Combining Cultures in the Kitchen

Author and Photographer: Zachary Sarmoen

It has become increasingly more common for people to come from families with mixed cultural and ethnic backgrounds—something I have especially noticed here at UChicago. In the US alone, it is estimated that around 7% of people come from multiracial backgrounds, which does not even account for the mixing of cultures that can arise from religious or regional differences. In addition to these differences, many people are influenced by contrasting financial and social situations in their own lives and those of the people closest to them. Here at UChicago, many people discuss how their diverse backgrounds influence their perspectives and various aspects of their lives, but I seldom hear about how it influences the food they eat. 

While food may seem trivial in regard to how the diversity of background influences a person, I have always seen food as a vessel that can tell you a lot about a person and their story. For me, the foods I have grown up cooking and eating reflect the mix of my cultures, with foods of Dutch, Indonesian, Jewish, and American influences. More specifically, I have grown up keeping Kosher while eating and learning to cook a lot of meals that my dad learned from his dad while growing up in a Dutch and Indonesian household that was not Kosher. This has led my dad and me to not only alter many recipes that he grew up with (for example, by replacing pork with chicken or beef) but to try a lot of new foods from cultures that we have no personal connection with at all. Many recipes for Mexican or Italian dishes, for example, can be very Kosher-friendly and have now become staples in my house. 

Cooking Process

One example of a dish that highlights what it has been like combining multiple aspects of my cultural identity is nasi goreng, Indonesian fried rice. The dish is traditionally cooked with chicken (and sometimes pork), shrimp paste, and an Indonesian spice mix, and it is served with a fried egg and fresh vegetables. Shrimp and pork are not Kosher, so the dish has always looked a little bit different in my household. We use Kosher chicken and neglect the use of the shrimp paste, and in true American fashion, we might even serve the dish with spring rolls or scallion pancakes from Trader Joe's. While this is certainly not a traditional approach to the Indonesian dish, it is the interpretation that my dad and I have adapted to our personal tastes. Because I have had to make dishes like nasi goreng differently than they are intended to be made, I have always felt encouraged to be creative with recipes and make them my own. This is a phenomenon that I see shared among many people I meet that are influenced by diverse backgrounds, as they learn to compromise with conflicting or contrasting parts of their identities.

Trader Joe’s Scallion Pancake

When it comes to cooking, this can sometimes mean compromising the integrity of a traditional dish. I do think it is important to maintain the integrity of culturally relevant dishes, especially when there is a story or deeper meaning tied to them. However, it is important to remember that food and cooking are meant to be enjoyed and can be a great creative outlet for trying new things and making something one’s own. Each person finds their own comfort when it comes to this compromise. For me, keeping Kosher has meant altering many traditional meals, but it has also made me aware of the exact relevance to each aspect of the dish that I am changing, which grows my culinary knowledge. With that being said, growing up combining multiple aspects of my culture in the kitchen has sometimes meant that maintaining close ties to the family history of the food that I eat is a struggle. This is something that I think many people may not think to consider when they are just cooking and eating, but when my dad is teaching me how to cook a dish that his dad taught him and he is teaching me in a different way, I lose out on knowing some of what my grandpa used to cook. However, I think there is a good balance between honoring the history of many of the dishes we make and leaving our own mark on the food for generations to come. 

Nasi Goreng, Indonesian Fried Rice

Conclusions

With so many people coming from such diverse culinary backgrounds, I encourage everyone to be aware of how different aspects of their culture and family history can come together in their food. I have already seen this all around me in fusion restaurants that range from Korean-Mexican fusion food to Indian-Italian fusion food, not to mention all the American takes on foods from other countries. These fusion foods are not only delicious but are reflective of the reality of many people’s identities. Personally, experimenting with multiple cultures in the kitchen has been an eye-opening experience, serving to expand both my culinary creativity and cultural awareness. While it has sometimes made cooking tricky, I think it has been an overall beneficial experience for me both as a person and as a chef.