In article >,
Ranee Mueller > wrote:
> In article >,
> wrote:
>
> > True, but for many of us when we get older those foods
> > of national origin become comfort foods. Don't we often
> > see requests here for recipes "like my grandma used to make"?
> >
> > When we are younger, symbols of ethnicity are often embarrassing,
> > when we are trying hard to "fit in". Luckily, most of us outgrow
> > that shallowness.
>
> I know that was absolutely true for me. I grew up as an Arab
> American in Eugene, Oregon. I looked different, my mom spoke with an
> accent, she didn't let me do all of the things my friends did, we ate
> different food. All I wanted in the whole world was to be normal and
> like everyone else. As I got older, I started to get over most of that.
> My friends loved my mom's food, but I wanted to eat cheeseburgers and
> pizza.
I think I'm still rebelling against the foods of my childhood (bland,
middle American, white bread). My current concept of comfort food is a
large bowl of pho or some other Southeast Asian soup. The spicier the
better. If I do make foods similar to what my mother would make, I
always tweak them to be more in line with our tastebuds.
>
> I've had a little bit of that angst come up again now that we have a
> daughter. Rich wanted her to look like me, but I wasn't so sure. I was
> the kind of girl that everyone's parents thought was attractive, but the
> kids in school didn't agree. As an adult it was different, because I
> was exotic, but exotic isn't in when you're an adolescent. Amira looks
> a lot like me, and I remembered how hard it was looking so different
> from everyone at the ages when appearance meant so much. Her hairline
> is like mine, her face shape, coloring, hair, all of it, and I don't
> want her to grow up thinking she is ugly because she doesn't look
> Norwegian.
>
Standards of beauty are mercifully changing. Once Amira gets into
middle school, being a blond Norwegian may no longer be fashionable
(even in the traditionally Scandinavian part of Seattle). My next door
neighbor's daughter (age 13) is attractive and popular without being
blond and blue-eyed.
Cindy
--
C.J. Fuller
Delete the obvious to email me