Ethnic Foods

I grew up eating ethnic foods…. I think parent’s attitudes toward foods greatly influences a child. When I was growing up we celebrated food… all kinds… and we tried different things…. I think I’m a little more adventuresome than my Mother… but then again she will remind you that she has tried Turtle Soup and Rattlesnake… mind you … she had no idea what she was eating until after…. I have tried sweetbreads…and yes… I knew what it was as I was eating them… first swallow was a little tough…. but they were actually very good.

Where was I going with this… ah … yes…. German food… My family background is German Hungarian… not German and Hungarian… but German Hungarian… there is a difference.

You see when it was Austria Hungary… the government wanted to encourage their land to be settled so they gave land grants to people willing to move there and live…. the deal was…. they could keep their language, customs and religion. So from different parts of Germany, many men and women came to Austria Hungary to settle and live and raise families.

I’m not sure if you know about German foods… but the tastes and customs can vary from some parts of Germany to other parts… much like you find in the US. So my family came from different parts of Germany and with that came more foods…. My one Grandmother’s family came from Alsace Lorraine so there was a definite French influence in their foods.

Well… after years … things tend to assimilate… and the language developed a dialect and the regional foods crept into their diets…. and….

As a descendant of this heritage… I reaped the benefits… in foods, that is… so you will find through the course of time.. you will see some decidedly German dishes…. some Hungarian dishes… and some somewhere in between…. and then you have to factor in the American twist to it all…. I am an All-American girl, after all…. and I have been influenced by the regions of the US I have lived in and people I grew up with…. I do love all things Italian and Mexican and French and Asian and…well you get the idea…

And we must remember that it is the new millennium … we just can’t eat things like we used to… we’d have an average life expectancy below 50….. so many recipes have been trimmed down…. and I do believe they haven’t lost their flavor….

My son was born into this melting pot heritage…. and he's a foodie too… he tries virtually anything… he tries stuff… I’m not so sure I would go near…. well that’s a bit of an exaggeration… but believe me… he eats weird…. errrr… I mean different things.

And this, my friends, is what my blog is all about…. food … food… and more food…. with its different backgrounds and influences…

Trust me… it’s all good.