SL&ENT Diaspora and Cultural Identity
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It's a serious thread, but an important community one that I want to foster here.
I've been wanting to make this topic for a while, since there aren't any real places to talk about this sort of thing for people who are displaced from their home and their culture. For those who grew up or lived in different countries, being able to share your identity and come to terms with it is important. A lot of people struggled to come to terms with that, and still aren't able to. Whether you are Nigerian refugee living in Japan, or a first generation Taiwanese living in America, Japanese in Peru, a Korean who was sent out for adoption to a white family, you've had to learn how to adapt, find a way to fit in, and at the same time still try and remember your culture and your identity.
There hasn't really been a place for people to really express how they felt being treated like a zoo animal and outcasted and dealing with all the things that come with being displaced from your home, family, and culture. I want this to be a safe place for people like us to share their experiences living or growing up in a new, different world, and how they learned to come to terms with it. As well as help others.
Culture and identity are such an important part of who you are. Being able to hold onto it, share it, and pass it along generation to generation is powerful. If we don't, generations of recipes, cultural practices, skills, and more are lost forever.
I know this is a really personal thing, but so many people are affected by it and if you ever feel like you need a place to talk or an outlet, I want this place to be for you.
I will clean thread up later and add more sections with videos, books, and things to follow.
Books
Fresh of the Boat: A Memoir - Eddie Huang
Double Cup Love - Eddie Huang
I've been wanting to make this topic for a while, since there aren't any real places to talk about this sort of thing for people who are displaced from their home and their culture. For those who grew up or lived in different countries, being able to share your identity and come to terms with it is important. A lot of people struggled to come to terms with that, and still aren't able to. Whether you are Nigerian refugee living in Japan, or a first generation Taiwanese living in America, Japanese in Peru, a Korean who was sent out for adoption to a white family, you've had to learn how to adapt, find a way to fit in, and at the same time still try and remember your culture and your identity.
There hasn't really been a place for people to really express how they felt being treated like a zoo animal and outcasted and dealing with all the things that come with being displaced from your home, family, and culture. I want this to be a safe place for people like us to share their experiences living or growing up in a new, different world, and how they learned to come to terms with it. As well as help others.
Culture and identity are such an important part of who you are. Being able to hold onto it, share it, and pass it along generation to generation is powerful. If we don't, generations of recipes, cultural practices, skills, and more are lost forever.
I know this is a really personal thing, but so many people are affected by it and if you ever feel like you need a place to talk or an outlet, I want this place to be for you.
I will clean thread up later and add more sections with videos, books, and things to follow.
Books
Fresh of the Boat: A Memoir - Eddie Huang
Double Cup Love - Eddie Huang
Great idea for a thread, shun. Someone was mentioning the need for a thread like this yesterday, so glad you made it.
I'm not displaced anymore, but I was for a few years. I hear about a lot of this from friends and colleagues from when I was in Berkeley and Oakland. Especially Asian ones who really struggled to come to terms with their own identities, compared to their parents who have always known that they were Japanese/Korean/Taiwanese/etc and don't have that same feeling of being an outcast.
But it is also an issue in culturally homogenous countries, with passing down family businesses, arranged marriages, and more.
I find it really interesting, and it is really important. I've always wanted to visit Peru, Brazil, and the rest of South America and other places in the world, to see other people from my culture who are displaced and what it has been like. If they have any desire to ever come home and bring back what they learned, or if they want to continue living abroad and fostering the new home they built for themselves.
But it is also an issue in culturally homogenous countries, with passing down family businesses, arranged marriages, and more.
I find it really interesting, and it is really important. I've always wanted to visit Peru, Brazil, and the rest of South America and other places in the world, to see other people from my culture who are displaced and what it has been like. If they have any desire to ever come home and bring back what they learned, or if they want to continue living abroad and fostering the new home they built for themselves.
I actually have a copy of Fresh off the Boat on my kindle too shun. I'll check it out.
And yeah, cultural emptiness is just.... well, even when you get used to it, you never get used to it.
And yeah, cultural emptiness is just.... well, even when you get used to it, you never get used to it.
I didn't but my wife did and this is a book she always talks about
The Happiest Refugee - Ahn Do
The Happiest Refugee - Ahn Do
Anh Do nearly didn't make it to Australia. His entire family came close to losing their lives on the sea as they escaped from war-torn Vietnam in an overcrowded boat. But nothing - not murderous pirates, nor the imminent threat of death by hunger, disease or dehydration as they drifted for days - could quench their desire to make a better life in a country where freedom existed.
Life in Australia was hard, an endless succession of back-breaking work, crowded rooms, ruthless landlords and make-do everything. But there was a loving extended family, and always friends and play and something to laugh about for Anh, his brother Khoa and their sister Tram. Things got harder when their father left home when Anh was thirteen - they felt his loss very deeply and their mother struggled to support the family on her own.
His mother's sacrifice was an inspiration to Anh and he worked hard during his teenage years to help her make ends meet, also managing to graduate high school and then university. Another inspiration was the comedian Anh met when he was about to sign on for a 60-hour a week corporate job. Anh asked how many hours he worked. 'Four,' the answer came back, and that was it. He was going to be a comedian!
The Happiest Refugee tells the incredible, uplifting and inspiring life story of one of our favourite personalities. Tragedy, humour, heartache and unswerving determination - a big life with big dreams. Anh's story will move and amuse all who read it.
I'm going to test more honest responses than other places and see how this space reacts to it starting now...
It's weird but I don't identify entirely as African even though America labels me as African-American due to ancestry. I'm more of an American stems from Africa by way of slaves forced to live here but even American is suspect. The Africa genes are there but that culture is long lost as a result of slavery and Jim Crow. AAs are commercialized white supremacist forged remnant of what used to be and it's sad.
The weird thing about me is I can technically claim different cultures: a popular multinational controversial religious organization, alumni of a school that lynched a black person, alumni of an institution that used fake black people in advertising, alumni of another controversial institution, several memberships in organizations black people don't go to, abuse survivor, and the list goes on... However, none of these cultures provide me with sustenance needed to thrive and foster a sense of belonging.
Fuck, I live in a place that does not cater to my people at all and sees as more of scenery than citizens. I got into so many negative interactions with police that I stopped driving out of anxiety.
I went to China and got my eyes opened by how the awful the world views black people. My white friend and I went out to eat and this model looking Chinese woman was appalled at me. She kept pointing to me and dissing my blackness. My Virginian friend told me to chill so I did. It was just crazy seeing how loneliness and desolation in their eyes. It freaked me out but I became envious of Chinese social culture. I got back and none of that existed here. It was like eating ramen all week to having a four star meal at an expensive restaurant knowing you go home to less than subpar food.
Where do I belong? I've tried to answer this question for 20+ years and can't tell you an answer. One time I worked at a nursing home and got frighented by how much people resembled zombies. These older people were alive and breathing but their souls were gone. The point I'm trying to make is breathing and living are two different things. Just because you breathe doesn't mean you're living and your culture plays a huge role in determining the difference.
It's weird but I don't identify entirely as African even though America labels me as African-American due to ancestry. I'm more of an American stems from Africa by way of slaves forced to live here but even American is suspect. The Africa genes are there but that culture is long lost as a result of slavery and Jim Crow. AAs are commercialized white supremacist forged remnant of what used to be and it's sad.
The weird thing about me is I can technically claim different cultures: a popular multinational controversial religious organization, alumni of a school that lynched a black person, alumni of an institution that used fake black people in advertising, alumni of another controversial institution, several memberships in organizations black people don't go to, abuse survivor, and the list goes on... However, none of these cultures provide me with sustenance needed to thrive and foster a sense of belonging.
Fuck, I live in a place that does not cater to my people at all and sees as more of scenery than citizens. I got into so many negative interactions with police that I stopped driving out of anxiety.
I went to China and got my eyes opened by how the awful the world views black people. My white friend and I went out to eat and this model looking Chinese woman was appalled at me. She kept pointing to me and dissing my blackness. My Virginian friend told me to chill so I did. It was just crazy seeing how loneliness and desolation in their eyes. It freaked me out but I became envious of Chinese social culture. I got back and none of that existed here. It was like eating ramen all week to having a four star meal at an expensive restaurant knowing you go home to less than subpar food.
Where do I belong? I've tried to answer this question for 20+ years and can't tell you an answer. One time I worked at a nursing home and got frighented by how much people resembled zombies. These older people were alive and breathing but their souls were gone. The point I'm trying to make is breathing and living are two different things. Just because you breathe doesn't mean you're living and your culture plays a huge role in determining the difference.
Finding your identity and who you are isn't always as simple as coming to terms with being a black dude from Oakland, or Atlanta, or wherever. It is finding a sense of solidarity and being comfortable with who you are, that I am black/american/asian/whatever, it is a part of who I am and I am proud of that. The foods you eat, the way you dress, the cultural values that you grew up with from your parents or whoever raised you, keeping those things alive as part of your identity.
If you find that you feel most accepted is knowing that you're american, than that is okay.
For some people living with diaspora, you are treated like a zoo animal, an exotic creature for the white or privileged to pick at and learn a tourist, washed down version of who you are and what your culture is. Other times you are treated with disgust as if you shouldn't belong there at all.
You struggle with your identity whether you live in an ethnic enclave with people who look like you, or a in a completely foreign land where you it is difficult to speak or know the language. The same applies to when you are finding and coming to terms with your identity, you can find it when you visit your home land, you can find it living in the city you lived all your life, you can find that identity everywhere. The hard part is pinpointing those things that you find so important and inseparable to who you are.
But I hope that some day, wherever you live and who you are with, you are able to find an identity and come to terms with who you are. It can be the things you grew up eating, the traditions that your parents placed on you, if you are adopted the traditions your biological parents would have practices, etc. Only you can come to your own conclusions to what your culture and identity means to you. Everyone else around you will try to help, but you need to find and answer those important questions as to what you find so important.
If you are multiracial and you belong to different cultures, then be apart of them and find what about them is so important to you.
These are questions that refugees and displaced individuals have had to answer, to survive.
Shows like Huang's World tackle this sort of thing really well, some of it is on YouTube.
For me, I grew up fantasizing about American culture with all the things that would be transplanted. Ralph Lauren Polo, Hip Hop, hollywood movies. I had this romanticized view of what the place was to the point I wanted to go to school there, and reality slapped me in the face. I am in a brand new, foreign place, with some help from people who look like me. But day in and day out, people would be staring at you, asking you the same or similar questions and you do your best to keep on going, answering questions trying to fit in to this stereotype I imagined for so long. Eventually you feel as if everyone is treating you like a zoo animal in a cage, behind the glass. They treat you as if you're ignorant. All while you are learning how to speak English and get to speed as fast as possible
You try eating food similar to what reminds you of home, and you realize it tastes completely different. You're homesick, you miss your family, you realize that day by day you are here you are losing your sense of self. Then you meet people who go through something similar, who have been struggling with this their entire life, and I realize how important being Japanese is. Learning the recipes that my grandparents cooked for me and how important my customs and traditions are. That I am not some kind of caricature that people viewed me as, as I used to view them. You learn to grasp with what you took for granted, and you tell yourself that enough is enough. I'm not going to be stepped over and treated like this anymore, I am proud to be who I am.
If you find that you feel most accepted is knowing that you're american, than that is okay.
For some people living with diaspora, you are treated like a zoo animal, an exotic creature for the white or privileged to pick at and learn a tourist, washed down version of who you are and what your culture is. Other times you are treated with disgust as if you shouldn't belong there at all.
You struggle with your identity whether you live in an ethnic enclave with people who look like you, or a in a completely foreign land where you it is difficult to speak or know the language. The same applies to when you are finding and coming to terms with your identity, you can find it when you visit your home land, you can find it living in the city you lived all your life, you can find that identity everywhere. The hard part is pinpointing those things that you find so important and inseparable to who you are.
But I hope that some day, wherever you live and who you are with, you are able to find an identity and come to terms with who you are. It can be the things you grew up eating, the traditions that your parents placed on you, if you are adopted the traditions your biological parents would have practices, etc. Only you can come to your own conclusions to what your culture and identity means to you. Everyone else around you will try to help, but you need to find and answer those important questions as to what you find so important.
If you are multiracial and you belong to different cultures, then be apart of them and find what about them is so important to you.
These are questions that refugees and displaced individuals have had to answer, to survive.
Shows like Huang's World tackle this sort of thing really well, some of it is on YouTube.
For me, I grew up fantasizing about American culture with all the things that would be transplanted. Ralph Lauren Polo, Hip Hop, hollywood movies. I had this romanticized view of what the place was to the point I wanted to go to school there, and reality slapped me in the face. I am in a brand new, foreign place, with some help from people who look like me. But day in and day out, people would be staring at you, asking you the same or similar questions and you do your best to keep on going, answering questions trying to fit in to this stereotype I imagined for so long. Eventually you feel as if everyone is treating you like a zoo animal in a cage, behind the glass. They treat you as if you're ignorant. All while you are learning how to speak English and get to speed as fast as possible
You try eating food similar to what reminds you of home, and you realize it tastes completely different. You're homesick, you miss your family, you realize that day by day you are here you are losing your sense of self. Then you meet people who go through something similar, who have been struggling with this their entire life, and I realize how important being Japanese is. Learning the recipes that my grandparents cooked for me and how important my customs and traditions are. That I am not some kind of caricature that people viewed me as, as I used to view them. You learn to grasp with what you took for granted, and you tell yourself that enough is enough. I'm not going to be stepped over and treated like this anymore, I am proud to be who I am.
I've been trying to answer the question of my cultural identity for over 20 years now. I'm was born in Venezuela, as was my mother, her lineage stems from Spaniards and Italians. My father is Ecuadorian, my family on that side is mostly rooted from there, so a connection to true indigenous heritage.
Been in American most of my life, since I was 8, but I've never "fit in" with anyone, not latinos, not whites, not blacks, and the older I get the more desperate I become to find those answers. I was able to participate in the Standing Rock movement this past fall, and it was a really enlightening experience that has pushed me to explore my indigenous roots more than before.
At the end of the day, it's lonely out here, I can't really relate to the closest people I have, my siblings, because they were able to build that cultural identity before I was even able to. I'm a sociable person, I love to have people around me, but no matter the amount of friends or lovers I've had throughout my life, I've never met someone out there that's made me feel like I'm not alone.
Been in American most of my life, since I was 8, but I've never "fit in" with anyone, not latinos, not whites, not blacks, and the older I get the more desperate I become to find those answers. I was able to participate in the Standing Rock movement this past fall, and it was a really enlightening experience that has pushed me to explore my indigenous roots more than before.
At the end of the day, it's lonely out here, I can't really relate to the closest people I have, my siblings, because they were able to build that cultural identity before I was even able to. I'm a sociable person, I love to have people around me, but no matter the amount of friends or lovers I've had throughout my life, I've never met someone out there that's made me feel like I'm not alone.
To me finding your identity is not about fitting in and conforming to the society around you, but being proud and content of the practices that make up who you are.
Being able to share the kind of food you eat growing up with other people and pass down generations of practices and food is one way of dealing with diaspora.
I hope that both you and Furyous are able to find an outlet, because that feeling of isolation and being cutoff from your roots is terrifying and very lonely.
I really like the memoir, and the television show that Eddie Huang does, Huang's World.
Being able to share the kind of food you eat growing up with other people and pass down generations of practices and food is one way of dealing with diaspora.
I hope that both you and Furyous are able to find an outlet, because that feeling of isolation and being cutoff from your roots is terrifying and very lonely.
By DY_nasty Go To PostI actually have a copy of Fresh off the Boat on my kindle too shun. I'll check it out.
And yeah, cultural emptiness is just…. well, even when you get used to it, you never get used to it.
I really like the memoir, and the television show that Eddie Huang does, Huang's World.
The thing that gets me from time to time is that there are a lot of things I can't talk about with some of my friends. They're good people and they try really hard to listen and be understanding, but ultimately they won't really ever get it.
It kinda sucks.
It kinda sucks.
I'm mixed, half white-half asian/pacific islander. I didn't really have any of this cultural conflict people are describing here: I was raised just by my mother(who is just white) and I spent my formative years in Utah, so while I knew obviously that I wasn't just white I self visualized myself as white? If that makes sense.
But this past year makes me feel the brownest I've ever felt.
I don't know where I'm going with this. Just felt like sharing.
But this past year makes me feel the brownest I've ever felt.
I don't know where I'm going with this. Just felt like sharing.
*looks in thread*
*sniffs*
*doesn't smell any patronising odours*
What up..
Yeah, Jamaican heritage here. Live in the UK and really have a hard time understanding exactly what my identity is. Am I black, african, British, Jamaican or some mad combo of all of the above.?
I think for alot of people of african origin, especially those with ancestors that were slaves, the problem is not only identity, but balancing that the culture they have adopted is now comfortable, but all traces of the culture their family formed generations was stamped out of them by force. Jamaicans in particular were pretty much thrown in a genetic blender. My skin may be brown, but my DNA has more variety than a penny mix up.
*sniffs*
*doesn't smell any patronising odours*
What up..
Yeah, Jamaican heritage here. Live in the UK and really have a hard time understanding exactly what my identity is. Am I black, african, British, Jamaican or some mad combo of all of the above.?
I think for alot of people of african origin, especially those with ancestors that were slaves, the problem is not only identity, but balancing that the culture they have adopted is now comfortable, but all traces of the culture their family formed generations was stamped out of them by force. Jamaicans in particular were pretty much thrown in a genetic blender. My skin may be brown, but my DNA has more variety than a penny mix up.
Checking in as your war refugee dujour. I've never really formalized my thoughts about my background. It's always been a bit fleeting especially the more time passes. I suppose I should think it through.
@Thoughtspeak: I think Kidjr has a near identical background to yours. And welcome!
@Thoughtspeak: I think Kidjr has a near identical background to yours. And welcome!
Action Bronson touches on this a bit too. How food and being around a kitchen so much helped him rediscover his roots and affirm it as Albania.
Interesting posts to read in here, glad this thread was bumped because I missed it the first time.
I was born in Macedonia but my family moved to the US when I was 3. Never really struggled with my identity and always consider myself Macedonian rather than American. I think this is most likely because I know the language and my family kept most of the traditions while I was growing up here. I've visited back home every year/every other year for a while now and regularly keep in touch with other family over there so I'm never too far away from reconnecting with the culture.
At the same time the only way other people would know I'm not a regular white American is my very slavic name so I've never felt like an outcast. I think I just appreciate how I have two places I can call home and how it adds an interesting wrinkle to my story.
Answering the question "where are you from" is fun because I can't answer without elaborating or follow up questions because of my name, lack of accent, or just obscure country of origin lol.
I was born in Macedonia but my family moved to the US when I was 3. Never really struggled with my identity and always consider myself Macedonian rather than American. I think this is most likely because I know the language and my family kept most of the traditions while I was growing up here. I've visited back home every year/every other year for a while now and regularly keep in touch with other family over there so I'm never too far away from reconnecting with the culture.
At the same time the only way other people would know I'm not a regular white American is my very slavic name so I've never felt like an outcast. I think I just appreciate how I have two places I can call home and how it adds an interesting wrinkle to my story.
Answering the question "where are you from" is fun because I can't answer without elaborating or follow up questions because of my name, lack of accent, or just obscure country of origin lol.
By Thoughtspeak Go To Post*looks in thread*
*sniffs*
*doesn't smell any patronising odours*
What up..
Yeah, Jamaican heritage here. Live in the UK and really have a hard time understanding exactly what my identity is. Am I black, african, British, Jamaican or some mad combo of all of the above.?
I think for alot of people of african origin, especially those with ancestors that were slaves, the problem is not only identity, but balancing that the culture they have adopted is now comfortable, but all traces of the culture their family formed generations was stamped out of them by force. Jamaicans in particular were pretty much thrown in a genetic blender. My skin may be brown, but my DNA has more variety than a penny mix up.
Welcome! yes relio is correct we have very similar backgrounds. I was born in the UK but grew up in Jamaica before returning to the UK as a child.
I think historically even though we're from Africa, I've rarely known any carribeans to embrace that aspect of their "culture" with maybe the exception of a few rasta's.
But I've found doing things like carnival have really help with a sense of culture and herritage.
By reilo Go To Post@Thoughtspeak: I think Kidjr has a near identical background to yours. And welcome!
Hay dude, thanks!
By Kidjr Go To PostWelcome! yes relio is correct we have very similar backgrounds. I was born in the UK but grew up in Jamaica before returning to the UK as a child.
I think historically even though we're from Africa, I've rarely known any carribeans to embrace that aspect of their "culture" with maybe the exception of a few rasta's.
But I've found doing things like carnival have really help with a sense of culture and herritage.
Yeah, I'm even more further removed than you though. Pops is Jamaican, mom's is British, but grew up in yard. Entire family is variation of the above.
Yeah we generally don't embrace our african heritage. Africa is like this distant continent full of weird people and weird languages. I have as much affinity with africa as the typical white European. Often less so.
But I am african, at the very least genetically. So it feels weird. Just like I was born and grew up in the UK, but I don't consider myself British in anything but nationality.
By reilo Go To PostChecking in as your war refugee dujour. I've never really formalized my thoughts about my background. It's always been a bit fleeting especially the more time passes. I suppose I should think it through.'Sup.
@Thoughtspeak: I think Kidjr has a near identical background to yours. And welcome!
I was 7 when Yugoslavia turned to shit and me and my mom escaped to Germany from Sarajevo, Bosnia a few months before the city got under siege for 3 years. It was tough but the country has been very good to us during that time and since I was still young I adapted rather quickly. We went back eventually but I never really could fit back in no matter how hard I tried, I guess it came down to the fact that I spent some crucial years as a child in a different society. Didn't help that it got worse and worse politically and economically. Absolutely no prosperity or future for the young generations. I'm back in Germany since a few years and thankfully my German was still near perfect and I kept it that way while being home.
It didn't take me long to adapt again (it helped I still have family here and connected with old friends again). Still makes me sad whenever I check what's going down there and I don't see any indication that it will get better. But I always felt "home" in both places, mostly because of the bonds and experiences I built with people in Germany and Bosnia over the years. I guess my background therefore is hard to put into words as well, having lived my life in two different cultures and societies for almost an equal amount of time.
I wanted to pick up on something I noticed in this thread. Cooking. I grew up in South Tyrol. My grandparents were forced to leave their homes by the fascists and only returned after the War. It was a long and arduous process full of violence and distrust to get to the autonomy they now have. But the one point where Italians and South Tyroleans came together was cooking. Today the traditional cuisine there is an amazing amalgamation of two cooking traditions firmly rooted in the poor kitchen. From Knödel to Pasta, to Risotto to wine and beer. And while there is still tension, the common cuisine developed is an immensely strong cultural binding agent. Even just travelling 100 kilometers north or east, and you can absolutely notice the stark difference in recipes.
As for how I would identify myself... I have asked myself that a lot. I speak German, have an Italian passport and love both cultures... Honestly I'd rather not choose, as it would mean losing a significant part of what makes up my identity, which is defined by the cultures I grew up in.
Also the best thing for home sickness is to cook your comfort food from back home. For me it's Spinach Knödel, with Parmesan and melted Butter on top. Or Vitello tonnato, or Caprese... Now I'm hungry lol.
As for how I would identify myself... I have asked myself that a lot. I speak German, have an Italian passport and love both cultures... Honestly I'd rather not choose, as it would mean losing a significant part of what makes up my identity, which is defined by the cultures I grew up in.
Also the best thing for home sickness is to cook your comfort food from back home. For me it's Spinach Knödel, with Parmesan and melted Butter on top. Or Vitello tonnato, or Caprese... Now I'm hungry lol.
I immigrated from country A to country B when I was in high school. As I got older, I kind of give up rooting for country B and just make my living here. The way I see it, if you are a Bostonian who moves to New York, nobody would expect you to change from a Red Sox fan to a Yankees fan. My kid is a different story, he can choose whatever he wants.
Also, I kind of think this discrimination and disrespect thing is overblown. If I really believe that, I would go find a job in the old country.
I am not sure what you meant by "safe space," if you want me to stop, just PM me.
Also, I kind of think this discrimination and disrespect thing is overblown. If I really believe that, I would go find a job in the old country.
I am not sure what you meant by "safe space," if you want me to stop, just PM me.
By boris_feinbrand Go To PostI wanted to pick up on something I noticed in this thread. Cooking. I grew up in South Tyrol. My grandparents were forced to leave their homes by the fascists and only returned after the War. It was a long and arduous process full of violence and distrust to get to the autonomy they now have. But the one point where Italians and South Tyroleans came together was cooking. Today the traditional cuisine there is an amazing amalgamation of two cooking traditions firmly rooted in the poor kitchen. From Knödel to Pasta, to Risotto to wine and beer. And while there is still tension, the common cuisine developed is an immensely strong cultural binding agent. Even just travelling 100 kilometers north or east, and you can absolutely notice the stark difference in recipes.
As for how I would identify myself… I have asked myself that a lot. I speak German, have an Italian passport and love both cultures… Honestly I'd rather not choose, as it would mean losing a significant part of what makes up my identity, which is defined by the cultures I grew up in.
Also the best thing for home sickness is to cook your comfort food from back home. For me it's Spinach Knödel, with Parmesan and melted Butter on top. Or Vitello tonnato, or Caprese… Now I'm hungry lol.
Gotta Cosign this to a certain extent. Carribean food is such a melting pot of cultures that I don't think you can tye it one or even less than several influences. Like one of my favorites, Curry goat, has clear Indian influences but has more in common with african boiled goat stew.
Rice and peas (what curry goat is traditional served with) has clear Latin American origins, but the technique of using onion and thyme for flavour comes from Spain.
Coconut in the rice comes from the islands themselves, but dumplings (which are also often served with curry goat) are English in origin.
All of our food is like this, combined with our discoveries of spices to make our food taste even better (which came from the fact slaves only had bad and spoiled cuts of meat to work with)
That's why it tastes so damn good :p
That all being said, I feel african people throughout the diaspora, have built too much of a culture of "comfort food". While delicious, alot of carribean food is incredibly unhealthy and to even to admit this in polite company is tantamount to heresy. Likewise with our ideas of portions. So much damn rice!
Until we do, we will not get a hold of the increasing large obesity epidemic among people of carribean origin.
By Thoughtspeak Go To PostGotta Cosign this to a certain extent. Carribean food is such a melting pot of cultures that I don't think you can tye it one or even less than several influences. Like one of my favorites, Curry goat, has clear Indian influences but has more in common with african boiled goat stew.Portion size is something that is also a problem with us here lol. The problem with comfort food is that it's way too easy to over indulge. Those meals were created to feed hard working people who were on their feet all day, while also working with an insanely small budget. They need the calorie intake... But once you lead a mostly sedentary lifestyle, you either need to cut the portion size or substitute certain ingredients for lower calory options.
Rice and peas (what curry goat is traditional served with) has clear Latin American origins, but the technique of using onion and thyme for flavour comes from Spain.
Coconut in the rice comes from the islands themselves, but dumplings (which are also often served with curry goat) are English in origin.
All of our food is like this, combined with our discoveries of spices to make our food taste even better (which came from the fact slaves only had bad and spoiled cuts of meat to work with)
That's why it tastes so damn good :p
That all being said, I feel african people throughout the diaspora, have built too much of a culture of "comfort food". While delicious, alot of carribean food is incredibly unhealthy and to even to admit this in polite company is tantamount to heresy. Likewise with our ideas of portions. So much damn rice!
Until we do, we will not get a hold of the increasing large obesity epidemic among people of carribean origin.
It's been a long time since I had goat... Mmmh now I'm even more hungry.
By Kill Your Masters Go To Post'Sup.Haha damn. Welcome brate.
I was 7 when Yugoslavia turned to shit and me and my mom escaped to Germany from Sarajevo, Bosnia a few months before the city got under siege for 3 years. It was tough but the country has been very good to us during that time and since I was still young I adapted rather quickly. We went back eventually but I never really could fit back in no matter how hard I tried, I guess it came down to the fact that I spent some crucial years as a child in a different society. Didn't help that it got worse and worse politically and economically. Absolutely no prosperity or future for the young generations. I'm back in Germany since a few years and thankfully my German was still near perfect and I kept it that way while being home.
It didn't take me long to adapt again (it helped I still have family here and connected with old friends again). Still makes me sad whenever I check what's going down there and I don't see any indication that it will get better. But I always felt "home" in both places, mostly because of the bonds and experiences I built with people in Germany and Bosnia over the years. I guess my background therefore is hard to put into words as well, having lived my life in two different cultures and societies for almost an equal amount of time.
I was 5 when my dad put my sister, Mom and I on a bus and we fled Sarajevo to Germany where we had relatives. My dad followed suit a few months later. We stayed there til ‘98 until we found asylum in America and landed in Portland.
Whatever childhood home I had was rubbles last time I saw it. And that last time was 15 years ago and I still don’t have much of a connection. I’ll visit again but it’ll be bizarre. My spoken Bosnian is near perfect. My reading/writing is rough since I was never formally trained but I get by.
Your love for Nurkic makes so much more sense now. It's great that children growing up can see their role models in things like sports.
By reilo Go To PostHaha damn. Welcome brate.Oh snap. Hvala! World is quite small it seems considering how small we are as a nation. Or as the saying goes "malo nas je al nas ima"
I was 5 when my dad put my sister, Mom and I on a bus and we fled Sarajevo to Germany where we had relatives. My dad followed suit a few months later. We stayed there til ‘98 until we found asylum in America and landed in Portland.
Whatever childhood home I had was rubbles last time I saw it. And that last time was 15 years ago and I still don’t have much of a connection. I’ll visit again but it’ll be bizarre. My spoken Bosnian is near perfect. My reading/writing is rough since I was never formally trained but I get by.
I understand the lack of connection completely. The city has had a huge shift in population where many people left, new people came from near villages during the war etc. 15 years is a lot though. The city has changed so much, some things for the better, some definitely for the worse. While I'm happy when I get back to visit my parents and friends it also makes me sad what has become of it in a way.
You should definitely visit during summer when the Film Festival is happening. 7 days of non stop parties and events for cheap.
Ryan Coogler a real one about all this. Great listen about diaspora and how similar his traditions and practices were to the motherland.
My wife and I are planning a trip to visit and see Nikkeijin in South America in the next year. I think it is important to meet and learn from how people who are separated from their culture live and what programs people can do to bridge that gap both ways.
Has anyone here traveled to South America, particularly Peru and Brazil? I would like to know of tips where to go, and particularly where the Asian enclaves are.
Has anyone here traveled to South America, particularly Peru and Brazil? I would like to know of tips where to go, and particularly where the Asian enclaves are.
By shun Go To PostMy wife and I are planning a trip to visit and see Nikkeijin in South America in the next year. I think it is important to meet and learn from how people who are separated from their culture live and what programs people can do to bridge that gap both ways.I haven't but I may be able to ask a Brazilian native tomorrow, if I remember to.
Has anyone here traveled to South America, particularly Peru and Brazil? I would like to know of tips where to go, and particularly where the Asian enclaves are.
By Kibner Go To PostI haven't but I may be able to ask a Brazilian native tomorrow, if I remember to.Much appreciative
By shun Go To PostMuch appreciativeWell, I forgot. I did just fire off a text to her husband to see if he can ask her for me.