Family Interview Reflection
Shmorgishborg?!
I delved into my mom’s life during my interview and actually ended up learning much more about my grandmother than I anticipated. I had the opportunity to hear about my mom’s childhood and how she grew up. It was very interesting to hear her memories of her childhood and how she experienced Christmas and other holidays. I enjoyed seeing my mom’s perspective on how this recipe played a role in her life. It was cute to see my mom get excited about certain things she experienced as a girl and what made her happy when she was my age and to watch her face brighten up when she talked about her parents. I also learned a lot about my family history, and history in general from the current events that my mom described that were going on when she was my age. We talked briefly about the eighties, the Reagan presidency, and apartheid in South Africa. I had the opportunity to understand what holidays were like for my mom, and how they differ from the way our family celebrates holidays now.
During the interview, we talked a lot about my grandfather being from Sweden and how Swedish culture and food played a big role in my mom’s childhood. I never knew anything about this before, and I now have knowledge of an article in the newspaper about my grandma and her traditional Swedish Shmorgishborg for Christmas Eve, which is awesome! It was amazing to learn about the holiday traditions in my mother’s life and how Swedish culture played a role in that. It’s funny because I don’t know anything about Swedish culture and we never really talk about that or symbolize that in my family now. In fact, the only time I remember talking about our Swedish background was for a heritage project in second grade. My grandparents visited family in Sweden when my mom was a child, and my grandma brought home a lot of recipes. When they came back, she began making the traditional Swedish food for family meals quite regularly.
My family recipe comes from a Christmas tradition of making cookies with my grandma, my mom, and my sisters. Mexican Wedding Cake Cookies happen to be my mom’s and my favorite. This recipe represents how important and how family-oriented our Christmas traditions have been in the past. Unfortunately, my maternal grandparents have passed, but this project and recipe has allowed me to reminisce about my grandma and when I used to visit her. My grandparents retired in Palm Springs after living a fairly lavish life. I spent the first few Christmas’ of my life at their house and that was my first time experiencing our family holiday traditions. My grandma used to make dozens of variations of cookies and we had nearly a hundred tins each labeled with a different type of cookie in the kitchen during Christmas time. We ate ham on Christmas Eve at my grandma’s house, and that tradition has, for the most part, stayed the same.
I miss my grandparents a tremendous amount, but talking about them in depth these past few weeks, has given me the opportunity to regain a connection with them, and to continue to be close with them and learn about them even when they are gone. It is very special to me to recall the visits I made to their house during Christmas time because I was able to remember exactly what my mom was describing even though I was pretty young. I am extremely grateful and happy to be continuing to learn about my grandparents and their heritage even when they are no longer with me because it is allowing me to grow a relationship with them that I never had when they were alive.
I delved into my mom’s life during my interview and actually ended up learning much more about my grandmother than I anticipated. I had the opportunity to hear about my mom’s childhood and how she grew up. It was very interesting to hear her memories of her childhood and how she experienced Christmas and other holidays. I enjoyed seeing my mom’s perspective on how this recipe played a role in her life. It was cute to see my mom get excited about certain things she experienced as a girl and what made her happy when she was my age and to watch her face brighten up when she talked about her parents. I also learned a lot about my family history, and history in general from the current events that my mom described that were going on when she was my age. We talked briefly about the eighties, the Reagan presidency, and apartheid in South Africa. I had the opportunity to understand what holidays were like for my mom, and how they differ from the way our family celebrates holidays now.
During the interview, we talked a lot about my grandfather being from Sweden and how Swedish culture and food played a big role in my mom’s childhood. I never knew anything about this before, and I now have knowledge of an article in the newspaper about my grandma and her traditional Swedish Shmorgishborg for Christmas Eve, which is awesome! It was amazing to learn about the holiday traditions in my mother’s life and how Swedish culture played a role in that. It’s funny because I don’t know anything about Swedish culture and we never really talk about that or symbolize that in my family now. In fact, the only time I remember talking about our Swedish background was for a heritage project in second grade. My grandparents visited family in Sweden when my mom was a child, and my grandma brought home a lot of recipes. When they came back, she began making the traditional Swedish food for family meals quite regularly.
My family recipe comes from a Christmas tradition of making cookies with my grandma, my mom, and my sisters. Mexican Wedding Cake Cookies happen to be my mom’s and my favorite. This recipe represents how important and how family-oriented our Christmas traditions have been in the past. Unfortunately, my maternal grandparents have passed, but this project and recipe has allowed me to reminisce about my grandma and when I used to visit her. My grandparents retired in Palm Springs after living a fairly lavish life. I spent the first few Christmas’ of my life at their house and that was my first time experiencing our family holiday traditions. My grandma used to make dozens of variations of cookies and we had nearly a hundred tins each labeled with a different type of cookie in the kitchen during Christmas time. We ate ham on Christmas Eve at my grandma’s house, and that tradition has, for the most part, stayed the same.
I miss my grandparents a tremendous amount, but talking about them in depth these past few weeks, has given me the opportunity to regain a connection with them, and to continue to be close with them and learn about them even when they are gone. It is very special to me to recall the visits I made to their house during Christmas time because I was able to remember exactly what my mom was describing even though I was pretty young. I am extremely grateful and happy to be continuing to learn about my grandparents and their heritage even when they are no longer with me because it is allowing me to grow a relationship with them that I never had when they were alive.
Interview Reflection
Eva Heinrichs
5/2/18
Interview Reflection: Berta from Chile
I interviewed Berta, a native Latin American who is from Chile and came to the United States in 1978. She opened her own restaurant: Berta’s Latin Cuisine in Old Town, 29 years ago. She came to the United States with only one hundred dollars and built a business in America that she would have never had the opportunity to create in the country she grew up in. We asked about her childhood and the cuisine in Chile. All the food that she ate growing up, was from the region. All locally grown in the area, the southern part of Chile. Berta believes that Chilean cuisine does not vary much. She talked about the food she ate, examples are beans, rice, lots of meat, fish, chicken, eggs, vegetables, potatoes, green beans, corn tortillas, a lot of parsley, and cilantro. Her family was poor and this is what most families, of which most were poor families, ate in the south of Chile. She said she learned to cook 45 years ago and had learned from her mother. She talked about making pancakes with blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries that were regularly grown in the fields. During her childhood, she also made juices with the homegrown fruits and organic apples that were grown everywhere! She spoke about the rows and rows of apple trees that covered the land.
She said the biggest influence her culture has had on the way she cooks, is her love for cooking. That’s where it comes from, cooking comes from the heart, she explained. She also said she loves the compliments she gets from people that eat her food, which also makes her love cooking. She said that it is very important that she came here with her roots to show her cooking in its natural form.
When we asked about the way she grew up, she simply said, “We grew up very quickly in Latin America.” She said kids played baseball, basketball, and soccer, just like in the United States. Berta said that in Latin America and in Chile, women do not have as much freedom as we do in the United States. She said that in America, we live very freely, but it is not like that for women in Latin America. That is why she moved to the United States, because there was opportunity for success in other countries. Here in America, women actually have the opportunity to build a business on their own and be independent, and that is exactly what Berta did here.
These findings are significant to me because it was eye-opening to hear about how Berta grew up. The comparative questions were important to ask to collate the United States to Chile, essentially, comparing our childhood to Berta’s childhood. Obviously, it is humbling to remember all of the opportunities we have in the country where we grew up and I think that everyone had that same finding from each separate interview. I know that women specifically don’t have the same opportunities in Latin America that we do in the United States. It allows for us, as privileged children living in the United States, to appreciate the opportunities we have and the success that is on our path because of where we live. And as a woman, to remember that gender equality is not equivalent in other countries as to where it is now in the United States.
5/2/18
Interview Reflection: Berta from Chile
I interviewed Berta, a native Latin American who is from Chile and came to the United States in 1978. She opened her own restaurant: Berta’s Latin Cuisine in Old Town, 29 years ago. She came to the United States with only one hundred dollars and built a business in America that she would have never had the opportunity to create in the country she grew up in. We asked about her childhood and the cuisine in Chile. All the food that she ate growing up, was from the region. All locally grown in the area, the southern part of Chile. Berta believes that Chilean cuisine does not vary much. She talked about the food she ate, examples are beans, rice, lots of meat, fish, chicken, eggs, vegetables, potatoes, green beans, corn tortillas, a lot of parsley, and cilantro. Her family was poor and this is what most families, of which most were poor families, ate in the south of Chile. She said she learned to cook 45 years ago and had learned from her mother. She talked about making pancakes with blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries that were regularly grown in the fields. During her childhood, she also made juices with the homegrown fruits and organic apples that were grown everywhere! She spoke about the rows and rows of apple trees that covered the land.
She said the biggest influence her culture has had on the way she cooks, is her love for cooking. That’s where it comes from, cooking comes from the heart, she explained. She also said she loves the compliments she gets from people that eat her food, which also makes her love cooking. She said that it is very important that she came here with her roots to show her cooking in its natural form.
When we asked about the way she grew up, she simply said, “We grew up very quickly in Latin America.” She said kids played baseball, basketball, and soccer, just like in the United States. Berta said that in Latin America and in Chile, women do not have as much freedom as we do in the United States. She said that in America, we live very freely, but it is not like that for women in Latin America. That is why she moved to the United States, because there was opportunity for success in other countries. Here in America, women actually have the opportunity to build a business on their own and be independent, and that is exactly what Berta did here.
These findings are significant to me because it was eye-opening to hear about how Berta grew up. The comparative questions were important to ask to collate the United States to Chile, essentially, comparing our childhood to Berta’s childhood. Obviously, it is humbling to remember all of the opportunities we have in the country where we grew up and I think that everyone had that same finding from each separate interview. I know that women specifically don’t have the same opportunities in Latin America that we do in the United States. It allows for us, as privileged children living in the United States, to appreciate the opportunities we have and the success that is on our path because of where we live. And as a woman, to remember that gender equality is not equivalent in other countries as to where it is now in the United States.