If I Die Far From You: Part I

Mexico, beautiful and beloved,
If I die far from you
let them say I am sleeping
and bring me back to you. 


This is the rough translation of Mexico Lindo y Querido, one of the most popular and typical songs of Mexico. It represents a common experience of the Mexican people — that of displacement and immigration. As a Jew and a Mexican I come from two cultures that have experienced forced migration and displacement. As a semi-exile, I have lived the experience. I will not relate the details of my exile in this essay, but I, like so many Mexicans, cannot return because of extenuating circumstances. I use semi-exile because I grew up in two countries and one is no longer available to me. The pain this has caused is difficult to describe, it hurts in a very deep way. I can’t imagine what it must be like for those who made their entire lives in Mexico. Home is one way we identify ourselves and losing your home is a bit like losing a piece of your soul. I often find myself getting angry. Angry that my grandmother may never see her hometown again; that I cannot visit my family, and that a government can get away with atrocities. Mostly, I miss the sights, smells and simplicity of my childhood.

Making Mole with my Grandmother

So what does this have to do with food?  Food is culture; it is the shared experience of a region.  Traditional cooking connects us to the land and customs we were raised with. The smell and taste brings back memories of meals shared with loved ones, living and dead. When I make enchiladas or mole I remember the wisdom of my grandmother, “The chef gets the first enchilada and it should be eaten with your hands” and how her breath smelled like onions when she hugged me. I think of my aunts making tamales and gossiping, and the first time I tried coffee with cinnamon and cloves on a road trip to Veracruz.

Food invokes all of the senses, it connects us, but it also distinguishes us. That is its power. When we eat the food of home we are honoring the sacredness of place.

The last few centuries has seen quite a bit of human emigration and immigration, but we still long for home. That is why we cling to traditions, even in a world that is becoming increasingly globalized. We claim Italian, Japanese, or Mexican heritage even when our families have lived in this country for generations. Our bodies contain memories of our ancestral past and it takes a long time to adjust. Forced migration affects more than individuals. It can change whole communities for generations and often it is painful.

Happy Travels: Border Crossing Bridge El Paso/Juarez

So far the best remedy to my own angst has been to break bread (tortillas) with people from my culture who share my situation. It will never taste exactly the same, but it connects me to what was lost. It also inspires me to move forward because in spite of the difficulties, people are incredibly adaptive and resourceful. Remember your home, it is part of who you are. But also remember that it is not impossible to root yourself elsewhere. It just takes time.

 

An Imported Thanksgiving

Evidence of the (sometimes) illusive American food culture

Studying abroad in Santiago, Chile last semester and living with a Chilean family I assumed I wouldn’t participate in any Thanksgiving festivities. It wasn’t a big deal, I thought. I had done very well in the not-being-homesick department so that success would extend to a Thursday like any other Thursday, right?

Wrong. As the holiday approached, my need to be with family and eat turkey steadily increased. Luckily, a team of exchange students (largely American) came to the rescue. Not surprisingly, I wasn’t alone in my first Thanksgiving away from home state. We decided that if we couldn’t be with our families, at least we would be away from our families together. It was the next best thing; a day to forget we were thousands of miles south of the good ol’ USA and to pretend the stuffing tasted just like grandma’s.

Surprisingly, there was little need to pretend. Our potluck was impresionante, as the Chileans would say. A snapshot of the dinner by the numbers:

• 40 people (American, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, British, Australian, French)
• 1 turkey
• 4 types of mashed potatoes
• 1 green bean casserole
• 3 variations of sweet potatoes
• 1 Portuguese cake
• 3 Spanish tortillas
• 2 apple crisps
• 1 tv showing American football
• Barely any alcohol

Eating Pizza in Brazil

My first Food Studies paper has been published in the 2010-2011 issue of Portal, the yearly academic publication from the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies. It is a simple account of my recent study abroad experience in Brazil. It is so interesting how eating pizza with my host family made me aware of so many social issues in their society and lives. This, is how I study food.

Eating Pizza in Brazil: poverty and other social issues

The entire world eats Pizza, or something that resembles it, such as seafood pizza in Japan or the pizza with fruit Brazilians eat here in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. At LLI- LAS, my concentration is officially Portuguese, but my true focus lies in food studies. Normally, a student like myself, who is interested in learning about pizza, would probably focus on the food itself: the toppings, the sauces, or the crust. However, in my studies, I learn about larger social issues through my personal experiences and interest in food. I am currently studying abroad in Brazil and have had the honor of living with an amazing host family of four: father, mother, and two sons, ages 22 and 16. The other night on the way home from an event, we decided to get a pizza for dinner. I did not realize how different the whole process was going to be from the “American” way of getting a pizza. The experience revealed many social and economic issues related to poverty. The following story about eating pizza with my new Brazilian family reveals a deeper social context, beyond gastronomy, in the way pizza is obtained, received, and consumed. Enjoy.

Foodist, Not Foodie

The Food Studies movement is comprised of what I call, “Foodists”. While speaking with people joining the movement, some began to ask, “What do you mean by the term Foodist?” And, how is it different than other Foodie organizations and projects?

Foodies and Foodists have been defined differently by different people across the inter-webs, but the way I use “Foodist” is to focus on the suffix IST. In College, I am a Latin Americanist, in particular a Brazilianist. I also study food. Hence then, I am a Foodist! I wish I could official say that I am a Food Studies Major but that degree doesn’t exsist at our University… yet!

But there is an even more important significance for the IST suffix in Foodist. A Foodist is a foodie that has taken the additional step of actively engaging in the food movement to create positive change and benefit all people’s foodways. Many people at UT are foodists and they don’t even know it. The nutrition major realizing that there is a lot more to public nutrition than just the science of the GI system. The student org that teaches about the meaning of food. The professor that creates a course and pushes through the bureaucracy to get it available for students to learn.

My definition of Foodist came from being a Liberal Arts student. Liberal Arts majors sometimes ask themselves what we are going to do with our majors? Why are they important?

We are artists. We care for world and it’s inhabitants. As a Latin American Studies major at UT, I grew to care for people from a very different culture from mine. Studying abroad in their culture was my realization of the importance of food. Although their foodways were quite different from those of many Estadounidenses, it was what allowed me to connect with them as humans. An artist creates beauty, shares stories, and cares… We learn to care and love not just ourselves but to live for others.

You might say, “but that still doesn’t say what you are going to do with your life!”

Technical skills (math, sciences, laws, etc) are important. They are how you do things, but they are not why you do things. The best innovations and change come from people motivated to act outside of what they are paid or required to do. Sure, one will be more economically secure for stronger technical skills, but will you be able to answer why you do what you do? I love food. My why is to make sure that all malnourished people’s, both abroad and in the States, have not just enough food to eat but that it is the correct foods for their health. “How to do that?” and “What technical skills I need?” are questions that I will answer as I go.

Foodies and Foodists both are considered in my mind as caring artists but the difference is that the Food Studies movement is connecting people that care enough about food that it has lead them to act. The activists of food, so to speak. So, stop and ask yourself, “Is my care for good food for me, my circle of friends, or for others?” Don’t we want food security/sovereignty for all humanity?

Food Studies needs people from all colleges and majors to be part of the movement because our different fields of study and ways of understanding food can make a positive change in this world. That is what we are suppose to be doing at UT, no? What Starts Here Changes the World. If you consider yourself a foodie, I challenge you to take on the responsibly of being a Foodist. Food can be enjoyable for everyone if we just act.

Together we are setting an example for Universities around the Nation to bring back a food focus into our academic lives.

Eat up life.

Food Sovereignty in Bolivia

Two weeks before the Fall 2011 semester started, I had the honor of being part of a Food First delegation in Bolivia with the amazing new project Food Sovereignty Tours.

It is hard to summarize all the new information that was presented to me by Bolivian locals and from the wonderful professionals–now friends–that I met on the trip. Being the youngster on the trip, I did not feel ready to engage in the subject of Food Sovereignty and Climate Change. Even though I did not have much of a background in many of the discussion topics, it did not take an expert to see the shocking reality of the world food system in Bolivia. How the Global North uses beautiful counties like Bolivia in the Global South to aid their own food security. How food is no longer a human right but a commodity used to control populations and benefit certain wealthy nations. As an undergraduate in college, we read a lot about the injustices and unfair issues throughout the world, but lack the reality of experiencing it. I wish my school would had some sort of Study Abroad Program like this. Wake up tours. I wasn’t able to get a scholarship or university credit for the tour (I funded it with the rest of my emergency savings and donations from a few professors who believe in my future) yet it was worth it because I went in with just an interest in food security and left a food activist.