The Foods of Ethnicity

At Christmas especially, the foods of our ethnicity connect us like little else.

It is about much more than the taste of things. Yes, it's about memories at the family table, but it is about much more than that as well.

America, ever a land of immigrants, is home to countless descendents of those who left one country to start a new life here. Likely you are one of these, as am I.

When our forebears arrived, they tended to settle within visiting distance of one another, if not next door. The "familiar" was big in their acclimation to a new land. Language, family customs, religion and food traditions were vital ways to keep in their lives the better things they hoped to retain from their homelands.

Time and ensuing generations encouraged becoming "more American." Accents were shunned, couples of contrasting backgrounds sometimes married, and even religions at times were changed.

But more often than not, what people continued to literally "bring to the table" reflected a purity and loyalty to food customs.

A couple might at length discuss whether to bring up children in one church or another, and they surely persisted on English as their predominant tongue in the world-at-large. For livelihood, they pushed education and training, the American path to success.

But food was another matter. In a multi-cultural home, families knew the best of both worlds where food traditions were concerned. Through the decades, traditions remained as true as information (recipes and methods handed down) allowed.

To find not-so-ubiquitous ingredients, household cooks in urban cities sought out merchants of their own ethnic backgrounds who specialized in their fare, adding to the cultural experience. In less settled regions, families prearranged for shelf-stable stock, hauling in supplies to be used all of a season.

The thing was, families did not allow the food customs of their origins to die. They nurtured and sustained favorite recipes, and in turn were nurtured and sustained by comforting meals.

If tastebuds can be trained, surely we are trained from our childhood foods. Just as likely, we can eat the same foods so repeatedly that they wear out their welcome with us. Many of us go through a disenchantment period with foods we've come to tire of, only to "go home again" after we've gorged on our fill of junk foods in our "breakaway" years.

Somehow the taste of freedom often liberates us toward the revelation that what we had wasn't half-bad after all. As a lesson, discovering that the foods we knew are really the foods we WANT to know is something like finding a lost love and bonding then for life. The reconnection is exciting but comfortable, new again but familiar, there for us with a little reciprocal effort.

Our Christmas traditional meal revolves around handmade tamales. That Mexican mainstay starts with slow roasted pork, chunked and plunged into its own juices, and seasoned vibrantly. Then one takes corn masa (a mixed dough) rich with stock and spice, and spreads its creaminess acoss corn husk leaves, wider ones that have been presoftened with hot water.

A substansive dollop of well-juiced pork goes center of the whole thing, and then the husk gets rolled, ends folded under. The tamales, settled into comfy stacks in a roaster, take a steambath for the rest of the afternoon. When they test done, the masa will pull away cleanly from the husk. The aroma does not let a hungry person rest.

Tamales are served with a gentle draping of red or green sauce, and the cook's choice of other Mexican favorites. A nice tray of enchiladas always complements, and definitely a pan of southwestern rice. Because it's the season of excess, I often overdo things with a tostada or taco bar, replete with crisp and fresh garnishes and a cilantro and lime guacamole.

It's true that Christmas is not about us, our pleasures or material gratification. It is about welcoming the Christ child and commemoration of THE most precious birth ever. With that in mind, I have a feeling it's okay for families to celebrate the time with a meal that pays homage to their own origins--origins handed to us by God.