Heart and Soulfood

People are constantly attached with the things that went on in their pasts, specifically things that went on in childhood and adolescence. From symbols of comfort, like stuffed animals or blankets, to locations chalked full of memories, our hearts are filled with aspects of our personal histories. These histories are what shape our identities and through these symbolic memories and experiences we can articulate who we are and what is important to keep close to the heart as time moves forward in our lives.

A lot of these identity shapers come from daily routines that we experience throughout childhood, one specifically being meal time and foods we grow up eating. In two personal reflections by Geoff Nicholson and Roy Ahn the authors discuss how the memories of food from their past have influenced them going forward. On a more intimate level, they remember their parents, who have passed away, and how central the food that they ate was to their relationship as well as perceptions of them.

Nicholson compares the “whiteness” of all the food his mother would prepare and eat to how she viewed life through her catholic faith. White is the color of purity and Nicholson proposes that it is possible that his mother’s favorite food was white in order to feel comforted. Although he doesn’t see this as a completely justifiable conclusion, it is easy to see how he uses the foods that his mother would eat as a lens to understand her as an individual.

Nicholson also evaluates his mother’s enjoyment of milk, which he decides must be because of how she drank it throughout her schooling as well as during WWII. Because of the stress of the war and the way that it affected every individual in one way or another, he sees the comfort in that milk could bring her in war time. Ultimately, Nicholson uses his memories of the food that his mom loved as a way to not only understand her, but even live out his strong connection with her by eating the foods that she loves, even if he himself does not particularly like them.

Ahn discusses a similar connection with his parents based on the foods that he grew up eating, but goes more in depth than just the relationship he had with his parents into how him their relationship shaped a cultural identity that he wants to pass down to his family.

Having both of his parents pass away in a car accident at age 24, Ahn feels a heightened importance of his Korean nationality and how his parents instilled that in him through biological and nurturing means. When Ahn finds himself ordering the wrong Korean dish because of messing up on his parent’s native tongue, he realizes the importance of him making sure that his roots maintain the richness that they deserve. Because of the Korean dishes his mother made consistently throughout his childhood and how he ordered the wrong dish, he sees a connection with his parents that he can act through by ensuring he stays true to  his Korean identity and how by respecting that he can respect his parents memory.

This somewhat reminds me to my own connection to my parents through food. My mother is a native Mexican and because of the pride she takes in her delicious Mexican foods I will never be comfortable eating at Taco Bell because of the shame it brings to real Mexican food. Every time I eat Mexican food I am always comparing the tastes and flavors to my mom’s and have never thought that anyone else’s food even compared. I would need to further reflect however to be able to articulate the level of depth that is describe by Nicholson and Ahn, I am excited to explore the connection between food and relationships.