There have been many posts about D$P and his touting his Italian heritage. and while until recently completely omitting his 1/4 Polish heritage and admitting that he is only 1/4th Italian. The post asked for folks to talk about how they relate to their Cultural Heritage. Being the curious creature I am, I created this thread as to be a place folks could do just that without the worry of being said to be pwrlvling.
Ooooookay, D$P Loooves saying that he is Italian while knowing next to nothing about Italy, Italian cuisine or the various Italian cultures. His mother appears to embrace her Polish background more than her Italian as D$P has stated that she made periogi, kielbasa...and "spaghetti cake" ( aka Kugel to the Litvaks [ Jews from northern Poland ] or Kigel to the Galitzainers [ Jews from southeastern Poland ]. D$P 1/4 Jewish, but doesn't know it due to his mother or one of her parents possibly converting to Catholicism? ). D$P does NOT have a Family recipe for anything other than his Americanized candied Italian tomato based meatball sauce. He goes so far as to say he doesn't even know what Alfredo Sauce is. Thus, we have three Polish dishes he says his mother makes annnnnd only one barely Italian gravy*.
*Gravy or Sunday Gravy is what most Traditional Italian/American Italian families would call his 'sauce'. Minus all that SUGAR!.
But I digress:
I am Scottish (Father), Swedish/Cuban (Mother).
I leaned to speak Spanish in High School to honor my Grandfather's heritage ( him having died before I was born, but I take after him the most with my Olive skin and Hazel eyes....and folks in the family saying as much ). I learned Gaelic while growing up as well as learning how to play the bagpipes, tinwhistle, step dance and the words to every Scottish song ever...due to everyone singing them all the time. I picked up Swedish while spending Summers at my Grandmother's house....yeah, my parent's are 'those kind' that would vacation abroad together and send me to Summer with my Grandmother until I was older. It's a good thing, I think as I when I was young I'd not have appreciated the trips and most likely have been a detriment to their enjoyment. I say this as once I was older, I was taken with them and it was a whirlwind of sights, sounds and experiences, museums, botanical gardens, zoos, historical places, dining, concerts, operas, safaris, sailing, scuba diving, trekking, camping, and light mountaineering ( my father and I climbed Beirthorn, Mt Rainer, Mont Blanc, Mt Helgafell, Tofana di Rozes, Gran Paradiso and Kilimanjaro ....Almost. The weather turned and we did not summit that one. ).
I have been to my ancestral 'homes' and spent time with my relations abroad ( Nas Gotland, Croy Scotland and Florida Cuba ). I have learned to cook foods related to my cultural heritage either as them being cooked in my childhood home, holiday traditions or whilst visiting relations. I have ALSO learned how many of the dishes have been AMERICANIZED due to the inability to easily obtain traditional ingredients in the pre-Internet age. I will at this point say that my Grandmother had the original recipes and they were past down as footnotes in the American versions should the maker be able to obtain the 'authentic' ingredients ....hahaha one or more 3x5 notecards stapled together with or with out newspaper clippings taped to them and a metric on of notes crammed into every available space front and back which was 'back in the day' the way recipes were handed down....NOT spiral bound notebooks a la D$P Candied Red Sauce. ( Super Duper Uber PwrLvlv: I have the ORIGINAL recipes my Grandmother's mother brought with her to America written in Swedish by her mother ( my great-great grandmother ) in a box made from the wood of her ( my Great-Grandmother's) baby cradle. How f*ing awesome is that!!!!!111one....okay, I will at this time say that, well I am old, possibly what many would consider very, very old....having been born before man landed on the Moon.
I have worn and still wear 'cultural outfits' either by choice because I like them, whilst celebrating a Holidays or showing support for the cultures I identify with ( mainly this would be my 1/4th Cuban heritage. Having inherited the keys to my Grandfather's parent's home, the home my Grandfather and Grandmother wintered in as well as holding the deeds to the lands [ hahaha my grandfather was a Celery Farm Baron] owned by the family pre-1959.) On a side note: My Grandfather was part and parcel the result as to why you get Fern Fronds in your floral arrangements today! He started selling fern fronds during the Great Depression to floral display makers in Pennsylvania where my Grandmother's people settled to bulk up bouquets.
Thinks that's about enough Cultural Pwrlvling for me.
How about YOU?
