I know my mother Kimchi by taste. I can also recognize that of his friends, who often stopped in my childhood house with trains from other Korean parallel dishes, or “Banchan”.
Because of them, I have always associated the sound of a doorbell with food. They transmitted to us on Tupperware of marinated vegetables and seasoned roots, my mother would make the same with her own plastic containers wrapped in the brim, and therefore the cycle would continue.
My parents moved from Korea to the United States in the 1970s and assured me that my brothers and sisters still knew Korean culture despite being abroad.
We were connected to culture through food
This lateral Whirligig is a common practice in Korean communities, referred to “Nanum Munhwa”. Directly translated, it means a sharing culture. Banker Does the arduous work take time, which gives dishes with short shelf lives. It is therefore logical to make bulk dishes and share them with others. My mother, who grew up in a farm along the Korean campaign, remembers having to bring the price of her own mother to her neighbors and friends. She feared having to make these deliveries at night, she told me.
She and her friends would bring the same sharing culture in America, but with some modifications. With different ingredients for Improvise old recipesThey have concocted their own basic Banchan versions: Kimchi based on Kohlrabi, envelopments of marinated radish based on roasted beef. And the accompaniment dishes were not delivered between neighbors who shake the farms, but through wagons of the Volvo station and Foresters Subaru.
These accompanying dishes, however, meant much more than good dishes. Linked in this culture Sharing was a network of first generation parents who had emigrated from Korea to America, many of which I still consider an essential part of my education.
They were like a family
The friends of my parents moved almost Korean and almost American citizenship in a way that went beyond the good Samaritan neighbor. For my sisters and I were also de facto aunts and uncles. Therefore, their children were our de facto cousins. Our families have shared all the graces, Christmas, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day together. We led to one -day excursions and extended holidays. Clothes, games, toys have been exchanged, exchanged, transmitted. And being the youngest, I always had my choice of harvest.
To date, there is no perfect word to describe exactly what those of this network mean for me. Calling them my friends is not very generous, and calling the family is a FIB. In addition, I make an extended family – a real expanded family – in Korea. However, with my ocean blood parents, it just seemed to let people around me be mistaken on the side of kinship. Connected by the heritage, they define me what it means to be Korean. To date, my title for my so-called “cousins” is reflected in “older sister” or “older brother”.
I grew up around other children of immigrants
I also grew up with a feeling of gratitude, a common feeling in children of immigrants. Connected by our parents’ decision to move abroad, many of us have raised a deep appreciation in this community that would characterize the experience of our generation. Sometimes, however, I wonder if it will define that of the third.
A new generation takes shape today. Proudly, he includes my niece, Sloane. Sometimes my sisters and I consider how our education will shape his. However, it seems that the evidence will be in the pudding. My parents live nearby and play a strong role in his education. And Sloane, like many others, is raised in a multicultural household – inspired by the values of his parents and parents of her parents.
In our multigenic community increasingly, the dedication to advance our Korean. From language to food, Sloane and others within our community are surrounded by reminders of their roots. And although many children in the neighborhood I grew up with moved across the country, we are sure to remind those around us, they are more family than friends. The distance means that we can no longer deliver fresh accompaniment dishes daily. But when we go to each other, we provide gifts and reminders of our new houses.
We can only hope that the third generation experience will be as enriching as for us, reinforced by the ability of our parents to rely on each other.
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