Soul Food and Ordinary Joy
Posted on | December 28, 2010 | 8 Comments
December 26 – Soul Food What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your soul? (Author: Elise Marie Collins)
December 27 – Ordinary Joy Our most profound joy is often experienced during ordinary moments. What was one of your most joyful ordinary moments this year? (Author: Brené Brown)
These two prompts were perfect for me to combine into one.
Soul food for me has always been the kind of food my grandma cooked. My mom’s family is Southern, from North Carolina, so we’re talking fried chicken, gravy and biscuits, pecan pie and coconut cake. My grandma cooked country-style and she cooked BIG. There were no small meals in her house.
That’s the way I learned to cook, and those are my favorite foods. But since I’ve lived in Peru, I’ve had to change the way I cook, for a number of reasons.
First, the ingredients I’m used to using aren’t here. There is no Bisquick or Jiffy corn muffin mix, so I get no biscuits or corn bread.
Second, and the real showstopper – Peruvians don’t take well to outside foods and flavors. So while I can fit in some things, like my fried chicken, other things just aren’t as well accepted. When I make mashed potatoes and gravy, I get looks of sympathy because they think I don’t know how to make “pure de papa”. That’s the Peruvian style of mashed potatoes that’s too thin and runny to be made into a gravy volcano. I’m a good cook, but most of my Peruvian family doesn’t see it – they think I’m useless in the kitchen because I don’t know how to do it the Peruvian way. (Not my husband – he loves most American food.)
So I’ve spent a lot of the last few years learning to do things the Peruvian way – in fact, that’s what the majority of this blog is about. I write about the ordinary joy of making dishes I’ve learned to cook and love. And while the food may not feed my soul as much as my grandma’s fried chicken, I can tell you it does WONDERS for my soul to hear my kids say they like my “aji de gallina” better than their abuela’s.
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8 Responses to “Soul Food and Ordinary Joy”
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I got tired of life happening while I made other plans, so I quit my job and came to Peru. I live here with my Peruvian husband, two sons, three dogs and various other family members, depending on the weather.
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December 28th, 2010 @ 10:13
I’m glad abuela isn’t reading this!! You are a great cook no matter what country you are in. I’m still looking forward to your “real” stir fry.
December 28th, 2010 @ 11:36
kelly,
when i lived in ecuador i found yellow cornmeal (in the section where they sell flours at the supermarket). they might have the same thing in peru! i used that to make cornbread from scratch with sugar and it tastes like jiffy!
my maid loved it and even asked for the recipe.
December 28th, 2010 @ 19:26
Haha… I can safely say what I want, since she’s a long way off from knowing enough English
December 28th, 2010 @ 19:27
Hey Kathleen!
They do have corn meal here – I should quit being lazy and try making cornbread from scratch. I’ve even got little corn “loaf” pans for it.
December 30th, 2010 @ 20:03
Runny mashed potatoes? Yikes ~ I much prefer the thick, volcano kind
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December 30th, 2010 @ 23:33
I totally sympathize with getting a pity look from not being able to cook the Peruvian way. I remember one time I tried to make something like home fries with potatoes, onions and carrots for a Peruvian friend. When I was almost done, he dumped a whole cup of water in it. I looked at the runny stew and was like WTH? And he said, “Don’t worry, I fixed it.”
December 31st, 2010 @ 11:45
LOL! I get that from my husband sometimes – not quite so extreme, but a little bit of.. “Is this missing something? Did your forget something?” Usually because whatever it is doesn’t have big dose of aji thrown in.
January 24th, 2012 @ 23:52
Simply delicious, Wonderful articles, Love it.
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