I found all three readings to be interesting. Specifically I enjoyed the heavy theme of cooking and food that showed throughout all three documents. One of the first things that came into my mind while reading the documents was what Dr. Bezio said in class on Wednesday about learning history via food, which is very true. Based upon what types of food are popular in different locations, we can tell if there is or was a large population of people from that nation or region living in that area at some point in time.
When reading Mise en Place and Hating My Soul, both by Michael W. Twitty, I found it very interesting how the people from the Mise en Place chapter did and were interested in traveling back to the various states that, at some point in history, had large populations of slaves while the people from the Hating My Soul chapter didn’t visit nor pursue visiting states where their ancestors were from. I was surprised to see that people didn’t want to visit where they came from and where their traditions really started.
Lastly, as I was reading Mise en Place I thought it was interesting to see how food and ethnic origins helped to shape modern day cities and events. The creole and other styles of cooking that formulated during and after the enslavement of the Africans are still around, and are population, to this day. A line from the passage that I find to be true is, “Food is often a necessary vehicle between one’s ancestors.” I think this is very true. Food truly helps people connect. Food can connect people who have been fighting or arguing and it can even connect those who have trouble communicating. An example would be a language barrier. To me it’s interesting to see how something so simple and necessary as food can bring people together.
I love the point you made about how food can tell a story about an area or group of people. It is definitely a tricky thing investigating into a not so glorious past. I would personally love to learn about my ancestors and what they have been through, but I can not say I would for certain if my ancestry tied back to slavery. You did a great job bringing up and investigating into some tough questions.
I too find it interesting how food is able to break barriers and bring people together. Food has the ability to connect people to their lineages, and it is important that we are able to keep cultural foods within our society so we don’t homogenize as a society. I also was surprised when people didn’t want to visit where there ancestors came from, as that is something I am curious about myself.