Tag Archives: Foodways

Hotpot at Thanksgiving

Text:

“One tradition that my family does, in conjunction with other Malaysian families, is that during Thanksgiving, we always have a hotpot dinner at one of our family friends’ houses. It’s been a tradition for the past five to ten years. We would always go to their house, and everyone would bring dishes together — fish meatballs, mushrooms, noodles — and it would just be the most amazing meal, because they would always put spicy sauce in it.”

Context:


The informant is 21 years old and is from a Malaysian immigrant family. He told me of this tradition when I asked him how his community celebrates American holidays. His family does the classic American Thanksgiving things — the big get-together, the kids’ table, the older cousins showing up — but the main event at the meal is Malaysian hotpot. Through a web of Malaysian families bound by social ties and maintained by shared celebrations, this practice has been sustained for almost a decade.

Analysis:

This custom is an example of cultural syncretism, the creative blending of two disparate cultural forms to produce a new creation. But the informant’s family has adopted the American Thanksgiving framework and filled it with the culinary and social content of Malaysian culture. Hotpot is in itself a very social way of eating, requiring the collective effort of diners to cook around a communal pot. The tradition illustrates how immigrant folk communities negotiate their sense of belonging: not choosing between cultures but adding one to the other, creating a hybrid celebration that acknowledges both the country of origin and the country of residence. The lore here is not in any one dish, but in the annual act of gathering. The continuity of people, place, and a shared dish.

Wisconsin State Fair

Text:

“I think about our state fairs. Um, and, you know, like one of the biggest things is like, you know, like cheese curds and things like that, and that comes from, you know, the fact that we, you know, pride ourselves on our dairy agriculture and things like that. And then, you know, beer is so, so popular in Milwaukee. There are so many different brands that have come out of Milwaukee that do beer, but it’s like such a popular thing to drink at these festivals.”

Context: 

The informant is originally from Wisconsin and, when asked which folk groups he identifies with, reflected on Wisconsin’s relationship with food. It’s officially considered “America’s Dairyland” and leads the United States in cheese and dairy production. Supporting these foods is almost synonymous with supporting the state’s agricultural workers and products. 

Analysis: 

State fairs function as festivals of regional folk identity, offering a ritualized space where communities can celebrate and distinguish themselves from other regions. For Wisconsin, food is the primary medium of self-expression: cheese curds are a strong signifier of agricultural heritage, and Milwaukee beer has a deep history within German brewing culture. As the informant details, these items are regarded with communal pride. It would be considered ‘foodways’ in which food production, preparation, and consumption transmit and represent cultural values. The state fair on stage is the most public example of this, amplified by the strong agricultural and regional belonging that collectively constitute the state’s identity.

St. Patrick’s Day Tradition

Informant: Patrick’s Day is kind of a big deal for us.

We usually make a whole meal, roast beef and definitely Irish soda bread. But the best part is this tradition we have with our family friends. We always do this group dance, I think it’s called the Siege of Ennis. It’s for eight people, and there are a lot of formations and patterns. It’s a little chaotic, but really fun.

We do it every year, and I always end up filming it. It’s usually a mix of a bunch of drunk adults and me trying to keep up and make sure I get it on video. It’s kind of a mess, but in the best way.

It’s one of those traditions that’s just stuck, and now it wouldn’t feel like St. Patrick’s Day without it.

Context: The informant is from an Irish American family on the East Coast of the US. Both sides of their family are Irish, but are not first-generation Americans. 

Analysis: At the broad level, St. Patrick’s Day provides a fairly basic backdrop for this family tradition. It’s a widely recognized holiday associated with Irish identity, food, and celebration. The meal (roast beef, Irish soda bread) reflects the more traditional foodways the family participates in during the holiday. Even if the exact dishes vary from “authentic” Irish cuisine, what matters is that they are understood by the group as symbolically Irish and tied to the occasion.

The dance, the Siege of Ennis, introduces another layer. Unlike invented family traditions, this is a formal, traditional Irish dance with established steps and formations. When the ngroup performs it, they are engaging in a form of folk dance, even if informally learned or imperfectly executed.

“Sampanelli” (Family Recipe)

Age: 20

Text:

“My dad makes sampanelli, which is like an Italian dish, because my grandmother is 100% Italian. So they grew up having a lot of olive oil and vegetables and that type of stuff, but there weren’t that many recipes fully passed down.

My dad doesn’t really cook, like we don’t want him to cook, but one thing he does make is sampanelli, which is kind of disgusting—it’s raw meat, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and like a crepe. The meat is raw—like salted pork—and he makes the crepe himself.

But the funny thing is, we were doing research this year, and I think it’s actually called something else, like “sampanel,” but they just assumed it was sampanelli because they wanted to make it sound Italian.

So now whenever people come over and my dad says, ‘I think I’ll cook,’ we all know what that means.”

Context:

The informant describes a dish made by their father that is understood within the family as an “Italian” recipe connected to their grandmother’s heritage. The dish often in social situations when guests are present. It has become a recognizable and somewhat humorous tradition within the family, especially as her father isn’t much of a cook. The name “sampanelli” is the family interpretation rather than an accurate term, showing how the dish has been adapted and redefined over time. The informant now lives in the US on the east coast with her family.

Analysis:

This is an example of material culture and foodways folklore, where cultural knowledge is expressed through preparation and sharing of food. A key aspect of foodways is its nature of bricolage, where people create tradition by piecing together available ingredients, memories, and cultural influences rather than following a fixed and original recipe. So, even though this recipe may not be authentically or accurately Italian, or prepared as such, it functions as a symbol of heritage and identity within the family.

The uncertainty around the name and origin of the dish demonstrates the variation that occurs in performance and through generations. This highlights how folklore adapts overtime and this doesn’t make the recipe less valid. The family maintains a version that reflects their own understanding of their culture background. It shows that folklore doesn’t need to be historically accurate to have meaning and still functions in preserving their culture.

This dish is also a form of family humor and shared knowledge. When guests come over they are brought into the collective experience of disappointment in the father cooking and therefore join the folk group of the family while present for the event. It is a way for all the bond and constructs an identity through performance and even for those experiencing the performance.

Buñuelos

Text:

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.