Skip to content

Blog Post for 9/7

After listening to the podcast, then immediately reading No More Whistle Walking For Me, i immediately understood the use of food as a means of culture described in the podcast. While i have always viewed food as a way to be culturally affluent, i never put the true significance and importance it has to groups of people until i read this first chapter. While there was a wide variety of content in this chapter, i want to focus on a quote from the beginning, as well as the conclusion as i feel like those two moments best displayed the importance of food to culture and sense of self.

Twitty says on page 7, “Many of our most pungent memories are carried through food, just as connections to our ancestors are reaffirmed by cooking the dishes handed down to us.” This quote displays the perfect example of what was illustrated in the podcast and throughout the chapter. Twitty clearly states that the memories passed along through generations are passed through food, and he feels more closely connected to his ancestors through it. While this does not surprise me as many cultures share past experiences through food, i am amazed by the sheer importance of food as a means of connecting to one’s self and lineage that is demonstrated throughout the chapter. Personally, i have thought of myself as connected to food, but after reading this, i found myself thinking of all of the foods that drew memories of family and my past, and was shocked to see the vast amount of them.

The second point i want to focus on is in the conclusion. The last two paragraphs are extremely powerful as Twitty looks back on all of the times he cooked with his mother, grandmother, father, and other important figures in his life. He reflects on the lectures, the scoldings, the pride, the shame, the failure, and the excitement of it all, and finished the masterpiece off with a quote, “It is not enough to know the past of the people you interpret. You must know your own past.” He found his past through cooking and food, and that to me shows the true power of food that i never knew existed.

Published inUncategorized

2 Comments

  1. Olivia Cranshaw Olivia Cranshaw

    I think the final quote you shared is similar to an idea Twitty said in the first chapter that there can be no chef without a homeland. I felt this was such a personal statement to make because of how true it is; it is extremely difficult to create without knowing your own roots, which is why it is upsetting that Twitty didn’t want to feel connected because he internalized hatred. As he began cooking with his family I think it helped him expand his connection to his history and familial past, which allowed him to “know” more about his family and the reasons behind their actions (like moving).

  2. Isabela Keetley Isabela Keetley

    I love the quote that Twitty wrote at the end of the chapter as well. It was very interesting for me to read his story in finding himself through food and his time spent in the kitchen. In regards to the quote, i think that many people use the past of their people or family to describe themselves instead of actually finding their own past. While I know it is something that is very difficult to do for some people (myself included) its important to know the distinction between something that is special to making you who you are versus something that also impacts you but that isn’t truly you.

Leave a Reply