Category: Food

Coming to the Table

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis

Watch the Episode here:

503 Coming to The Table.mpeg-2-Apple TV from Toni Williams on Vimeo.

I was honored to co-produce an edition of the TV show Brooklyn Savvy with Toni Williams, host & executive producer, for a segment called “Coming to the Table.” The title is taken from the name of an organization that I am very passionate about. I serve as one of the coordinators of the group’s local chapter. The program addressed genealogy, race relations, slavery and white privilege with candid conversations. Invited guests included colleagues from Coming to the Table (CTTT) – NYC chapter, Elizabeth Sturgess-Llerena, Julie Finch; Mitchell Woo, Hunter College/CUNY faculty, and specialist on identity, race and Asian American studies; and Denise Arbesu, the show’s regular co-host.

Sturgess-Llerena, a NYC schoolteacher, is a descendant of the DeWolf family, the nation’s largest slave-traders and founders of Brown University. She co-directed her family documentary “Traces of the Trade: A Story From the Deep North,” created and produced by her cousin Katrina Browne. Julie Finch, a Quaker from Maine, recently discovered her family’s Southern roots from old family letters that mentioned the children that they had enslaved. Julie has accused her ancestors of “rape” of the enslaved women that her family owned. She said that she also made the names available to genealogy organizations and is considering how to reach out to her linked African American ancestors.

A racially diverse group, CTTT members are descendants of enslavers and enslaved. As a mixed-heritage person, I identify as a descendant of both groups. Training and deep dialogue in a safe place is a hallmark of the organization’s model for reconciliation and healing. CTTT believes that Americans need to and should be able to talk about race in a safe way without fear, guilt, shame or ridicule.

The white guests on this Brooklyn Savvy TV show talked about discovering enslaved men, women and children in their own families through genealogy research. They shared their shock about their family history. They were also very clear-headed about their “mis-education” by the American public school system and society in general. Do you recall how you were taught about slavery?

The white guests explained what is meant by the term “white privilege,” a major focus of the show. They also listed some basic privileges that white people and light-skinned people of various ethnicity can enjoy simply based on the color of their skin. Woo reflected about a historic “divide and conquer” mentality that created “disconnects” between various racial groups and opportunities. This show is definitely a must see!

Coming to the Table (CTTT) is a national organization with chapters across the nation that believes that America needs to heal from racism caused as a result of centuries of enslavement of Africans and genocide of Native Americans.

Brooklyn Savvy airs at 8 am on Sundays on Channel 25 and Cablevision (Ch 22). You can also tune into Brooklyn Savvy on NYC.gov for additional provocative conversations.

Please feel free to comment.

 

 

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Happy UnThanksgiving

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis

UnThanksgiving reflections – Some of you may remember the Red Power Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Those brothers and sisters were the first people who started UnThanksgiving also known as Indigenous Peoples Annual Sunrise ceremony. Thousands of Native Americans and their supporters still gather, on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay Area for an annual Sunrise Gathering on Thanksgiving Day, to pray and pay homage to indigenous people.

In honor of my own Native ancestors, I attended a ceremony during the 80s when I lived in Oakland. It was the largest Powwow that I had ever attended. The Elders were standing, teaching, and leading prayers. They also shared their prophecies about the “invaders.”

To the sound of drums I witnessed a sea of many tribes–from Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, East coast, Southern states, Caribbean, South America and more. Many of them proudly wore their full regalia and some  were in plain clothes. The men, women children and elders danced, sang and chanted in a huge solemn circle. It was beautiful, joyful, magical and sad all at the same time. The goal of the event, created by the International Indian Treaty Council and the American Indian Contemporary Arts, was to honor Native American history and to educate others about indigenous people everywhere.

“We are here to remind people that want to destroy our way of life, that we are still here. We are still carrying on our ways. We are still carrying on our traditions,” said Bill “Jimbo” Simmons, an International Indian Treaty Council leader at a past ceremony.

Forget about Black Friday shopping! Instead, eat, pray, love, read, and view some documentaries to make your Thanksgiving holiday more meaningful.

Here is my UnThanksgiving to-do list:

Native Foods: On Thanksgiving Day, make sure you eat or prepare something from the “three sisters”: beans, corn and squash, often called the heart and soul of America’s indigenous diet.

Pray: Expand your Thanksgiving prayer to include something about the indigenous people everywhere. Be creative and make up a special prayer.

Read: Did you know that some people believe that the history of Thanksgiving began in Texas and Florida and not with the Pilgrims at Plymouth Plantation? Some people (especially many Natives!) doubt Thanksgiving really happened! Learn the myth of Spider Woman, the creator of Mother Earth and other Native American legends. Read all about it.

Films: There are many films with Native American themes that I liked, such as Dances with Wolves and Windtalkers. Red Cry is a documentary that really stands out and is generating a lot of buzz now. Check it out.

What do you think of Un-Thanksgiving? Do you have any other suggestions for Native American-themed films or books? In your family history, do you have Native ancestry? Please share in the comments section below.

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Cooking Genes: Culinary Legacy

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis

Most of my family members seem to have cooking genes. Well, except for my oldest brother Johnny. When asked what he made for dinner, he always said: “I made a phone call!” My other brother Sidney can hold his own with Red Beans and Rice (Louisiana-style) or Chicken Pelau (Trinidadian one-pot stewed chicken and rice).

However, my father was a professional baker. And he could “throw-down” his own traditional Southern Creole and African American soul food (Mississippi and Louisiana). When I asked him how he learned to cook so well, he said: “Where I come from, everybody knows how to cook!” On weekends mom and dad had a tag team catering business, of sorts. He was a local legend for his pies baked in the Southern tradition—apple, peach, sweet potato, and pecan.

But, he never sold them. He was a gentle, sweetheart of a man who believed in southern hospitality. He gave away his pies simply because people loved them. Brooklyn neighbors would visit and wait for the pies to come out of the oven. After he passed away, it was years before I would eat pie.

My mother was a great cook too, God rest her soul. She loved to say that our food was delicious because we were a “mixed-up” family! She had a different outlook regarding enterprise. She would certainly sell a few of dad’s pies! She was West Indian (Chinese Trinidadian/Guyanese) and always included a pie deal in her boxed-lunch business—one of her many “side hustles.”  Mom’s specialties were Creole Caribbean appetizers.  She would re-purpose dad’s extra piecrust dough to make Jamaican Meat Patties and Indo-Caribbean Samosas.

Dad always made extra piecrust for Mom and pretended as if he didn’t know what she was up to. My parents cooked in their own separate kitchens. The kind of food that we ate could be called: Afro-Asian-Indo-Caribbean-Soul-Creole Cuisine. We lived in a two-family brownstone—dad downstairs and mom upstairs. Our home was always full of our mixed-heritage relatives and extended family members. Most of them had migrated from the American South or some Caribbean nation.

Mom would setup over a dozen trays of patties and samosas. She would cook some and freeze and bake some later. Actually, “the girls”—me, my sister Kim and cousin Sandi— were put to work on a home-based assembly line. That was “back in the day” when children were obedient. Kim would roll out the dough and cut out circles using a cookie cutter or an inverted jar. I would fill the dough circles with a cooked spicy ground meat mixture or potato-vegetable fillings. I would carefully fold the patties into half moons and press them closed with a fork. Sandi would paint each patty with an egg wash, arrange on trays, and place in an oven and bake. We made what seemed like hundreds of these bite-sized snacks. On the day of Mom’s event, like an Atlantic City bus trip, we would wake early bake, cool, and pack and sell these goodies as part of a boxed-lunch deal.

Today, my sister and I both love to prepare our traditional foods. When we get together, we exchange food gifts and re-trace family recipes. We sometimes shop in old ethnic New York neighborhoods searching for special items. I believe that we inherited “cooking genes.” We learned to cook by immersion in our elder’s kitchens. They taught us the same way that they learned —through family stories and hands-on experience.

Traditional food has always been my passion. I love the stories associated with them as well as the opportunity to experiment with healthier versions of these traditions. I also love cookbooks, food blogs, and I am always searching for interesting family recipes and stories.

Who inherited cooking genes in your family? Do you have a favorite family recipe? Would you like to participate as a guest blogger in our “cooking genes” series?

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My Fat Genes

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis
With Kim Nemoy, my baby sister, on right

My baby sister was always bigger than me. She takes after my father’s people. The women on his side are thick and full-bodied.  Why are they big? One answer is: Good food leads to eating a lot. I always blamed our Mississippi and Louisiana heritage for developing our famous cooking genes! I mean, who invented Southern cuisine? Not Paula Dean! But, more on our cooking genes later.

Actually, many of us inherited fat genes from our ancestors—a genetic disposition for obesity. One in every seven Americans were born with the fat gene! Mexico recently surpassed the US as the  “world’s most obese,” according to a United Nations report. But are you destined to be fat if your family is fat? Scientists say No! You can prevent obesity by exercising and eating healthy food.

Furthermore, British scientists recently gained a deeper understanding about a fat gene called “FTO,” that causes our “hunger” hormones to crave certain foods more than others.

“A version of an obesity gene, called FTO, had been linked to a bigger belly, but the reason why was uncertain. A study, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, showed it made fatty foods more tempting and altered levels of the hunger hormone, ghrelin. Obesity experts said drugs targeting ghrelin might reduce weight gain.

Read more about it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23312712

In my family there were several heart attacks and strokes. As we know, obesity is a high risk factor for diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers. At least 2.8 million adults die each year as a result of being overweight or obese. More than 40 million children under the age of five were overweight in 2011, according to the World Health Organization.

Let’s face it. All of us may gain a few pounds now and then. And, we really can’t blame our extra weight on any single factor: genetics, nature, nurture, and environment. In terms of the environment, if you live in New York City, you are more likely to walk and take public transit than folks living in other places where they mostly drive. Obesity is caused by a combination of factors.

view of man’s fat belly sitting on park bench.

So, let’s not wait for pharmaceutical companies to develop new obesity drugs based on our fat genes.  Instead, let’s eat better, cook healthy, walk and exercise more and prayer helps too! Does the fat gene run in your family?

Genealogy is Good for Your Health

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis
Smith family gathering in Brooklyn.

At a recent family gathering a cousin criticized my genealogy passion: “Why are you looking back? You should be looking forward,” she said.  As a genealogist, I gasped. But it took only a moment to re-group. Here was a teachable moment! Timing must be right in order for learning to happen. A simple conversation began. The dialogue that we had became the best way to explain how genealogy ie. family history could be good for your health–mind, body and soul!

Did you know that the more you know about health conditions and traits that run in your family, the healthier you can be? Genealogy is also good for your emotional, spiritual and psychological health! But, more on that in future postings.

Start talking: The best way to start your genealogy health journey is to start talking with the living. Today, even if you are adopted, you can find your family history by taking a DNA genealogy test to find relatives. At the reunion, we started by talking about family traits and cultural traditions passed down. One of the traits we discussed was left-handedness. Our mother was born left-handed. But because of her family’s cultural taboos, she was forced to become right-handed. And, three of her four children were born left-handed!  We also talked about other traits like hair texture, body types and ethnic mixtures found on both sides of our family.  All of these topics, especially ethnicity and cultural backgrounds are relevant to your health and should be discussed by your health care provider.

Ten Questions to Ask at Family Reunion:

  1. What traits run in our family? eg. dimples, twins, eyes or hair color, freckles, attached earlobes, toe lengths, artistic, musical, mechanical, athletic abilities.
  2. What health problems run in our family?
  3. How old were family members when diagnosed with an illness?
  4. What conditions caused death in our family? Who was the oldest in our family?
  5. Any pregnancy losses?
  6. Any birth defects, mental illness, or developmental disabilities?
  7. What is the ethnic make-up of our family?
  8. Where does our family come from? (country, regions)
  9. Lifestyle queries: smoking; where did family members work, list occupations; did they work on a farm, factory, outdoors; obesity or extremely thin; drug, alcoholism problems?
  10. Any allergies to foods or medication?

Tool Kit for Family Health History:

Here’s a link to a tool kit with important facts, ideas and activities to help you document your family history, published by Utah Department of Health: https://familyhistory.hhs.gov/fhh-web/familyHistory/start.action

Genealogy Resources: The following records can help you learn what your living relatives may not know about your family history:

  1. Death certificates-includes cause and date of death of an ancestor; may include diseases, conditions of concern during a specific historic era.
  2. Funeral Home Records – funeral programs, files might name relatives assisting and providing family information.
  3. Obituaries – checking old newspapers can net amazing details especially if there was an accident or a crime.
  4. US Census– check for age of parents, children born to older parents, large gaps between births; many relatives living together; certain occupations can impact health, like coal miners.
  5. Religious Records – and church bulletins also include clues about a specific community and the person’s health condition.