Saturday, May 15, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
blog prompt 3
What a perfect time to write this blog about my own community. I just flew home to maryland for the weekend. My neighborhood is very diverse, so I am not going to talk about just one type of food or culture. I will however talk about one specific neighborhood tradition that I find extremely fun.
First, here is a little background on my neighborhood. When I first moved here when I was 8, my family was the only house with children on the street. Technically the house next to me had a girl in high school, but to an 8 year old that wasnt a child. Every house was occupied by an elderly resident, and in come a household of 4 girls between the ages of new born and ten. Within 3 years, between the elderly passsing on, or moving away, 4 of the 7 other houses on my street were then occupied by households with children. My little sister and all of the little kids would run around from house to house all day (and they still do!). All of the families on our street know each other, and the parents feel fairly safe leaving their children to run around the neighborhood. Anyways, all four of those families are either fully or part Hispanic, so i've learned a lot about their culture in the past years.
My favorite tradition is on Christmas. I love to bake, and the winter hoidays are the perfect time. In our house every year, my family and I make dozens and dozens of cookies and treats. Chocolate chip, peanutbutter, gingerbread, oatmeal raisen; usually 4 or 5 different types of cookies. Then I make fudge, and my mother makes date bread, banana bread, and she has started making figgy pudding (which by the way is not pudding really. It's more of a bread, and then a sauce that can go on top)! After a days worth of baking, christmas eve we make plates of these fresh treats and take them to all my neighbors. The first year the neighbors to the right of my house moved in (with 3 generations of people, and 4 kids under the age of 6) was probably the first year we made this tradition to pass out cookies.
While we were trying to go to sleep at 10 pm so Santa could come, we heard loud music and a knock on the door. We all woke up to see what was going on. In their tradition, Santa did not come when the children were sleeping so they could wake up for presents Christmas morning, but Santa came while they were outside breaking a pinata and they opened the presents at midnight. However that was not the only tradition they gave to us. In return for the cookies they brought us a plate of fresh made tamales. I had never had a tamale before, but it was the most interesting, yet amazing food I have tasted. Every year now I crave those Tamales, and can't wait til Christmas eve when we do our exchange.
As you can see, we have brought out two cultures together. While everyone around the world probably eats cookies (i dont have sources for this. just a guess), I do think of them as an American food. They are comfort foods, and sold in almost every store in America. It is a tradition in America for most people to put out cookies and milk for Santa. At least that is how the cookie making tradition came about in my household.
In Hispanic culture, or what I have learned from my neighbors, meat is a big portion of their diet. My neighbors are always having cookouts in their backyards, but they don't last a half hour like they do for my family. They will go out and start cooking steak at 3pm, and by 11pm they mighttt be turning off the grill. For those who don't know, Tamales are typically a bit of meat in a corn meal dough, and then wrapped in corn husk and tied at the ends to boil and cook. They originated in Mexico and have been altered/varied and brought to other cultures. My neighbors, for example, came from El Salvador, and brought this wonderful meal and tradition to my family.
First, here is a little background on my neighborhood. When I first moved here when I was 8, my family was the only house with children on the street. Technically the house next to me had a girl in high school, but to an 8 year old that wasnt a child. Every house was occupied by an elderly resident, and in come a household of 4 girls between the ages of new born and ten. Within 3 years, between the elderly passsing on, or moving away, 4 of the 7 other houses on my street were then occupied by households with children. My little sister and all of the little kids would run around from house to house all day (and they still do!). All of the families on our street know each other, and the parents feel fairly safe leaving their children to run around the neighborhood. Anyways, all four of those families are either fully or part Hispanic, so i've learned a lot about their culture in the past years.
My favorite tradition is on Christmas. I love to bake, and the winter hoidays are the perfect time. In our house every year, my family and I make dozens and dozens of cookies and treats. Chocolate chip, peanutbutter, gingerbread, oatmeal raisen; usually 4 or 5 different types of cookies. Then I make fudge, and my mother makes date bread, banana bread, and she has started making figgy pudding (which by the way is not pudding really. It's more of a bread, and then a sauce that can go on top)! After a days worth of baking, christmas eve we make plates of these fresh treats and take them to all my neighbors. The first year the neighbors to the right of my house moved in (with 3 generations of people, and 4 kids under the age of 6) was probably the first year we made this tradition to pass out cookies.
While we were trying to go to sleep at 10 pm so Santa could come, we heard loud music and a knock on the door. We all woke up to see what was going on. In their tradition, Santa did not come when the children were sleeping so they could wake up for presents Christmas morning, but Santa came while they were outside breaking a pinata and they opened the presents at midnight. However that was not the only tradition they gave to us. In return for the cookies they brought us a plate of fresh made tamales. I had never had a tamale before, but it was the most interesting, yet amazing food I have tasted. Every year now I crave those Tamales, and can't wait til Christmas eve when we do our exchange.
As you can see, we have brought out two cultures together. While everyone around the world probably eats cookies (i dont have sources for this. just a guess), I do think of them as an American food. They are comfort foods, and sold in almost every store in America. It is a tradition in America for most people to put out cookies and milk for Santa. At least that is how the cookie making tradition came about in my household.
In Hispanic culture, or what I have learned from my neighbors, meat is a big portion of their diet. My neighbors are always having cookouts in their backyards, but they don't last a half hour like they do for my family. They will go out and start cooking steak at 3pm, and by 11pm they mighttt be turning off the grill. For those who don't know, Tamales are typically a bit of meat in a corn meal dough, and then wrapped in corn husk and tied at the ends to boil and cook. They originated in Mexico and have been altered/varied and brought to other cultures. My neighbors, for example, came from El Salvador, and brought this wonderful meal and tradition to my family.
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