Family Food Traditions: Strengthening Bonds Through Shared Meals

Family Food Traditions
Family Food Traditions Eating brings people closer together everyday, and for everyone, there
are important memories that have been created because of food. Whether it's a formal dinner, or
an informal picnic, there will always be special bonds between people because food was
involved. We need to have traditions with food because they form and strengthen the bonds
between us. There are holidays in every culture where the food is the focal point. For example,
the most important tradition involving food in the U.S. is Thanksgiving. According to a 2015
poll, 95% of people in the U.S. spend Thanksgiving with their families."Thanksgiving by the
Numbers." Fox Business, Fox Business, 23 Nov. 2016. This is because people in the U.S. grew
up making memories with their families, and they want to make more memories with their
children. These traditions are important to people because they make them nostalgic, so it's
necessary for people to take a break and spend time with their families. To relate the topic of
nostalgia with food to my life, I recall a cherished memory I have about making enchiladas with
my grandma when I was nine. My mom's father is hispanic, but her mother is not, so she learned
how to make hispanic food just for him. I have always admired this, because she learned how to do
this just to make my grandpa happy. She made us many hispanic dishes, but my favorite is still her
enchiladas. I still remember the smell of the chicken and beef that my grandma had prepared
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My Favorite Family Tradition
What is your favorite family tradition? Maybe it's family Christmas, or family Thanksgiving. For
me it is deer hunting. My family has been deer hunting in the same place for the last 25 years. It all
started with my grandpa going hunting with his friends. Then when my uncle got old enough to deer
hunt he starting going too. Once my dad started dating my mom he started going out hunting with my
grandpa too. Deer camp slowly grew until they had eight guys out there all hunting everyday.
Then my grandpa died and a lot of the people stopped coming out. This was before I ever hunted,
but when I did I could tell that there were lots of good memories, and history in that place. Even
now when we drive down the road my dad or my uncle will say,...show more content...
*** I had taken the day off of school, and my uncle took the day off of work so that we could go
hunting a day earlier. We woke up at 5 a.m. to get into the stand by sunrise. Anybody that has been
deer hunting since they were a kid knows how difficult it is to sit in a stand for hours when you
are ten years old. I had managed to sit in the stand next to my uncle for two hours before we
decided to go get breakfast. Two hours might sound like a long time to some people, but my uncle
can sit in the woods for 11 hours straight and have the time of his life. However, that was not the
case for me. We crawled out of the woods and got in the truck to go back to camp. The road that
we hunt on is a single lane road that is about four miles long with a deep ditch on the north side,
and a very shallow ditch on the south side. The woods is at most 20 feet from either side of the
road, so you are pretty immersed in wilderness. As we were driving back to camp my uncle was
scanning the woods as we drove and he saw a deer in the woods. He drove by and stopped so we
didn't spook the deer. Something I didn't know that you were supposed to do until that point. We
quietly get out of the vehicle out and I grabbed my gun. I couldn't freehand shoot because I wasn't
strong enough to hold the shoot the

Essay about My Family Heritage
My Family Heritage
Family Defined
The word family has changed so much in the past century. A family back in the 1950's was probably
considered a husband, wife, and one or more children. Times have changed and families have
become much different. The Interpersonal Communication: Relating to Others book defines family
as a, "Unit made up of any number of persons who live in relationship with one another over time
in a common living space who are usually, but not always, united by marriage and kinship" (Beebe,
Beebe & Redmond, 243). Families can be broken up into five different types. The first is the
traditional family, which includes a mother, father, and their biological children. Next, is the blended
family which includes...show more content...
William, known as Bill, was born on July 20, 1921 in Minneapolis, MN. He worked in the plaster
/stucco business for over 25 years before working at Northwest Airlines. His wife's maiden name
was Lorraine Mulcahy. Lorraine was born on August 13, 1922 in St. Paul, MN. Lorraine went to
college at the University of Minnesota where she got her Bachelor of Science degree and became a
dental hygienist. My grandma "Lo" is the genealogy nut in our family. She has searched for
birthdates, marriage licenses, and other documents of her grandparents. I called grandma Lo to get
some information on my great–grandparents and family stories. I found out I was part Norwegian
and I never even knew it! Grandma Lo's parents were Edward Mulcahy and Olga Shermoen. Her
father Ed was born on April 15, 1880 in Minneapolis, MN. Ed worked as a claim agent for the Great
Northern Railroad in the twin cities. Olga was born on March 15, 1888 in Hawley, MN. She also
worked for the Great Northern Railroad as a matron. Edward was 100% Irish while Olga was 100%
Norwegian. This makes my grandma Lorraine 50% Irish & 50% Norwegian. My grandpa Bill was
adopted in Minneapolis so his genealogy is unknown. He was told by his adopted parents that he
was mostly Irish. If we pretended Bill was 100% Irish, this would make my mom 75% Irish and 25%
Norwegian.
Father's side
My father's name is Gerald Otto Utz. He was born on January 23, 1950 in Springfield, MN. He is

Ethiopian Family Traditions
Growing up Ethiopian, food has always been a focal point in my life, the dinner table being the
heart of the home. For me, food is a magnet that brings together friends and family from around the
world: it has been an element of my life that has motivated me to spread my values of generosity and
compassion.
Three years ago, I was lucky enough to travel to Ethiopia. There, I participated in what is now my
most treasured family tradition. As a way to celebrate the upcoming Ethiopian Christmas, my family
and I prepared meals to donate to those without sources of food or shelter. As I returned to the U.S., I
knew that I wanted not only to share the entertaining elements of Ethiopian cuisine, but its culture of
hospitality as well.
Since returning,

My Family Traditions
My family has a lot of different traditions, but one stands out more than the others. The holiday I am
talking about is Christmas. My family has always celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve. We start
the celebration by going to our church's Christmas Eve service. During this service, we sing
Christmas songs and watch a video of the first Christmas. After the service, all my family goes to my
grandparents' house to open presents and have supper. The meal is different than most Christmas
meals. All of my family members bring an appetizer instead of bringing a main dish. One of my
cousins is Haitian and one of uncles is Italian, so we have a lot of different cultures represented.
My favorite is my uncle's meatballs. Once we eat we have two different places to sit. One is
called the kids' room and the other is the adult room. You are supposed to sit at the kids' table if
you are not married. Once we have finished eating we all head to the living room to open presents.
Before we open presents, one of my younger cousins reads a Christmas poem. A different cousin
reads the story every year.
When it is finally time to open presents, we always open them one person at a time and always go
from youngest to oldest. We go one at a time because my grandma likes to see what everyone got.
Once everyone has opened their presents, my grandma tries to recruit some people to play bingo.
She likes being the person who calls out the numbers because that's what her mom always did. We
have been doing all of these things for as long as I can remember. My dad says they have been
doing things this way for the last 40 years. My grandma is the main person that has been carrying on
these traditions.
I would say my grandmother is the glue to our family so everyone follows her lead. I think that
my other family members are so used to doing these things that they will continue to do them in
the future. I would say I am a participant in this tradition. I am one of the younger grandchildren,
so I do not say much or try to change anything. If I did offer a new idea, I do think my grandma
would consider it. My whole family takes part in this tradition. I have six aunts and uncles and
twelve cousins, so my family is pretty big. Everyone

My Family Tradition Essays
My Family Tradition
While preparing for this paper, I thought very hard about any specific traditions that my family has or
has had in the past. Although thinking and brainstorming for a long time I could not come up with
one tradition that my family has. I think that the main reason for that is because, almost everyone in
my family has gone through a divorce. Ending a marriage seems to be very popular in our society
today, one statistic states that, "50% of first marriages end in divorce." However common divorce
may be the pain and heartbreak seems meaningless, until it happens to you. The reason why I can't
think of any family traditions is because all of my family traditions have been ripped apart because
of two people's ill...show more content...
Fortunately for my grandparents, each one of their children grew up without hesitating to love
another person.
The eldest of the three children is my Aunt Sue. She and my Uncle were married in 1969 and had
two daughters, Marci and Mica. My Aunt and Uncle are the only fortunate ones to still be in their
first marriage. However, their daughter Marci did not follow in her parents' footsteps. She
thought she found her soul mate and was married in 1999. Less than a year later, they were
divorced. Luckily for her, she remarried in 2001 and is still happily married. My Uncle Les, the
youngest child, and his wife, Lisa, were married for four years when they decided to call it quits.
They also had two children, Kelan and Ashton. However, unimaginable they remarried 8 years
later and surprisingly, everything seemed to be perfect. Some said that they were an example of
true love. However, they were wrong a little over a year later, they filed for divorce, again.
My dysfunctional family never really seemed to bother me until it hit home, very close to home.
Lets start with where it all began. My mother and father met in 1975 and were married in 1977.
Like most, the two were madly in love and wanted to start a family. Five years later, in 1982, they
had their first child, me and my sister Katie was born three years later, in 1985. When I first started
to think about family traditions, I talked to my mother who I

Essay On Family Identity
Family traditions and cultural legacies contribute to an individual's self–identity because it is the
fabric of where he or she derived from, who they are, and where they're journeying. Cultivating
Culture states: "Culture can give people a connection to a certain social values, beliefs, religions and
customs. It allows them to identify with other of similar mindsets and backgrounds. Cultural heritage
can provide an automatic sense of unity and belonging within a group and allows us to better
understand previous generations and the history of where we come from." In contrast, traditions and
cultural legacies can also inhibit an individual's self–identity because some families believe in total
loyalty to the constructs of the family system....show more content...
Because of Dee or Wangero disdaining of herculture, she will wander aimlessly in where she fits in
this world, not knowing if she is Dee Johnson a woman of a strong descent or Wangero Leewanika
Kemanjo a woman of a style popular for the moment.
"Culture the entire way of life of a group of people (including both material and symbolic
elements) that acts as a lens through which one views the world and is passed from one
generation to the next." "Although culture may seem to be "second nature" it is something
learned, rather than innate. Because we learn it so slowly and incrementally, we are often
unaware of the process. For instance, few of us would be conscious of having learned all the
slang words we currently use or the distance we typically maintain from someone while talking
with him/her. We may not remember exactly when we first felt patriotic or how we formed our
opinions about people from the upper class. We all carry culture inside ourselves; it becomes
ingrained and internalized into our way of thinking and acting. Culture guides the way we make
sense of the world around us and the way we make decisions about what to do and how to do it."
However those guidelines are not always embraced my every family member, so then the family
traditions and cultural behaviors can become a burden to the family member who wants to branch
out and lead a

Thanksgiving Research Paper
We all have family traditions, some of which we take pride in, some of which we dread and
despise but, whether you know it or not they are what make us who we are. One of my favorite
traditions that I can truly say I'm passionate for would have to be Thanksgiving dinner. The dinner
for the holiday goes by in a blink of an eye because of all the enjoyment. However, the
preparations that lead up to the day are long and prestigious even though they are what make the
dinner so great. Since the holiday comes up before we know it, we get started as soon as the year
hits mid fall.
The first thing my family and I think about is who we are going to invite. We consider if
thanksgiving this year will be a simple close family get together or loud aunts and uncles kind of
gathering. We acknowledge what we did last year and choose the opposite to switch it up. The
messages and emails are sent as soon as the invite list has been created. Replies from our family
must be given as soon as possible only to make the preparations a little easier even though, we all
know it will be hard anyway. Once we get all our responses in we can now move on to our next step.
Decorations are not that important for any family who celebrates thanksgiving but, in our family
it is one of the main tasks. If my mom makes a scene if we wearing something that resembles even
the slightest bit of a hobo. You know she will make a scene if the table is not at it's best. We spend
hours upon hours in the home decor stores, slowly making our way to stores like Hallmark for the
small details. "The little things count" is a phrase we hear over and over again. So, "The little
things count" is what we remind ourselves over and over again. Even a sprinkle or confetti or a
small flower arrangement can make a huge difference.
Days pass until it is a about a day before thanksgiving. It is time to gather the food. We get what we
get every year, the traditional mashed potatoes and turkey meal. We head to the grocery store as soon
as we have generated a list. My mom leads the way, pushing the cart in front of my siblings and I
through each aisle telling us what to get, as she stares into the list as if it is her mission to get
everything on that list.

Family Traditions Essay
It was going to be a bad Christmas. Nothing could be done to salvage it. The little tree (the only
one we could afford) was bare, surrounded by its fallen needles. The Christmas presents were not
much; Santa did not have the means to give the children what they had on their Christmas lists. It
was going to be awful, the season of joy and giving was corrupted, nothing in the tiny apartment
even resembled Christmas. The little, dead, bare Christmas tree was prophesying what the season
would really bring that year to the family, almost nothing. How could they save the holiday? It
seemed almost hopeless, but it turned into my family's most loved and fun family ritual.
To this day, I cannot remember a...show more content...
The experience listed above has touched my life deeply, but it never struck me as a way to help my
family grow.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie said, "We know that the Lord operates through families. He himself
lives in the family unit; it is his eternal system of government in heaven and on earth, and he
always offers as much of his own system to men as they are willing to receive" (McConkie, p.35).
What a wonderful thought! Families are so amazing, they are pieces of heaven and visions of
eternity that we can experience here on earth, given to us from our Heavenly Father. Since families
are such an important asset in this life it is vital for us that we learn to appreciate them and to utilize
the time we have together. Adler said that "the most fundamental human need is to belong" (Albert
and Popkin, p.18). We can show our families how much they mean to us and how much we need
them in our life by spending time with them, getting to know each individual and compromising for
each other.
According to Wolin and Bennett family rituals are "vital to the life of the healthy family" (Wolin
and Bennett, p. 407). When we take the time to plan and accomplish family recreation, we make that
experience more special and meaningful because we, as a family, chose to

Family Food Traditions: Strengthening Bonds Through Shared Meals

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Family Food Traditions: Strengthening Bonds Through Shared Meals