Text
“My dad’s side of the family is Jewish so they had a lot of like food and meals that they would eat either for special occasions or like just throughout the year because it’s like Jewish food. And the one that’s carried through to my immediate family is matzo ball soup because it’s a really good remedy for like a cold or just general sickness normally in the winter so the cultural tradition here is getting lots of matzo ball soup and using it as like a cure to sickness when we’re not feeling well.”
Context
ML says that not a ton of Jewish customs carried over to her immediate family, but matzo ball soup was one that did because of their belief in its comforting and curing powers. She remembers eating it when her or her sister were sick, and she said that eating it did make her feel better.
Analysis
ML’s story is an example of material culture, specifically foodways, as well as folk medicine. The tradition of eating matzo ball soup contains religious and traditional values in her family, but also showed a long standing belief in its remedial and comforting powers. ML notes that not many other Jewish meals or traditions were passed on to her family, showing that some beliefs or pieces of folklore are stronger or hold more meaning and are able to be passed on more easily even as other traditions of the same folk group fade away. For ML, this belief was enforced by evidence, as she said that eating matzo ball soup did genuinely make her and her sister feel better, which only serves to enforce the folk belief. ML’s story with the soup is a great example of Kaptchuk’s discussion on healing rituals, as the soup represented a sensory experience, family, and hope along with the nutritional value, all of which combined to comfort ML. I think this is a very powerful idea, because my mom would make a specific noodle dish when my brothers and I were not feeling well, but I remember the love and the care that the meal represented more than how I felt after eating it.
Tag Archives: soup
Fideo
Text: Recipe for a soup made when your sick.
Ingredients:
- Noodles; Traditionally you use Fideo noodles but they can be any noodles
- Oil, usually like vegetable oil
- Tomato sauce – Informant’s family specifically swears by Del Monte tomato sauce, the mini ones, which you can get at smart and final for 99 cents.
- Chicken broth
- Optional: Bouillon cube
- Large amount of garlic salt – informant’s family usually uses McCormick
- Pepper
- Worcestershire sauce
- Optional Lemon juice and Tapatillo
Recipe: Traditionally you use fideo noodles but they can be any noodles. You put noodles in a pan with oil and fry the noodles a little bit, so they’re a little bit browned, and then you add tomato sauce enough of that to cover the noodles. You stir it, to make sure all the noodles are coated, and then after that, you eyeball an amount of chicken broth to add. It’s like vaguely double the amount of noodles that you have, like it has to cover noodles, but however much broth you want, you add the chicken broth. If you want, you can add a Bouillon cube that makes it taste really good. And then you add an eyeballed large amount of garlic salt. The Informant’s usual rule of thumb is to put in a decent amount and then when they think that it’s enough, then they add a little bit more and then they’re done. And then also pepper, and you stir it all together. You wait until it boils, and then once it boils, you shut off the heat, you cover it, and you leave it for 15 minutes. After that, it’s ready to serve. Their family traditionally serves it with worcestershire sauce in it. The Informant also thinks it’s really, really good with lemon juice and tapatio. That’s usually what they make if I’m sick and then it clears out my sinuses.
Context: The Informant, 21, white with Mexican heritage, lives in Southern California, learned this recipe from their mom and grandmother. Though they’re pretty sure people in their family have been making it longer than that and assume it came from their great grandmother, their grandmother’s grandmother, who was the matriarch of the family and and from Mexico, where the informant assumes she learned it. The informant remembers “making it as a kid. My grandmother used to pick me up from preschool and she would take me back to her house and I would help her make Fideo, and then I would go, and I would sit, and I would watch Sesame Street, and then when it was done, she would bring me a bowl of, uh, a Fideo when I would sit there and watch PBS kids. So like Sesame Street and Zoboomafoo and Bob the Builder and all of the like. All the, all the old uh, things. And so, yeah, and then anytime I was sick, my grandma or my mom would make it for me. My grandma calls it Mexican penicillin. Um, cause it makes you feel better whenever you’re sick.”
Analysis: This soup is folk medicine and the process of making it can be thought of as a low context ritual. Rituals, especially in regards to folk healing rituals often include a narrative, I believe part of the narrative that gives this medicine it’s power is the process of someone lovingly making it for you, it is the heartwarming memory that the informant has of their grandmother or mother making this soup by that gives it its power. Even if they make it by themselves it still has that memory association, to the process and the taste. As Kaptchuk says, it has a ‘could be’ dimension to the healing through this tradition and memory.
Taking a closer look at the ingredients of this recipe the base ingredient is chicken broth which has its relation to the to chicken noodle soup, a very common recipe to bring when someone is sick. The addition of garlic salt is also interesting given garlic’s preestablished presence in folklore. We repeat these ingredients in folklore because they are familiar. We also see bricolage in the optional ingredients, lemon juice and tapatio, that the informant adds in at the end, this is a traditional recipe but it also gets personalized.
Citations: Kaptchuk, Ted J. “Placebo Studies and Ritual Theory: A Comparative Analysis of Navajo, Acupuncture and Biomedical Healing.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 366, no. 1572, June 2011, pp. 1849–58. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0385.
The Power of Chowder
Story: “Every year, my family and I look forward to Chowderfest on Long Beach Island like it’s a holiday. Chowderfest is an annual festival in LBI, NJ every October, where the local businesses who sell clam chowder compete to see who has the best red, white, and recently lobster bisque on the Island. It’s one of our favorite traditions, and we’ve been going for as long as I can remember. We wake up early, bundle up in cozy (and sometimes matching) sweatshirts, and head to the festival ready to taste all the different chowders. My parents are always between the red and the white chowders, but honestly, I only like the white. It’s not just about the soup, though, the music, the local vendors, and the energy of the crowd is what makes Chowderfest so special to me. We run into the same families every year, and we always swap recommendations for the best booths, and stock up on sweatshirts with the new festival logo. For us, Chowderfest isn’t just an event, it’s a reminder of everything we love about being together, about the shore, and about making time for joy, even when life gets busy. It’s a little tradition with a big heart, and I couldn’t imagine the Fall without it.”
Analysis: This story captures the cultural and folkloric richness of Chowderfest as a regional tradition deeply ingrained in both family routine and community identity. Festivals like Chowderfest function as modern-day rituals, bringing people together through shared experiences and collective memory. This person’s vivid recollection of matching sweatshirts, friendly rivalries over chowder flavors, and encounters with other families illustrates how such events create a sense of community and belonging. Folklorically, the festival serves as a space for the performance of regional identity, celebrating local east coast foods (clam chowder and lobster bisque), supporting small businesses, and reinforcing communal bonds. These elements transform the event from a food competition into a site of cultural storytelling. The narrator’s attachment to the tradition also reveals the emotional ties to maintaining family rituals, which is a true testament to the power that rituals, festivals, and traditions may have. I think there is something so strong and special about regional communities and their ties to each other. I know myself, I have a huge tie to my hometown, and it’s due to festivals like Chowderfest, that I can feel so connected to the people that live around me. I equate this feeling to being a fan of a sports team who just won big, it’s a lot of love for people you barely know.
Traditional Korean Soups
Text: “On Korean New Year, people eat rice cake soup and on birthdays people eat seaweed soup.”
Context: The informant is Korean-American. Her parents immigrated from Korea but the informant grew up in the United States and moved around different states as a child. The informant is 21 years old and she currently attends the University of Southern California. The informant grew up with these Korean traditions. The rice cake soup is called tteokguk and is made with sliced rice cakes, beef or chicken broth, and multiple garnishes such as egg and seaweed. The soup is said to bring good luck and fortune at the start of the year. The seaweed soup is called miyeok-guk. This traditional soup is made with seaweed, beef, and various seasonings. This soup is regarded as a means of celebrating a person’s life and health for another year. This is a tradition because it’s a reminder of the value of nutrition and good health in preserving a long and happy life.
Analysis: I was very interested to learn about these traditional soups from the informant because I don’t have many food traditions like this in my culture. The closest traditional food I eat is a birthday cake. I’ve never heard of traditional soups for birthdays and New Year. I’m fascinated by the Korean traditions that are dedicated to good luck and life preservation. These seem to be common themes in Korean culture.
MIYEOK GUK
MAIN PIECE:
Informant: So in Korea there’s this soup called Miyeok Guk. It is… Essentially like a seaweed soup. And um… Seaweed has like iron in it, I believe. And in your blood… Your like hemoglobin has iron in it as well? So Korean reasoning is that, whenever a woman gives birth, she loses a lot of blood with that. So to make up for it, you should have food that can supply your body with iron, such as Miyeok Guk and seaweed. So on birthdays, in addition to like cake and just like normal birthday routines, the traditional side of it is eating Miyeok Guk and seaweed… For the iron that your mom lost.
INFORMANT’S RELATIONSHIP TO THE PIECE:
Informant: I do practice this. Cause I like Miyeok Guk.
Interviewer: So you’re really consuming it for the taste?
Informant: Yeah… I mean… I also think that we all have a desire to keep our culture going. I think when we’re younger it was easy to forget about and not care. Like, “Who cares what they’ve done for a thousand years, Imma do me…” My dad was born in Korea but moved to Guam and later Hawaii and later Anaheim. So he’s very Americanized. My mom didn’t leave Korea until college, so she was always the more traditional Korean side of the family… But my dad and I are more Americanized. Um… But yeah, as time has gone on, I feel like it’s good to keep some things, even if it has zero significance or importance… Even if it’s just soup that reminds me of my mom, it’s nice to continue on with those little traditions.
REFLECTION:
Korean birthday tradition honors the mother by including food that recognizes the hardship of childbirth. The informant, while also consuming Miyeok Guk for taste, has grown to appreciate this food as a symbol of his mother. This is multifaceted, as Miyeok Guk is both a Korean symbol of the mother in general, but also a reminder of the informant’s mother specifically, who passed this tradition onto him. This demonstrates how food can have a “broad” cultural significance, but also a more intimate, immediate, familial significance. Thus, there are several reasons that food traditions might be upheld. This tradition also seems to hint at an appreciation for the mother within Korean culture.