I was recently interviewed for my take on foods enjoyed by different cultures. I’m half Japanese, half Caucasian. Though my mom is third generation Japanese-Canadian and though my family does not continue to hold that many Japanese traditions, cultural foods seem to stick around. Even at Thanksgiving and Christmas we would often have rice as a side option. When I was a kid, I loved having seaweed paste on my rice. When we were sick we had ochazuke, rice in green tea. I love o’senbei rice crackers, even though they stink. On New Year’s Day, we always have o’zoni, which is a Japanese soup with mochi (pounded rice cakes), though we called that glue soup because of the consistency of the mochi. And I would eat slice after slice after slice of yokan, a bean paste sweet.
From my dad’s side of the family, we started the day with a big breakfast. My grandparents followed the tradition of eating the big meals at breakfast and lunch–which they call “dinner”. They ate much less at the evening meal–“supper”. I now eat 5-6 small meals a deal rather than 3 meals daily, but my favourite meal of the day is breakfast.
This is the article, if you want to read about how I, and a few others, approach culture, food, and health: “Experts Reveal Cultural Dietary Wisdom”
What foods speak strongly of your cultural background?
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