Personal and family cookbooks tells us a lot about the person who compiled the recipes and the people who contributed to the collection. Read more about the ways in which your cookbook shows your connection and distance from others.

Chow chow like so many other foods we take for granted, has the power to show who we are. When I serve this for guests, they learn about the area, and we compare different regions of the province and even the world. This food has the power to show us where we’ve come from, what matters to us today, what possibilities exist, and which don’t.

In many ways, food is as political a project as building roads or erecting buildings. We create major events around food and a closer look at how food can be used to identify a person or a group is an important aspect of studying culture. Peache, pies, and picnics may not seem political, but they are ways that groups establish and maintain cultural norms.

If you’re reading this blog, it’s likely because you’re interested in how food makes you feel. You might want to know more about how food connects individuals or you’re curious about your own food habits or traditions. If you’re here, it’s that you likely already recognize that we all speak a food language: an internalized repertoire of what constitutes good and bad food. Just like any other language, we all have our own accents and dialects.

When I think of “tradition” I think of Fiddler on the Roof and my mom. I think of decorations, people, noise, and, always, food. Pretzels, Lebkuchen, tourtière, cipaille, pies... How did I get into studying traditional foods? Why should anyone care about traditional foods? Join me as I share my origin story into the creation of Franglisch Foods.