Collection: Family Holiday Tradition

A: “Do you have any family holiday traditions?”

B: “We will make ravioli from scratch when we get together because we are Italian. We are very Italian. Like my grandparents immigrated from Italy, and they used to own a pizzeria. My dad actually used to work in the pizzeria when he was in high school. Um…and so we have our own family recipes and sauce recipes.”

A: “Could I get one of the recipes?”

B: “I could, but the only way you could get it is if you married me.”

A/B: *laughter*

Context/Interpretation: The informant’s family tradition and recipe stems from a long line of Italian family members. I find the pizzeria anecdote slightly ironic because of the idea of “authenticity” in foreign restaurants. Does this collection make the recipe authentic? Who gives it the authenticity? Perhaps in this case, the tradition and recipe has vernacular authority through the large family.