Salad

I really have my family to thank for my relationship with food. Grandma Mary grew up in Clinton, North Carolina and spent most of her days helping her family with the work done in the fields and tending to animals like pigs. She spent many days in the hot sun doing anything from cropping tobacco, pulling corn, or down on her hands and knees picking cucumbers. Thankfully, momma did not grow up this way and neither did my brother and I. That being said, momma and grandma thought it was important for us boys to know our roots, so we spent many days of summer vacation picking, shelling, and putting away field peas, as well as shucking, silking and putting away fresh corn.

This is an example of traditional Native foodways. For our people, working together as a family unit to put away fresh vegetables in the summer is a bonding experience that is deeply rooted in or agricultural heritage. It may sound funny to others, but the fondest memories of my childhood are of the days when up to four generations of our family would gather together and work to get through bushels and bushels of valuable produce. It was nothing for us to spend full days talking and laughing as we shucked corn and shelled field peas. The end product? Pounds of delicious, fresh, nutritious vegetables, memories that last a lifetime, and a deep appreciation for all of the work that goes into growing and preparing the food we ate. 

This video is from a few years ago. Grandma Mary, momma, and myself spent about two full days working through about 2 bushels of fresh sweet corn, and about 4 bushels of field peas. This was a lot of work but all of this food lasted us over a year. This corn and peas are usually only cooked on special occasions and holidays for our entire extended family to enjoy, like on this plate at Thanksgiving. 

Starting with momma's cream corn and working clockwise, we can see those field peas as well as black-eyed peas, collard greens (which are also a lot of manual labor), baked mac and cheese, barbecue pulled pork, butter beans, smoked turkey, and finally my sister in law's delicious arroz con gandules. Everything on this plate is made from scratch, with lots of love, and lots of seasoning meat. All of the veggies are cooked with cured pork called "streakoline" or fatback, except for the black-eyed peas which are cooked with ham hocks. 

Whenever I look at this plate, I see literal days of work and even more love and care. Growing up with this kind of food as my norm has granted me not only a love of vegetables uncharacteristic of many American children, but a deep appreciation for where food comes from and how much time goes into making something special. 

When I was younger I would be a bit intimidated by cooking traditional country foods. The flavors are usually very deep, but not very complex. The simple dishes are the hardest to master because there aren't sauces and condiments to hide behind, and often there aren't explicit recipes either, as everything is cooked to taste from the heart, seasoned with hours of gentle cooking and wholesome ingredients. 

As you can see from last years Christmas turkey, I am no longer intimidated by these dishes. This was a 13 pound bird and thanks to my special preparation it was without a doubt the juiciest and most flavorful turkey I have ever had. I cut the spine out of the bird in a process known as spatchcocking, made a compound of garlic and fresh herbs and put that under the skin and on top as well. I cooked this turkey on a bed of aromatic vegetables, and I am proud to say that there were no leftovers.