“Find an artifact that represents a strong part of your culture or identity.” Prompted to do so as part of an icebreaker
activity for the September WGR DEI Committee meeting, I reflected on what one object could adequately represent who I am. I am a third culture kid (TCK), raised as both an American and an Indian by my parents who immigrated here from India. The movie
My Big Fat Greek Wedding accurately captures many of my early childhood experiences in school in New York, Ohio, and Florida – just replace “Greek” with “Indian.” On the flip side, I spent long summers in India with my grandparents and cousins, and struggled
to understand a culture I knew was both mine and not. So, when I sat down to consider my culture and my identity, it became increasingly apparent that I couldn’t wholly separate the various threads of my identity.
Ultimately, I chose to present
my personal cookbook, one that I started over 15 years ago. My mom doesn’t use recipes, and so I assigned myself the task of capturing her culinary masterpieces in an ordinary black Moleskine. However, before I even transcribed the first recipe, I hit
a snag: English is not my first language, but it’s my most fluent… except when it comes to ingredients in Indian cooking. These words I know best in Kannada, which is technically my first language, but it’s one I neither read nor write. Add a second snag:
most of the ingredients, whether I’m looking for them in an Indian grocery store or in the “ethnic food” section at Whole Foods, would be labeled using their Hindi or Gujurati names.
I sat down with my parents, opened up my mother’s spice
cabinet, and started going through the items one by one, listing each ingredient first in Kannada, then Hindi/Gujurati, and then English. There were moments when we all looked at each other, at a loss for the original name or the translation of a spice
(green vs black cumin, anyone?). We googled a fair few badly transliterated words, and eventually we had a solid list.
The cookbook is now filled with recipes I jotted down while following my mom around the kitchen, with my personal notes
on traditional Indian recipes like “mix to consistency of stiff pancake batter.” It’s filled with recipes given to me by my mom, which I now realize were already adapted from her own mother’s recipes – a reaction to the availability of Indian spices and
food items in the UK and US in the 80s and 90s. It’s starting to get filled up with my recipes as I put my own spin on traditional dishes. Bridging cultures, attempting assimilation, creating an identity of interconnectedness: this is my DEI story.
The WGR “My DEI Story” Blogs are featured monthly, highlighting the story of a DEI Committee Member or supporting ally. These blogs are designed to shine a light on the amazing diversity that exists within our community, and to recognize that
EVERYONE has a DEI Story. Interested in having your story featured? Please send an email to dei.wgr@gmail.com.
Vieshnavi: I was on the call where we did this exercise--I shared a picture of me with a cheesecake representing my Polish heritage on my Mother's side. I love the going through the cupboard and STILL having mysteries! Aren't things complicated and mysterious! Thank you for sharing!.
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“Find an artifact that represents a strong part of your culture or identity.” Prompted to do so as part of an icebreaker
activity for the September WGR DEI Committee meeting, I reflected on what one object could adequately represent who I am. I am a third culture kid (TCK), raised as both an American and an Indian by my parents who immigrated here from India. The movie
My Big Fat Greek Wedding accurately captures many of my early childhood experiences in school in New York, Ohio, and Florida – just replace “Greek” with “Indian.” On the flip side, I spent long summers in India with my grandparents and cousins, and struggled
to understand a culture I knew was both mine and not. So, when I sat down to consider my culture and my identity, it became increasingly apparent that I couldn’t wholly separate the various threads of my identity.