Food and Family

Miranda Lauzon

First Blog Entry

Food, Identity & Ancestry

What is Identity and How Does it Relate to Food?

Home cooking obtains a prominent aspect of comfort, which many of us associate with pleasant memories and cherished traditions; family recipes also play a key role in culinary traditions. Family heritage and identity shape these traditions; recipes, techniques and tips are passed down from generation to generation, creating and maintaining strong ties to ancestry and native, old-world customs. Additionally, the foods that we grew up eating greatly influence our dietary preferences and shape our tastes throughout our lives.

Below (link): National flags made from traditional food of each country.

http://imgur.com/gallery/0nCDJ

Below (link): Hardlox Jewish Food and Heritage Festival. This video demonstrates the connection between food, identity and ancestry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieQGBQHMhT0

My Experiences With Food, Identity & Family Ancestry

Both my mother and father were born in and grew up in Barre, Vermont. However, their family ancestry is immensely different. Although their heritage is unique to one another, their ancestry is very common in this region of Vermont. My father is French-Canadian and my mother is Italian and Lebanese. These diverse cultures made for unique culinary traditions in my home; growing up I was exposed to many different foods that have constructed my pallet throughout the years. My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles all enjoy cooking and entertaining, so food has always been a dominant feature in family traditions. Perhaps the most significant tradition in my family is the tradition of meat pies (tourtière, in French) on Christmas Eve. This is a traditional French-Canadian recipe that French immigrants brought to Canada in the late 19th century. Both of my father’s parents are from Canada and have always identified themselves as French-Canadian. Because of this, my father has always instilled that identity in my brother and I, which we are proud to hold. Every Christmas Eve, my grandparents make over a dozen meat pies for the family to take home; this dish is also a main staple of our Christmas Eve dinner. Because there is a large population of French-Canadians in my hometown (and Vermont in general), my grandparents have always had access to the necessary ingredients to prepare this dish as originally and traditionally as possible.

Above (photo): A photo I took of traditional Lebanese food prepared by my family and I. My cousin Audra and I spent all day finely chopping parsley for the tabouli over lots of laughs and a few glasses of wine. In my family, food is a tradition that brings us all together.

Below (link): Traditional French-Canadian meat pie recipe (directions also listed in the text for your convenience).

http://www.yankeemagazine.com/recipe/memere-rousseaus-tourtiere-meat-pie

Directions:  How to Master Making Meat Pies

Ingredients

2 pounds ground pork, 1 medium onion, finely chopped, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 cups water, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground cloves (or more to taste), 3 cups mashed potatoes, Penny's Piecrust, 1 tablespoon milk

Instructions

In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, combine pork, onion, salt, and water. Simmer gently, stirring often, until all liquid evaporates, about 4 hours. Stir in spices. Add potatoes and beat well to combine thoroughly. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a pie plate with one crust. Spoon in pork/potato mixture. Add top crust and flute the edges. Brush the top with milk and prick with a fork. Bake 30 minutes.

Case Study: A Spanish-American Woman Living in Vermont

However, access to indigenous ingredients is not a commonality for all ethnicities. While conducting research for this blog entry, I came across an article about a Spanish-American woman who also grew up in Barre, Vermont. There is a significantly scarce population of Spanish-Americans in Barre, and because of this access to traditional food was/is extremely uncommon.  In the article “Growing Up Spanish in Vermont,” Elisabeth Ramon-Bacon describes her experiences regarding culinary tradition. Ramon-Bacon’s mother, father and brothers (Ramon-Bacon was born in the United States) immigrated to Barre in 1914 from Santander, Spain to pursue the economic opportunities that the granite industry provided. Ramon-Bacon describes her mother’s cooking as “extraordinary.” However, she emphasizes the issues regarding the lack of traditional ingredients. “All the European women, especially the Spanish, were faced with problems when they couldn’t find the ingredients they were accustomed to using in the daily preparation of meals. There were many things that weren’t available in local markets. Neighborhood ethnic grocery stores slowly began to appear, but until then housewives had to substitute and improvise.” (Ramon-Bacon) Spanish-Americans in Barre struggled to maintain strong ties to Spanish culinary traditions due to the lack of indigenous ingredients and cultural diversity. Moreover, Ramon-Bacon also states that, “There were few restaurants in Barre and none that offered the food Spanish immigrants were accustomed to.” (Ramon-Bacon) Ramon-Bacon’s Spanish identity became melded and Americanized due to the lack of food options. “Our Americanization was helped along in certain ways. When the grown-ups were having something that we children didn’t particularly like, my mother would surprise us with steamed hot dogs and rolls.” Although she and her family found it difficult to maintain culinary traditions, they were able to maintain their identity though speaking Spanish at home, especially during family meals.

Above (photo):  Taken in 1926 in Barre, Vermont, Elisabeth Ramon-Bacon poses for a portrait with her family.

Food in Place

Ramon-Bacon’s experiences regarding food and identity parallel Gustavo Esteva’s article “Re-embedding Food in Agriculture.” In this article, Esteva explains and explores the meaning and cultural significance of comida, a term unique to Spanish-speaking individuals. Comida is food in place. Comida is not merely a means of acquiring calories, but rather a social event that engages friends and families harmoniously around a source of nourishment. In this article, Esteva explores the complex relationship between food(s) as a form of socialization. Esteva claims that, “…Life is in fact organized around such fires, the center of kitchens, the source of comida.” Esteva recognizes that for many Spanish families, including Ramon-Bacon’s, food and tradition are almost synonymous. Although Ramon-Bacon grew up lacking many of the necessary ingredients of Spanish cuisine, her family improvised to keep their traditions alive, instead of assimilating and losing their ethnic identity. Moreover, during mealtime only Spanish was spoken; for Ramon-Bacon’s family this was a way to maintain cultural traditions while connecting these cultural traditions to culinary traditions, what Esteva would classify as comida.

Below (link): Gustavo Esteva’s blog.

http://gustavo-esteva.blogspot.com/

Above (photo): Gustavo Esteva, Mexican activist and a strong advocate of post-development.

Works Cited:

Esteva, Gustavo. (1994) “Re-embedding Food in Agriculture.” Culture and Agriculture. (48), 2-12.

Esteva, Gustavo. “Gustavo Esteva.” Blogspot. Web. 18 Oct. 2015. http://gustavo-esteva.blogspot.com/

Ramon-Bacon, Elisabeth. “Growing Up Spanish in Vermont.” Vermont Historical Society. Web. 18 Oct. 2015. https://vermonthistory.org/images/stories/articles/greenmountaineer/growingupspanish.pdf.

“Memere Rousseau’s Tourtiere.” Yankee Magazine. Web. 18 Oct. 2015. http://www.yankeemagazine.com/recipe/memere-rousseaus-tourtiere-meat-pie

Photo of Gustavo Esteva: http://redefineschool.com/gustavo-esteva/

Do Children Have Choice?

Stephanie Beland

"Well I would never feed my child that"

As a student teacher, I have heard my fair share of judgments made among parents.  From how a student dresses, to grades, to what a child is eating.  The judgement made about students are usually meant to reflect "bad parenting".  It is sad that most of these "bad parents" are living paycheck to paycheck and doing the best that they can for their children with limited time (working job to job) and small salaries.  In the US it is nearly impossible to make a name for oneself without an education.  Education means higher paychecks, better jobs, and more choice when it comes to where to live, what to wear, and how to eat.  

Education has become increasingly important as time goes on.  In order to make a livable wage people are pressured to receive a higher education in order to land more prestigious and better paying jobs.  Unfortunately, education can be expensive.  One's personal identity is heavily representative of one's education.  In terms of food, more education equals better diet, more variety, and more awareness of nutrition.  "A greater dietary variety and higher consumption of vegetables and fruit {are} associated with higher education and higher income levels" (The American Journal).  What concerns me most is the influence that an adult's education level has on children.  "The amount of time parents spend in the classroom may affect how healthy--or not-- their children's diets are" (Martinez).  Sadly, parents who did not receive very much education are limited on what they can provide for their children.  Many kids are growing up accustomed to eating fast foods and unhealthy snacks that are coming from bags and wrappers.  The kids who are being fed this sort of diet are growing up disadvantaged in comparison to their peers.  Children begin to identify themselves with the sorts of foods that their parents feed them and start choosing those unhealthy foods themselves. 

                While I student taught at JFK Elementary in Winooski, Vermont I noticed a trend among students coming from low income households.  The students coming from low income households were eating bags of chips and candies, sometimes they were not eating anything at all.  The students who were coming from higher income households usually had snacks such as yogurt, fruit, vegetables with hummus, and granola.  Low income school districts such as Winooski try their best to provide for their students as well as they are able to.  Every classroom in the school was supplied with a bag of a fruit or vegetable everyday during snack so that each student could get one piece (strawberries, carrots, broccoli, celery, etc.).  Winooski district also provides free breakfast lunch, and a take-home dinner to all of their students.  These meals were not elaborate and at times very unhealthy, but they were much more nutritious than the options students had at home (sometimes nothing).  The food situation in Winooski really got me questioning the role that food plays in children's lives.  Why were the students coming from better off homes eating food of better quality?  Is money the main factor, or do their parents know more about nutrition because of their education?

                                                                               (U.S Students Prefer)

  I did some research and discovered that better educated adults are more likely to read up on nutrition and do research.  This gives them a "leg up on the nutrition factor" (Martinez) of food.  What makes me sad is that children who identify with fatty, sugary foods are not making the choice to eat that way.  These parents with low levels of education have greater difficulty finding work and therefore begin to shop for convenience, simplicity of meal preparation, and low price.  In turn, these foods affect the way that their children work in school.  Without a proper, balanced diet, students cannot perform their best due to their lack of energy and pain from hunger.

                I hate to see kids identifying themselves with foods that can lead to medical complications and obesity.  It is difficult for children to make healthy choices when they have identified with the food that their parents have fed them their entire lives.  "We need public health approaches that make healthy options available, accessible, and affordable for all Americans" (Vermont).   

Works Cited 

 Martinez, J. (2013, March 28). Parents' education can affect children's diets: Study. Retrieved         October 18, 2015.

 The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. (2004). Retrieved October 19, 2015.

 U.S. Students Prefer Unhealthy Lunch - The National Herald. (2014, May 5). Retrieved October 20, 2015.

 Vermont: State Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Profile. (2012, September 1). Retrieved October 18, 2015.

Vermont Loves Local, and So Do I

By Patrick Buono

 

It seems to me that many people question their own identity at some point in their lives, be it consistently or just once in a while. Through various outlets like art, music, athletics, writing, fashion, our friends/families, careers, and even the food we eat, people come to express and define themselves.

Question: How else do people define themselves or their identities?

www.pinterest.com

                                                          

Answer: By where they’re from and where they live, of course.

People have immense pride in their hometowns. Living most of the year in New England, naturally, I consistently hear people boasting about being from Boston, or in the greater Boston area, or how their Uncle lives in Boston, etc. etc. In addition to this immense pride drawn from such locations, the geographic area that one inhabits has incredible impacts on the cuisines that we have access to, which in turn defines how we view and consume food.

In a place like Burlington, Vermont, I have come to find myself with the access to some of the most diverse food offerings I think I could ever imagine, especially in a small city of approximately 42,000. In my three (going on four) years here, I’ve sampled dining hall food, global fast food chains, local fast food chains, various food trucks, fantastic restaurants big and small, vegan offerings, farmer’s markets, full-scale food festivals, and anything else one can imagine. Honestly, it’s incredible.

What I derive from these various adventures in the world of food is both a sense of contentedness, as well as a deeper connection to the city of Burlington and the state of Vermont as a whole. I’ve come to pride myself on being able to tell a friend or out-of-towner which restaurant I recommend or where to find a great coffee shop.

Relevant, then, is how the culture of food in Burlington is heavily derived from local food systems. It’s almost striking when the independent restaurants I’ve come to see around town AREN’T using local ingredients. In 2015, Vermont was named the “#1 locavore oriented state” for the fourth consecutive year (http://www.strollingoftheheifers.com/locavoreindex/). 

http://www.strollingoftheheifers.com

In the immensely globalized food system as a whole, this trend may seem peculiar, but more and more people get behind it every day. Vermont has bred a culture of reliance on local food production, and “by many accounts, Vermont has developed the most comprehensive food systems plan in the country and the first of its kind in New England,” heavily incorporating local foods (Rachel Carter, Burlington Free Press 2015).

People often like to be a part of something bigger than themselves, and the so-called “locavore movement” is no exception, especially here in Burlington. In a complete rejection of typical American foodways, in this movement people insist on local sourcing and careful preparation of their cuisine, no matter the kind. Massive disconnect exists between large scale, industrial food production, which in my opinion is part of the appeal of local food systems (commonly called “LFS”). Knowing that your food is from nearby, handled by only a few people, and presented to you by a trustworthy source is a powerful thing. The connections we see/taste in local food provides deep social meaning for people, as well as an outward expression of commitment (think a sort of visual statement of “I buy local” to others) to something that may not be typical in other societies. This “rebellion” is notable in a particularly individualist culture like ours in Vermont, as well as America as a whole.

“LFS efforts would appear to be clear examples to this resistance to change, calling for realignment of human social interaction in the context of place and food,” says Robert Feagan, in relation to globalization vs. localization of food. His point here reinforces my own thoughts on significance of food from nearby.

In closing, I would like remark that being exposed to all these local foods had significant impacts on me, in a positive way, and will continue to do so as I get to experience many new foods each day here in Burlington.

Works Cited

Feagan, R. "The Place of Food: Mapping out the 'local' in Local Food Systems." Progress in Human Geography 31.1 (2007): 23-42. ProQuest. Web. 21 Oct. 2015. 

Pollak, Sally. "The Local Food Champions." The Burlington Free Press: 8. Feb 23 2015. ProQuest. Web. 21 Oct. 2015 .  

"Strolling of the Heifers 2015 Locavore Index: Which States Are Most Committed to Locally-sourced Food?" Strolling of the Heifers. N.p., 7 Apr. 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

FRESH Food Cooking

Jessie Melincoff

“Investing in women and girls is good for our communities and the economy. We work to address the needs of women in Vermont to earn a livable wage and to succeed despite numerous personal, educational, and economic barriers to employment.” 

This is the mission of Vermont Works For Women, an organization that has worked to support FRESH Food. FRESH Food is a program that gives women experience and training in kitchens in order to bring healthy meals to childcare centers in the Burlington, Vermont area. This program works with women of all races, ethnicities, and economic backgrounds and in order to build confidence, teach skills, and change lives. 

This program focuses on the success of women in order to fight back against the barriers of education, economic, and employment issues. Unable to gain employment, the FRESH Food program teaches women how to cook healthy food, gives them the opportunity to eat locally sourced food, and provides them with the kitchen skills that are necessary to find work in professional kitchens. These skills and knowledge improve the livelihood of the individual women, but also the lives of their family and community as a whole. 

Many women who come into this program are unable to make anything other than food that comes out of packages and goes into a microwave. These women have often been job-less for many years and must find ways to provide for their children. Not only do the barriers of food knowledge and employment challenge women in our local community, but their sense of identity and success is stripped away. As one woman states, “It’s helping me do me”. This program is helping these women find themselves again. Through food, they are able to gain the skills and knowledge that make it possible for them to succeed in the workplace and in the home. Another woman states, “I want my kids to know they can do anything”. The program helps women find who they truly are so that they can teach their friends, family and children how to do the same. 

Through this program, woman are able to create a vision and make it possible. Not only are they succeeding individually, but they are also bringing and producing meals for pre-school children. Children in the Burlington area are given access to nutritious and locally sourced food because of the FRESH Food program. 

Programs such as this one are crucial in all areas of the world. Sometimes it is hard to see the need for programs like this, especially in areas like Burlington. As a college student, I can acknowledge that I am unaware of some of these issues going on around me. Women, although not always seen as it, are equally as important in the workplace and especially in the involvement of raising children. Giving women the ability to not only succeed but find what they do best helps an entire community prosper. 

Sources:

• "Home." FRESH Food. Web. 21 Oct. 2015. <http://freshfoodvt.org>.
• "About Us." Vermont Works for Women RSS. Web. 21 Oct. 2015. <http://vtworksforwomen.org/about-us/>.

Why Food and Identity?

          The role food plays in our everyday lives is highly influential in a number of ways. As a group, we plan to explore the ways in which the food we consume and interact with forms how we identify ourselves within our society. This food and identity relationship is formed by four major topics which we plan to further explore: food in the context of location, food and female gender roles, education, and its role in an individual's heritage. 

Food itself, as well as our interactions with food, are deeply connected to where the food came from, where it went, and even where it will end up. Based much around personal experience and observation, this section of the blog will attempt to express how one’s physical location has immense implications in regards to perceptions of food, availability/accessibility, significance of local and slow food movements, and relations to globalization. Through examination of the greater Burlington, VT area, cuisine can aid in simultaneously forming a sense of identity/expression and a new understanding of culture within the American Industrial Agriculture system. Local food movements, increasingly popular in this region, form a sort of counterculture within the larger umbrella of the typical American foodway. Representative of this counterculture is the juxtaposition of family owned restaurants, i.e. the local ones (many of which are seen in Burlington), against massive fast food chains like McDonald’s, “the most visible manifestation of economic and cultural globalization” (Kiple 278). Each of these ideas will be discussed in more depth in following posts.

The next subtopic involves the concept of gender and how the relationship to food will be explored further. Gender, meaning male and female or masculine and feminine, take on different roles depending on the society one is trying to understand. No matter where in the world, gender defines one’s relationship to and with food. More specifically, many women’s relationship with food is defined by societal norms and expectations. Rural women often have less access to food and resources, defining them as less powerful than men. Often times agricultural work is defined as being a man’s job. Even daily food practices in our local community of Burlington, VT creates gender roles and societal expectations of how women should and do identify with food.The exploration of these gender roles in our community and what the western society as a whole defines as acceptable in terms of women and food will be further explored throughout this blog. 

Next, we explore how one's educational identity plays a large role in relationships formed with food. People who are less-educated are usually part of a poorer community with less access to good foods. In order for these communities to flourish, their educational systems need to be reformed. If schools were to teach practical skills such as gardening and nutrition, more people would be able to provide for the community. Education does not only affect the knowledge of what to eat, it also influences the practices that are used to bring food to the table. Education is a powerful tool that should be better utilized throughout the rural poor parts of the world. Without education people are left to their own judgment when it comes to feeding themselves and their families. This educational gap is even seen in Burlington and Winooski Vermont where refugee students are coming to school without snacks or nutritious lunches and are left to eat what becomes available whether they like it or not. People with higher education levels can afford to eat better and know how to meet their nutritional needs, while the rest of the world lacks the knowledge on how to grow or maintain food sources. 

Lastly, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines heritage as, “The traditions, achievements, beliefs, etc., that are part of the history of a group or nation.” (Heritage, 2015) When considering aspects of tradition of a group or culture, food is often one of the first to come to mind. For example, we commonly associate pasta and pizza with Italians, curry and naan with Indians and gyros and baklava with Greeks. (Foodbycountry.com, 2015) Food is deeply embedded in cultural tradition and food and heritage can almost be used synonymously. Additionally, migration patterns across the globe have shaped, diversified and blended nations creating fusions and distinctions of traditional cuisine that have been modernized to keep up with trends of globalization.

Works Cited

• Foodbycountry.com, 2015 Food in Every Country. http://www.foodbycountry.com, accessed October 10, 2015. 

• Heritage 2015 Merriam-Webster. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heritage, accessed October 10, 2015. 

• Kiple, Kenneth F. A Movable Feast: Ten Millennia of Food Globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007. Print. 

• Nanok, T. (2005, August 30). Welcome to Eldis - Eldis. Retrieved October 10, 2015.

• "Why Gender." Gender: . Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Web. 13 Oct. 2015. <http://www.fao.org/gender/gender-home/gender-why/why-gender/en/>.