Category Archives: Food

Entrée: Hot Pot

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General Information:

  • Genre: Material Lore – Christmas dish; Customary Lore – celebration, family tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: E.S.
  • Date Collected: November 8, 2020

Informant Data:

  • E.S. is a ’22 at Dartmouth College, raised in San Jose, California. She currently studies Economics, French and Psychology. Her parents are from China, but she has been in the US her whole life.

Contextual Data:

Social Context

  • She first participated in this Hot-Pot-eating tradition at Christmas during 2004. Her sister, father, and mother were also at the event. Every time they eat Hot Pot, they would eat thinly sliced lamb, fried tofu curd, spinach cabbage, fish balls, stuffed fish balls, and a personal dipping sauce. At the end of the meal, they would wrap it up with glass noodles.
  • To her, Hot Pot always gave her a cozy, sheltered and safe feeling because the Hot Pot would always steam up the windows. E.S. said that she could not imagine feeling the same with other foods during Christmas.
  • E.S.’s parents don’t place much significance on Christmas, so for them, it is not a serious holiday. However, for the family as a whole, it is definitely a nice opportunity to spend time together. Even though they don’t follow the gift-giving tradition, they make sure that they spend quality time as a family. Because Hot Pot requires the eaters to cook the food themselves, the long cooking time provides E.S. and her family with more time together.
  • As a second-generation Chinese American, it was interesting for her to see the food that her parents ate in China growing up. She appreciated participating in their culture and also views this tradition as a tribute to her parents and ancestors.

Cultural Context

  • Because Hot Pot is a Chinese dish, it is important to understand the background behind the dish. Hot Pot is a simple, no-frills dish that is simply a variety of ingredients put into a soup. Historically, many people could only afford simple ingredients for Hot Pot.
  • Not all people who celebrate Christmas are religious, or believe in Jesus. Hot Pot might surprise people because it has no religious significance. Nevertheless, it is a very important family custom for E.S.

Item

  • Hot pot consists of a broth cooked in a large pot at the center of the dinner table. The pot is shared by all members, and people can just reach into it as they please. Traditionally, different meats (thinly sliced beef and lamb, fish balls, seafood, etc.), vegetables (bok choy, cabbage, spinach, mushrooms), and noodles (ramen, udon, pasta) are cooked in the broth.

Transcript for Interview Clip

Y.H. (collector): Alright so let’s get started. My first question is how you would describe yourself, maybe in one to two sentences.

E.S. (informant): Ok so I’m a ’22. I live in San Jose, as you know. I’m studying Economics, French and Psychology at Dartmouth. Both my parents are from China but I was born in the US.

Y.H.: Great. So this project is about collecting traditional foods eaten during Christmas. Does your family have one?

E.S.: Yes we do.

Y.H.: Can you tell me a bit more? what is the food you eat and when was your first time eating eat.

E.S.: So the food we eat is Hot Pot, which is like a broth where we throw random things in, cook it, and then everyone eats from the same pot. We usually eat it with thinly sliced lamb, fried tofu curd, spinach cabbage, fish balls, stuffed fish balls and a personal dipping sauce. And when was the first time I had it? Hmm. I got to think about this one. I think it was in 2004? I’m not really sure because I have been eating it for a long time.

Y.H.: Did eating Hot Pot make you feel a certain way? Or what was significant about it to you?

E.S.: I also feel cozy, sheltered and safe feeling because the Hot Pot would always steam up the windows. I could not imagine feeling the same with other foods during Christmas. My parents don’t really celebrate Christmas in the traditional way so for them, it is not a serious holiday. However, to the family as a whole, it is definitely a time to spend together. Even though we don’t have a traditional gift-giving, we make sure that they spend quality time together. Because Hot Pot requires the eaters’ to cook it themselves, it gave us a lot of time. However, for me personally, it was interesting to eat the food that my parents ate when they were in China. I really appreciate participating in this culture and also see this tradition as a tribute to my parents and ancestors.

Y.H.: Great. And overall, do you think that there is any cultural or background knowledge that someone would have to have to appreciate Hot Pot the same way you do?

E.S.: I mean, Hot Pot is a Chinese dish so you probably would need to know Chinese culture. It represents the only types of food that most people could afford in Chinese history. Also, I think that we eat Hot Pot instead of other foods because we still celebrate “Christmas” without eating “Christmas” dishes, so probably someone who isn’t Christian yet still celebrates Christmas would understand.

Collector’s comments:

  • Hot Pot is also a big tradition in my family. However, for us, we usually eat Hot Pot during New Years and not Christmas. Nevertheless, I understand the significance of coming together around the dinner table and catching up on each other’s lives. We also take the opportunity to tell each other short sayings such as wishing each other good fortune or good education.

Collector’s Name:

Yilin Huo

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Entrée: Menudo

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material Lore – dish; Customary Lore – celebration, quick fix
  • Language: Spanish
  • Country of Origin: Mexico
  • Informant: I.P.
  • Date Collected: November 7, 2020

Informant Data:

  • I.P. is a ~55 year old man living in New Jersey. He was born in Tlaxcala, Mexico and has spent over 20 years in the United States, where he lives with two of his siblings and, up until they started university, his two nephews and niece. In the US, his family usually celebrates Christmas by inviting over more family members, preparing food, and partaking in some traditions with respect to his religion.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Unlike the American culture of viewing soup as an appetizer, the Mexican culture views it as a full meal, leading to the creation of many soups such as “Caldo de Res”, “Caldo de Pollo,” “Pozole,” and “Menudo.” Menudo was created due to not wanting to waste any parts of an animal. That is why the honeycomb cow tripe is frequently used for this dish.
  • Social Context: Menudo can be eaten at any time, but due to its status as a hangover cure, it is very common during celebratory events. Due to this, it is often seen as a breakfast or lunch meal during Christmas Day, as a quick fix to all the relatives who drank a little too much.

Item:

  • The traditional procedure involves obtaining dried chili peppers including: 1lb of guajillo, 2-3 chipotle peppers, 3 costeno peppers, then cutting their tail, removing the seeds, and boiling them to soften them up. Afterwards, you blend them all together with a handful of cilantro, some onion, some epazote, salt, and 1-2 garlic cloves. While doing this, blanch the honeycomb tripe, and then boil it once more with epazote. Once the meat softens, add the salsa. It is typically eaten with some lime, chopped cilantro and onions.

Translation of Interview Clip:

C.Y. (collector): So you mentioned it is seen as a sort of cure to hangovers, have you ever had it for that purpose?

I.P. (informant): Well, I mean, yea haha, I can’t say I haven’t tried it. That is, back when I used to drink heavily. It’s been a long time since then, and I’m a new man hahaha. But I have to say it is quite effective, it helps sweat out the ailment.

C.Y.: Aaah, I see I see, did you notice it having any other sort of health benefits?

I.P.: Personally, not really haha. When we ate, we ate a lot. So we’d start feeling tired after eating so much, so it’s pretty hard to know. Just a great meal during any time of the day.

Collector’s Comments:

  • My family doesn’t only eat menudo during celebrations since it is one of my favorite meals. Typically it’s also whenever I can persuade my family we should make it. My family also ties homeopathic magic to certain meals; one of these includes menudo as it is eaten very hot, and very spicy, so as to kind of wake you up and sweat out the ailment.

Collector’s Name: Carlos Yepes

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Salad: Ensalada de Noche Buena

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material Lore – dish; Customary Lore – celebration
  • Language: Spanish
  • Country of Origin: Mexico
  • Informant: G.P.
  • Date Collected: November 7, 2020

Informant Data:

  • G.P. is a ~60 year old woman living in New Jersey. She was born in Tlaxcala, Mexico and has spent over 20 years in the United States, where she lives with two of her siblings and her two nephews and niece, up until they started university. In the US, her family usually celebrates Christmas by inviting over more family members, preparing food, and partaking in some religious traditions.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Salads in general are popular in Mexico since most of the population cannot afford certain items on a daily basis. This leads to many families depending on their crops and fruit trees for both food and supplemental income. Luckily, since it doesn’t get cold, crops can be grown year round.
  • Social Context: Many families eat this dish during the midnight dinner on Christmas Eve into Christmas day, and, while the orange makes it a bit more tedious to prepare, a sufficient amount is always made. It is mainly eaten after the main dish, almost as a dessert, but with the main purpose to balance the spicy main meal with something cool and sweet.

Item:

  • The “Christmas Eve Salad”, as it would be known in English, is a sweet fruit salad typically composed of beets, bananas, lettuce, and oranges. It is mainly served at Christmas time due to its festive, flashy, purple color, as well as its cool refreshing taste since it is typically served chilled and with peanuts. The most common procedure involves peeling and boiling beets in about a liter and a half of water, then cutting it into cubes and placing back into the water it was boiled in. While it is boiling, you cut bananas in slices, cut lettuce, and peel oranges so only the juice sacs cut into cubes remain. Once the beets are ready, you wait until its room temperature and then add honey and sugar, cool it, then add the rest of the ingredients. It is typically served in clear glass to complement the colors, as well as with optional peanuts.

Translation of Interview Clip:

C.Y.(collector): Do you make this salad every Christmas?

G.P.(informant): Yea when a lot of family comes over. Due to Covid though, I don’t think I’ll be making it this year. It’s only going to be my close family and I, so I think we’ll probably stick to something simpler and smaller.

C.Y.: What about making a smaller portion?

G.P.: Come on, you should know this. We don’t scale things down. Not in this house. If we do it, we go big. So unless you want to drive a two hour round trip to drop some off to your cousins…?

C.Y.: Haha, I’ll err, get back to you on that.

Collector’s Comments:

  • My family tends to eat this both during the holiday and outside the holiday during the warm months. We typically don’t tie much traditional value to it, aside from the light homeopathic magic belief that something cool will also help cool the stomach down to prevent stomachaches and indigestion since, once accustomed to it, its quite easy to go overboard on spicy foods.

Collector’s Name: Carlos Yepes

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