after a festival or pooja to celebrate the completion, the auspiciousness, and the good they tend to bring. Sometimes, his mom would make them for him to enjoy after he did well on a test or if his parents were in a good mood. This led to him consuming 10 to 15 at a time and passing out on his couch after a sugar crash. This sweet, is a processed white diamond that is prepared by a combination of dry ingredients such as cashew and sugar, making it into a fudge-like consistency. He remembers him and his dad going to local vendors and street shops to collect these sweets while being ordained in Traditional clothing called Kurtas for men and saris for women.

My Interpretation: The sweetness itself sounds key in the celebration and essential to a certain tradition that is maintained time after time. The fact that it is interchangeable with other ones that can be used, but also is needed at the end of the festival, symbolizes the fact that without it or its adjacent parts of the festival or the ritual seems to be incomplete. Hindu rituals tend to emphasize this idea of good triumphing, so the sweet is sort of a key factor in representing this in a materialistic way. Furthermore it is a cultural item that can be shared and enjoyed by others. I feel that it also connects to heritage and ties into glocal culture as a local tradition can be mass-produced and is seen on a global level in cities across the country and out of its home region.