Heritage & Food

In one of those help-me-I-can't-stop-scrolling-through-my-Facebook-feed-and-clicking-on-sensational-articles moments a while back, I stumbled across this (or some version of it), which references a collection of National Geographic photos of what average Americans will look like in 2050. Basically, everyone has a tan skin tone and pretty eyes and is a mix of ethnicities. While I do find it quite sad to lose diversity in one sense (because really everyone will, supposedly, look quite similar), I also think there's something beautiful about so much diversity existing in each person individually.

If Isaac and I have kids, they will have German, Filipino, Swiss, Chinese, Spanish, Dutch, Welsh, and English roots. They will inherit bits and pieces of our Pacific Northwest, Hawaiian, Midwest, and Kenyan cultures, with a smidgen of Korean and other places that have stuck with us. This jumbling of blood, cultures, and histories is unique to us in its specific makeup, but that's pretty much the story of every American.

Our favorite and most natural way to celebrate heritage is through food. Our conversations with people frequently turn to food, and we love to hear what others grew up with and adopted and enjoy. Like our friend Laura's Swedish ugnspannkaka (think baked deep-dish pancake custard), which we've enjoyed at multiple breakfast gatherings.

So I thought it would be fun, over the next few weeks or so, to share several recipes that have sprung up from the varied pasts, homes, cultures, and families that Isaac and I belong to, food that we'll make our kids eat (and already make our friends eat, sometimes stretching them beyond their comfort zones ;)) and hope that they enjoy and embrace as their own.

Here's a preview of the "menu":