Feeding culinary heritage celebrations from around the globe

Different foods often remind us of our cultural heritage and family time. Each of these plays a significant role in cultural traditions both near and far. (Barb Sands)

By Barb Sands
(This article originally appeared in the December 14, 2014 edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune)

How do you celebrate your family holiday and heritage at this time of the year? Perhaps your traditions were handed down over generations, may have been shared from families overseas, or may have been adapted depending on where you now live.

Whether you share food on a large communal or family platter, eat your food with chopsticks, scoop food from plate to mouth, sit low to the ground, or reserve a spot for an unexpected guest, our culinary traditions undeniably serve as important links to our rich heritages.

Food, and our ability to grow food which reminds us of our favorite childhood memories, is a local common denominator. Is it the smell of a particular recipe your parent or grandparent made when you were a child? Is it a freshly harvested head of celery or the vibrant flavor of spices which pays homage to our senses? Let’s take a closer look at how foods can stimulate memories, and how many of these culturally diverse foods can be successfully grown here in San Diego, on your balcony or in your backyard.

First, check out the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources web page for The California Garden Web (cagardenweb.ucanr.edu) and specifically the links for Vegetables (cagardenweb.ucanr.edu/Vegetables) and Nuts & Fruit Trees & Vines (homeorchard.ucanr.edu/Fruits_&_Nuts) for information on how to grow these and other edibles.

Here’s a sampling of popular cultural food-related holiday traditions, and links to ingredients that can be grown here:

• Locally in the Native American community, the Kumeyaay love to bake sweet pinyon muffins, make yucca fruit snacks and cook acorn beef stews. Tribal people view acorns a symbol of their heritage, with great personal and cultural meaning.

• Eating 12 grapes at midnight on New Year’s Eve is a food tradition originating in Spain — one grape for each stroke at midnight represents good luck for each month in the new year. In Italy, on New Year’s Eve, giving lentils to those you love is thought to bring them money in the new year.

• Americans of African descent celebrate Kwanzaa. Although there isn’t a specific dish to connect Kwanzaa with the holidays, okra, carrots, black-eyed peas and squash take center stage. People from the African diaspora and Indigenous peoples of the Carolinas continue to revere and serve Hoppin’ John (stewed black-eyed peas with ham hocks and greens over rice). Did you know that black-eyed peas represent coins and subsequent prosperity for the recipient in the coming year? And did you know that collard greens represent the color of money?

• In Europe, the Jewish culture reveres the bold and exotically beautiful pomegranate. The sweet and juicy arils (seeds) are frequently hung at the door during this time of the year in Greek and Turkish households, and then on New Year’s Eve are smashed — the more arils that end up on your floor, the luckier you will become in the New Year! Crispy potato latkes (potatoes, onions, garlic, eggs) are cooked in oil and are the quintessential reminders of the miracle of Hanukkah.

• The Irish celebrate the holidays with buttered bread (both sweet and salty) to exchange with their family, friends and neighbors. Recipes call for simple ingredients such as fresh corn, salted butter, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, lime zest and juice.

• The Swiss have kept it simple: a culinary tradition is to drop a dollop of fresh whipped cream on the floor precisely at midnight to represent good luck.

• In Iran, a holiday tradition for Persian New Year is a ceremony where Nowruz raw wheat and lentils are precooked to resemble a green patch of grass. A clay jar covers the green for each family member to represent the roots of his or her own life.

• Among other favorite cultural food traditions include hallacas or guiso de carne from Venezuela, sufganiyot from Israel, puff puff from Nigeria, sweet spaghetti from the Philippines, and inari sushi from Japan.

For more on this topic, explore the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List of global foods (bit.ly/UNESCOheritagelist). Did you know that Tucson is the first U.S city to be designated by UNESCO as a City of Gastronomy — a true blend of Mexican and Native American food? Think tacos and mole.

Growing culturally significant foods, building community connections, and stimulating the next generations with food heritage are powerful tools to create meaningful memories and traditions.

Bon appétit!

Sands, a UC Master Gardener of San Diego County since 2014, is an avid traveler and is chair of the Global Culinary committee, which explores and teaches methods of growing cultural and heritage foods.

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