Sunday, December 6, 2009

My uncle Yemil, the last full-blooded Lebanese in my family, died last week. I never met my grandfather, but I spent some exceptional time with his brothers when I was a little girl. They migrated from Lebanon to Orizaba, Mexico, where they grew up to become Mexicans that never again pronounced a word in Arabic. We always talk about migration as a larger economic and sociopolitical process, but we rarely think ourselves as a result from it. It might help to read my grandmother's cookbook to tell the story of migration in my family. Some people get surprised that in my house no one cooks mole, not even enchiladas; sad enough, none of us knows how to make them. On the other hand, as a child I learned to prepare stuffed grape leaves, and cook rice with pine nuts. Most of my family's recipes come from Spain, although we eat plantain with almost every meal as my great-grandfather spent years in Cuba on his way to Mexico. Two days ago Javier, a Peruvian friend with Chinese, Italian and Spanish descent, asked me if I felt Lebanese to certain extent. Truth is I don't, as no one in my family tried to preserve that identity. I wish I could drink coffee at a coffee shop in Beirut, but also I'm much more fond to chiles verdes than any of my ancestors.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Me encanto este post! Yo aprendi a hacer mole...(si, desde comprar las especies y todo en el mercado) hace un par de años. Cuando mi mama, tratando de lidear con la muerte de mi abuela, emmpezo a acercarse mas a aquellas personas que le recordaban su infancia. Fue asi como fuimos a dar a Coacoatzintla en visperas de la fiesta del santo patron. Era verano. Tardamos literalmente dias en juntar todos los ingredientes para preparar la pasta del mole. Pero el trabajo duro apenas comenzaba. Recuerdo que tuve que subirme en una piedra para lacanzar la enorme pala de madera que utilizamos para freir y los ingedientes en una olla enorme de barro colocada en un fogon en el patio de la casa. Todas las mujeres de la familia de mi abuela, sus sobrinas y hermanas, estaban ahi. Despues de pasar horas moliendo la pasta, quedo lista. Pero para aprovechar el fuego y terminar el dia echamos unos elotes para asarlos. Los comimos con chile, sal y limon. Fue todo un rito y me preguntaba porque nunca fuimos parte de el hasta ahora. Algun dia tendras que venir conmigo para aprender a preparar este guiso.

Sux said...

Hola, di con tu blog y con este post por casualidad. Yo soy de Orizaba, Veracruz, México. ¡Saludos!