Seeing the World, One Dish at a Time

Ethnic Foods and Adventurous Grandchildren Are a Good Mix

By Carol Greenberg

One of life's great pleasures is eating. What's more, cooking for one's family can be a way of expressing one's love for them. I always am rewarded with the "oohs" and "aahs" from my children and grandchildren when I bring a favorite family dish to the table.

My favorite foods had their beginnings with my grandmothers: one from Russia and the other from Hungary. Naturally, my family benefits from those recipes. But America is a boiling pot of ethnic groups and, fortunately, we are sharing and enjoying foods from nearly every place in the world.

As people travel more often and the world seems to get smaller – and the children more sophisticated – we can enjoy the tastes of other countries. Perhaps through food we can learn about and create an understanding for people who are not within our own ethnic backgrounds.

Pleasantly enough, I have a choice of ethnic restaurants in my community. On any given night I can enjoy an Italian, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Vietnamese or American dinner. Recently, while we were eating spaghetti in the local Italian restaurant I suggested a game to my grandchildren. My eldest granddaughter began with, "What's the capital of Italy?"

Her brother asked, "Where's Italy?" Then the questions progressed: name the other cities, name a river. Which countries border Italy? How do you say hello in Italian? At that point a waiter came to our table and we asked him. He said he didn't know. He was from Indiana.

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