University of Grandmothers

Last Sunday, Jennifer Esperanza, an anthro prof. from Beloit College, led B&P's Discussion Section about eating and culture. She spoke about how immigrant food traditions change and adapt, when brought to the United States. Many of the habits from the "old country" absorb convenience items offered by the US, other, more time-consuming are dropped. She discussed what is lost as these practices fade; the act of cooking together and the community it creates, the healthier options that come from home-grown/home-cooked food. It was very interesting, especially as everyone seems to be looking to the past for ways to become more thrifty, more economical, more authentic in their eating and living.

(There were some comments about the healthfulness of lard-soaked dumplings, schmaltz, etc., but never mind...)

She also mentioned her visit to the Slow Food conference that was held in San Francisco this fall. The Italian founder, Carlo Petrini, called for the establishment of the University of Grandmothers as a way to preserve this old habits and customs that have fallen victim to convenience and processed foods. It got me to think about my Grandmothers--Klara Plakans--a Latvian emigree who came to the US in 1952 and Peg Sweeney, whose Irish ancestors arrived in the Pittsburgh area in the 1840s. I'm quizzing my parents over the holidays to find out more about the source of our family's food traditions. I know a lot of the stories, but I'll bet there's some deeper stuff that gets unearthed.

I'll keep you updated as I learn more... (for instance, the Plakans family kept a goose they traded food rations for while housed in a US Displaced Persons Camp in Germany in the late 1949s, for instance. A Goose?!?)