Of Food and Language and Culture and Preservation

I’ve been quiet this week, gang, and I’ve got to tell you the reason. Before I do so, let me first warn you that this post is going to be a little bit long and mildly self-indulgent. I’m not going to talk about my products or try to sell you anything. Instead, let’s talk about food and culture.

I think you can learn a lot about a culture through their food. Something that I always notice is that food and eating and mealtime is a social event, no matter where you go or where you came from.

If you go to Prague and swing by a pub for some Schnitzel and a Pilsner, you’ll see lots of conversation & lots of laughter. To look around at these folks, you’d never think of the past they came from. If you were familiar with their history, you would look around at these folks and know how resilient they are. People can come in and shake things up and beer will still be called Pivo. And they will serve you.

If you go to Italy you’ll see people eating at long tables filled with food. There will also be smiles and laughter. Everyone sitting at that table, related or not, will be family. If you sit and eat and we share a meal, we’re family. Family is what you learn about the culture. It’s everything. Calamari is Calamari. And they will serve you.

If you go to France, you’ll see restaurants with Michelin Star ratings. Michelin Stars are awarded to the best of the best in the culinary field. Something to take away from this culture is the appreciation of art. Of all kinds. Food is an art like any other. You’ll go to a 3 Michelin Star restaurant and ask for Escargot. And they will serve you.

I grew up in Montreal. Montreal is a (the best) Canadian city in the province of Quebec. I am so lucky to call Montreal my hometown. I had the best of all worlds growing up. Quebec is a French speaking province.. so I had the luxury of the French culture, an Italian family, and I married a Czech. Although I’m Italian I’ve never felt that, by living in a French city or having Indian, Hungarian, Greek, Jewish, English (I could go on forever) friends, my culture was in any way threatened. No. I’ve always felt that having the good fortune to be brought up in such a metropolitan city was an absolute privilege. Nothing less than an absolute privilege. You can go to Montreal and you’ll see food from all over the world. Really. Montreal is a major foodie city. We’re not big ‘chain restaurant’ people. Montrealers love the diversity. We’ll eat anywhere. We love trying new things. We love the ethnicity. We love the authenticity. I love going to an Italian restaurant and hearing Italian spoken in the kitchen. In a French speaking province which is part of a mostly English speaking country, language has always been an issue. There are some (certainly not all) who are terrified that their culture will somehow be lost if we don’t make everything the same. It’s a little crazy. Yes. And, so is asking an Italian restaurant to call Pasta by any other name on their menu.

xo

L