C & C

2019

[reaghanlesh]

Full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEiTp33sTdU

Cuisine and Culture 2019

These past two weeks have been one for the books.

Yes, the cuisine part of this course was incredible, but what made this experience truly special was the people. The people I spent it with, and the people who took time out of their day to serve us and teach us more about their culture.

Kathie Filby, the first lady of Greenville University, taught us that anything can be solved with a cup of tea and some good company. I learned to always try something at least once, even if it’s a sausage made out of solidified cow blood, like the black pudding at Tigín’s Irish Pub. You never know what you might end up liking. Rabbi Tracy Nathan at the Jewish Federation of St. Louis showed us how a traditional Passover Seder meal is done. She taught us the deeper meanings behind the foods they eat, like the vegetables teach us that even when we feel low, we still have the strength to rise above and grow. Das Bevo Restaurant taught us that there is never such a thing as too much meat. The wonderful and weird people of New Orleans taught us to live each day with Joie de vivre, or a carefree enjoyment of life. The Preservation Hallstars taught us authenticity. They taught us to enjoy the moment with your own eyes and ears rather than through a phone screen. I learned that nothing beats a good beignet and coffee at Café Du Monde down in New Orleans. Leah Chase at Dooky Chase’s restaurant taught us many, many things. She taught us that you can learn a lot about a person and their culture by the food they eat, you just have to try it. She told us to not eat what you’re used to because you won’t be able to learn that way. Leah is an incredible inspiration and I’m thankful I got to listen to her speak. She also gave us ladies some advice, “Men are stupid.”

I learned the beauty of eating food with friends and family at Café Abyssinina. Ethiopians value close relationships and it is evident in their cuisine. The swamp walk, the ferry trip, and the beach at Bay St. Louis all showed me just how incredible God’s creation is. The Estevez family taught us about generosity and compassion by opening up their home to serve us. Johnny taught us how to do a traditional Chinese hot pot and how to properly use chop sticks. Bosh at Mr. Curry’s restaurant taught us about the beauty of diversity in India. The professors at Fontbonne University taught us about the Bosnian culture and how they battled adversity but finally found peace here in St. Louis, Missouri. Sam and the wonderful people at The Hill showed us the deep Italian history, prepared a great meal for us, and taught us how to play bocce ball. 

Deloy taught us to fail forward like the crepes we made for the dessert project. Doug taught us to be humble and respectful. As well as to always be thankful for what we are given. Cameron, Brett, and Jacob taught us that life’s too short to be boring and that there is no limit to how many snowballs can be thrown in a matter of two days. Courtney and Ethan taught me to enjoy where I’m at, but to remember that there are so many possibilities that lay ahead of me. Emily, Marissa, and Brendan taught me what real friends are. And I learned that they’ll be there for me no matter what.

This has been an overall incredible experience. I loved every second of it and learned more than I imagined I would.

[reaghanlesh]

Mr. Curry’s

After spending some time in St. Louis, we drove over to Edwardsville to have dinner at Mr. Curry’s India Restaurant. Bash Anoth, the owner, prepared a wonderful buffet for us and came and talked to us about Indian cuisine and culture. The buffet consisted of tandoori chicken, tandoor, basmati rice, chicken korma, lamb kheema, and much more. Traditional food in India is known for its use of herbs and spices. When you hear Indian Cuisine you typically think of curry. Well, curry isn’t just one thing, curry is a variety of dishes that use a complex combination of spices of herbs. You can make curry hundreds of different ways. Bash talked to us about how India is incredibly diverse and cultures differ throughout all regions of India. It’s mainly divided into South Indian and North Indian cuisine, but you can’t really group the culture as one, because almost every state does it a little differently. Bengali, Kashmiri, Mughlai, and Gurajati, are a few of the popular cuisines.

Bengali cuisine is famous for their use of panchphoron, a term that refers to the five essential spices, namely mustard, fenugreek seed, cumin seed, aniseed, and black cumin seed. The specialty of Bengali food lies in the perfectly blended sweet and spicy flavors.

Kashmiri food is highly influenced by the traditional food of the Kashmiri pundits, a community in a mountainous region in Jammu and Kashmir, India. It has now evolved and taken some of the cooking styles from Central Asia, Persia, and Afghanistan. Rice is definitely the staple food of Kashmiri food as well as a wide range of meats.

Mughlai Cuisine may be the most popular of Indian cuisines. It consists of dishes that were developed in Medieval India at the center of the Mughal Empire. Many Mughlai dishes are served mild to medium-hot and have lots of dried fruits and nuts. Mughlai dishes are known to be decadent and savory.

Traditional Gujarati food is high in nutritional value. Gujarati has so much to offer and each dish has a different cooking style. Gujarati food originated from Gujarat, the western coastline state of India, and it is often referred to as the “Jewel of Western India”. In fact, my best friend back home, Krishna Bhadu, and her family are a part of the Gujarati culture. So, when I told her I was going to eat some traditional Indian cuisine, I also asked her if she would tell me a bit more about her culture. She told me that Gujarati cuisine is based around the idea of family food. They value eating with family, and having that time to spend with each other. With that in mind, most of their meals at home are meaningful sit-down meals with everyone at the table. A lot of Gujarati food is rich in oil, butter, and vegetables, since most people in Gujarat are vegetarians. But, people near the coastline eat a lot of seafood and other non-vegetarian items like goat and chicken. She also said that the desserts they have are packed with ghee, a clarified butter in India, and sugar.

What makes Indian cuisine and culture so unique is the fact that it is extremely diverse. There are so many different varieties, different styles, different things to choose from. I think that’s also what makes the country beautiful is that everyone has their own way of doing things but they can all still live in harmony.

https://www.culturalindia.net/indian-food/gujrati.html

[reaghanlesh]

Hot-Pot

Yesterday we traveled to St. Louis to eat lunch at Joy Luck Chinese Buffet. We participated in the Chinese cooking method of a hot-pot. A hot-pot is a delicious and fun communal eating experience that originally comes from Eastern China. It involves a huge bowl of broth that is placed near the center of the table. We had three bowls at our table because of the amount of people we had. The servers placed the bowls on the table and they had a divider in the middle of each bowl to separate the spicy with the non-spicy broth. Then, they turned on the burners underneath the table to heat the bowls. While the pots keep simmering, ingredients are placed on the table. The ingredients included thinly sliced meat (lamb, beef, pork), raw vegetables, mushrooms, egg dumplings, tofu, and seafood like shrimp and squid. The great thing about hot pots is that what goes in it is entirely up to you. You decide what you want to cook, if you want it to be spicy or not, and you even get to choose the sauce you want. So, we all got started, placing food in the pot using our chopsticks, and then attempting to fish them out with the hot-pot spoons. I really liked the lamb and the tofu. The seafood was definitely a new experience. It was my first time eating squid and then the shrimp was raw, so it had the shell and everything that I had to peel. The chopsticks were also a challenge, but I started to get the hang of it. I had always wondered how chopsticks became so popular in Asian countries. I learned that chopsticks are capable to reach deep into boiling pots unlike some other utensils. Chopsticks are also less expensive and when cooks started chopping their food into smaller pieces, chopsticks were the perfect fit and things like knives became obsolete.

Archeological evidence shows that the earliest hot pots appeared around the Han dynasty. The nobles each had their own personal pot at diner and during the Qing dynasty it became popular among emperors. Qianlong from the Qing dynasty took a special liking to it and would eat it every day. This is one of the reasons hot pot became so popular. The emperor would always ask his servants to prepare hot pots and on the day his son, Jiaqing, ascended to the throne, he set more that 15000 tables of hot pots to celebrate. Following in the footsteps of the two emperors, people desired to try hot-pot, it skyrocketed from then on. Today hot-pot is a prominent piece of Chinese culture. Like many different cuisines, hot pots bring people together. It’s a fun and adventurous culinary experience. It’s not just about the food, it’s also about social connectivity. It’s a great way to enjoy other’s company as well as a way to get to know people. A quote from Shao Z. says “you don’t ‘hot pot’ with people you don’t like”.

https://www.history.com/news/a-brief-history-of-chopsticks

[reaghanlesh]

The Estevez Family

We had the opportunity to eat a Dominican meal here in Greenville as the Estevz family opened up their home to us. Ivan and his wife are both from the Dominican Republic and now live in Greenville, Illinois. Ivan works at Greenville High School as a Spanish teacher and is also an assistant women’s volleyball coach at Greenville University. Him and his wife prepared a wonderful meal for us. Ivan talked to us about the culture of the Dominican Republic as his wife was putting the finishing touches on the meal. He said some similar things that Leah Chase from Dooky Chase’s restaurant did. He talked about food bringing people together and how much food is involved in culture. People like Ivan and his family really strive to develop close and meaningful relationships with people. The Dominican Republic and surrounding countries are mostly filled with genuine people who will drop everything to help someone. This showed in their hospitality and willingness to serve us a traditional Dominican dinner.

The Estevez family prepared a chicken and rice dish, potato salad, fried plantains, avocados, broccoli, and more plantains. This was probably my favorite meal so far. There is honestly nothing better than an authentic home cooked meal. Dominican food is a vibrant mix of cultures, Spanish, African and a mix of some indigenous tribes around the Caribbean. A very popular food in the Dominican is plantains. Plantains are a member of the banana family and are native to India and the Caribbean. They serve a very important role in many traditional dishes. The fried plantains we had are called tostones. Tostones are a food that the Dominican shares with other Latin American countries, but it holds a special place on the Dominican table. They’re made from unripe plantains and typically served as a side dish to meat and fish. I loved the taste of the tostones, they were savory and salty compared to the sweeter version we had.

Ivan also talked to us about they could only get some of the ingredients by bringing them in bulk on the plane back from the Dominican. There were a few though that were available in big cities like St. Louis. He talked about the popular spice used in Dominican dishes that he was able to buy in Walmarts near St. Louis. The spice is called Sazón, a sautéed mix of local herbs and spices used to bring out flavors in a dish, and it’s the basis for a vast range of food recipes in the Domincan Republic. Ivan said that almost all of the food prepared for us tonight had Sazón in it.

For dessert we had flan, which was amazing. Flan, also known as Crème Caramel is a custard dessert with a layer of clear caramel sauce. Flan is very popular among Latin American countries and each country has its own take on the desert. After we finished our flan, Ivan and his family wanted to get to know each of us a little better. This showed how important building genuine relationships is to their culture. It was nice to go around and hear a little bit about everyone.

http://capcana.com/docs/History%20and%20Influences.pdf

[reaghanlesh]

Café Abyssinia

After our hike through the swamps at the Jean Lafitte National Historic park and Preserve in Marrero, Louisiana, we headed to Café Abyssinia in New Orleans. Café Abyssinia serves authentic Ethiopian cuisine. Ethiopian food extremely unique as well as flavorful. The way they eat is also very fascinating. Ethiopian food is almost always eaten with friends and family, our waiter explained to us that in Ethiopian culture, it’s considered rude to eat alone and considered extremely rude to decline someone’s offer to eat with them. Eating is a way of interacting and spending time with friends and family. Even the way Ethiopian food is served is designed for sharing food with each other. Ethiopian food is served on a communal or family platter, this emphasizes the closeness of the relationships and the value they put on eating with family and friends. So, at Café Abyssinia we each ordered what we wanted (I ordered the lamb tibs) and they brought it out on a big platter for us to share. It’s also traditional to eat with your hands and not use any utensils. Ethiopian food is served with injera, the biggest staple food of the country. Injera is a soft, flat, spongey bread. It has a tangy sour taste almost like sourdough bread. They use injera to eat, first tearing off a piece of the roll and then picking up a bite of choice on the platter and eating it. I’ve struggled finding a solid answer to why Ethiopians specifically eat with their hands, but one of the possible reasons is health benefits, this may be surprising, but really when we pick up food with our hands, our fingers produce enzymes and digestive juices needed to break down food in our stomach. Another reason could be beliefs, other cultures who eat with their hands claim that not only does eating food with your hands feed your body, but it also feed your mind and spirit. In Hindu Vedic belief, the five fingers represent the five elements, space, air, fire, water, and earth. Therefore, the hands are considered a powerful organ to help connect with the food and enhance our awareness of the taste. Another Ethiopian tradition our waiter told us about was a practice called gursha. Gursha is when you feed someone a bite of food, it is seen as a very respectable and loving thing to do. Taking the time to feed your loved one, or even a friend you really care about, is a really beautiful tradition in my opinion.

Along with the lamb tibs, on our platter we had doro wat, the national dish of Ethiopia. Doro wat is a thick stew of chicken, egg, and onion laced with berbere spice mixture. Doro wat is similar to curry but often packs a harder punch of spice than most curries. The berbere spice is the typical backbone of many Ethiopian dishes. Its ingredients are chili powder, fenugreek, ginger, garlic, cardamom, cinnamon, and a whole bunch of other spices. Berbere is essential in cooking Ethiopian food. For desert we had Baklava, which is traditionally a Greek desert but Ethiopians really don’t have a traditional desert, they get a lot of influence from other countries when it comes to after meal sweets.

https://migrationology.com/ethiopian-food-guide/

[reaghanlesh]

Don’t eat to live, live to eat.

After exploring the French Quarter, we headed to the famous Dooky’s Chase’s Restaurant to get lunch. Once you step into the restaurant it is like stepping into a whole other world. It’s a gorgeous restaurant and it was fancier than I expected. There was beautiful artwork that covered the walls. I loved the atmosphere at Dooky Chase’s and the service was phenomenal. The restaurant has been open since 1941, and it was founded by Emily and Dooky Chase, Sr. The restaurant started off as a sandwich shop but developed into a meeting place for music, entertainment, civil rights, and culture in New Orleans.

We were served an appetizer of okra and shrimp gumbo. This is probably my favorite dish so far. It was delicious and I ate it all in probably two seconds. Then we headed to the buffet. I got a salad, a whole catfish (or at least most of a catfish), some rice, green beans, and squash. The catfish was amazing, that was my first-time eating catfish off the bone. Everything else was great as well, except I wasn’t a fan of the green beans. They were a bit too salty for my liking. Then for desert they brought us out a slice of peach cobbler. I typically don’t like cobbler but this one was incredible. It was one of those deserts that seemed to warm your whole body.

Dooky Chase’s was so much more than food. In 1946, Edgar Dooky Chase, Jr. married Leah Lange Chase. Through Leah’s vision Dooky Chase’s grew into what it is today. The Queen of Creole Cuisine took a sandwich shop and grew it into a fine dining restaurant surrounded with African-American culture. All the art on the walls that I mentioned earlier were because of Leah, she introduced one of the first art galleries for black artists in New Orleans.

More importantly it had become a hot spot for discussing issues of civil and economic rights in the African-American community after the Supreme Court reversed its 1896 decision of the Plessy v. Ferguson Case. Local leaders such as Thurgood Marshall, Reverend A.L. Davis, and Martin Luther King Jr himself, would meet and discuss over meals in the upstairs meeting room of Dooky’s. It was a public place in a deeply segregated town where mixed-race groups could meet to discuss strategy for the Civil Rights Movement. In an interview Leah said that she couldn’t do what these leaders were doing, so she did what she knew to help contribute: feed them.

We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to meet Leah Chase and have her talk to us about her journey and her restaurant. Leah has a certain warmth to her. She has a very wise soul and a great sense of humor as well. She talked to us about how food brings us all together and you get to learn about people and their culture through food. Even at 96 years old, you can still see the passion Leah has for what she does. I remember her saying that New Orleanians are a little weird and they don’t eat to live, they live to eat.

https://www.dookychaserestaurant.com/about/history

[reaghanlesh]

Beignets in the French Quarter

We got up and left from our hotel to go straight to the French Quarter to get Beignets and Coffee at the famous Café Du Monde. The Café opened in 1862 and has been buzzing ever since. Café Du Monde is a 24/7 and typically the only time you’ll see it closed is on Christmas Day. Café Du Monde keeps its menu pretty simple: coffee and beignets. You can thank the French for the coffee in New Orleans, they brought coffee with them around 1720 as they began to settle in the colonies around the Mississippi River. The taste for coffee and chicory, a root of the endive plant, was developed by the French during their civil war. They found that Chicory added flavor to the brew, it helped soften the bitter edge of the dark roasted coffee. It almost adds a chocolate flavor to the Café Au Lait. Café Du Monde serves their coffee Black or Au Lait which is mixed half and half with hot milk, but you can always ask to have your coffee made to your preference. I got black coffee which was served steaming hot. So hot that I burnt my tongue on the first sip. I had to let it cool awhile, but I eventually got a couple sips in before we left. Iced coffee was introduced to the café in 1988, and when I went back later that day I got a Frozen Café Au Lait which was a frozen coffee. It was probably the best frozen coffee I’ve ever had.

Beignets are the second thing you can get at Café Du Monde and they definitely deserve all the hype that they get. Beignets were brought to Louisiana by the Acadians and they were fried fritters typically filled with fruit. Today they’re a square piece of dough, fried and covered in powdered sugar, served in orders of three. The beignets were absolutely delicious, they tasted like funnel cakes. One piece of advice I was given by my close friend, Marjory Coates, was to not wear black when eating a beignet. I asked her why and her response was “the powdered sugar will get ya” and was she right. I listened to her about not wearing black but that didn’t stop the powdered sugar from getting everywhere. Walking along the streets of the French Quarter, you could see trails of powdered sugar all over the place.

After we ate our beignets and drank our coffee we headed out and explored the French quarter. The French Quarter is the oldest area of New Orleans and it has lots of beautiful art and architecture. It has been here since 1718, withstanding hurricanes, floods, fires, epidemics, and war. The St. Louis Cathedral, one of New Orleans’ most notable landmarks, was incredible, inside and out. There were many street artists and musicians along the streets. I enjoyed looking and listening to their work. We also walked along the Mississippi and got to spend some time looking at the view on some steps that bring you up close and personal with the river.  

http://www.cafedumonde.com/history

[reaghanlesh]

Joie De Vivre

Our first stop in New Orleans was Mother’s restaurant where we had a Cajun meal. The venue was buzzing with people as we got in line. We ordered in groups, each of us ordering a dish and then sharing once we got settled at our table. We got jambalaya, crawfish étouffée, shrimp creole, chicken and sausage gumbo, and red beans and rice. There was rice in every dish and I absolutely loved that. I feel like rice really ties all the dishes together. My favorite by far was the chicken and sausage gumbo. Gumbo is one of the most famous Cajun dishes and one of the most popular. It’s often deemed as the melting pot of Louisiana cooking. Although chicken and sausage gumbo is the most familiar, there are all different types of variations. There’s shrimp gumbo, alligator gumbo, pork gumbo, and more. The word gumbo comes from the African word for okra. So, okra is a common thing you see in gumbo as well.

My next favorite was the red beans and rice. It had a similar taste to refried beans but like ten times better. Red beans and rice is a dish commonly served in both restaurants and people’s homes in Louisiana. Red beans are a staple for the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras. It’s a huge part of New Orleans identity. It is also claimed that red beans and rice was jazz legend Louis Armstrong’s favorite dish. He would even sign his letters “Red Beans and Ricely Yours, Louis Armstrong.”

My next favorite was the Crawfish Étouffée, I don’t think I have ever had crawfish before. It had a super strong and delicious taste to it. You could taste the authenticity of the seafood. In French, the word étouffée literally means smothered or suffocated. They call it this because the dish uses a technique called smothering which is a popular method of cooking in New Orleans. This dish is commonly made with shellfish, like crab or shrimp but definitely the most popular version is the dish made with crawfish.

For some reason, I walked into the Cajun restaurant with the idea that everything would be spicy. That stereotype probably got rooted in my head from hearing people talk about Cajun food here and there, but in fact Cajun food really isn’t that spicy. Christie Rotondo from Thrillist did a story on the truth about Cajun food, and she said that “A properly prepared Cajun or Creole dish should leave you with a warm feeling in the back of your throat -- not running to gulp down a glass of milk to put out the fire spreading down your esophagus.” This described the food at Mother’s Restaurant perfectly. It definitely left me with a warm feeling in the back of my throat.

Joie de vivre is a common saying down in the big easy. The French translation means “hearty or carefree enjoyment of life; exultation of spirit” As we walked down bourbon street, trying to get our ten-hour bus legs underneath us and burn off that Cajun food we ate, we witnessed joie de vivre in action. New Orleanians love music, parades, carnival balls, holidays, and any excuse to celebrate. The best representation we saw was in the Preservation Hall where the Preservation Hallstars played us some classic jazz. My favorite part was when they played “You Are My Sunshine” and had the crowd sing along. The band played with such great energy and they were a joy to watch. Their spirit of joie de vivre was clearly evident.

https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/revealing-the-truth-about-cajun-food

https://www.southernfoodways.org/interview/a-short-history-of-gumbo/

[reaghanlesh]

Das Bevo

Yesterday, we ate a German feast at Das Bevo, a German themed restaurant in the historic Bevo Mill in St. Louis.

Bratwurst was one of the cuisines I expected to see on my German dinner plate. Bratwurst is a popular food in Germany, it’s a sausage made of pork, beef, or veal and sometimes a combination of these three. Although, brats can be made from all different types of meat and seasonings the traditional brat is seasoned with fresh marjoram, a spice similar to oregano, to give it its distinct flavor. Evidence suggests that birthplace of the bratwurst is in Germany, especially since the the name itself comes from German words “brat”, which means finely chopped meat, and “wurst”, which means sausage. I’ve always really liked bratwurst. Brats remind me of baseball games with my dad when I was little. I would get a hot dog and my dad would get a bratwurst and one time I wanted to try it so I did and I liked it. So, from then on, I started getting brats instead of hot dogs. I don’t think I had ever had an authentic bratwurst like I did at Das Bevo. It was a quality brat, maybe one of the best I’ve had. There was another sausage on the plate which was a knackwurst. knackwursts are typically made of pork and veal and they are distinguished by a garlic flavor. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the knackwurst. It was still good, but not as good as the bratwurst.

Although brats get a lot of attention, schnitzel is also one of the most popular dishes in Germany. Schnitzel was probably my favorite thing that I ate at Das Bevo. I have always heard the word schnitzel around but I never knew what it was and when I found out what it was, I was a little surprised. I don’t know what I was expecting Schnitzel to be, but I wasn’t expecting it to remind me of country fried steak. Schnitzel is a thin meat that is breaded and then fried in oil or fat. Schnitzel can be veal, pork, beef, or chicken. I believe we had a pork schnitzel and it was delicious. It also had a sauce on top of it that was very good as well.

Spätzle is another very popular dish in Germany. Spätzle are these little dumpling noodle things. The ingredients are simple, flour, egg, water, and seasoned with salt and nutmeg. These small pieces of dough are cooked in simmering water. I liked the Spätzle and the texture of it. It was definitely something I had never tried before and I ended up liking it!  

The next thing is something I am pretty familiar with, and that is a pretzel. We were given a soft pretzel stick. I wouldn’t say it was the best soft pretzel I’ve ever had but it was excellent. Pretzels are a very popular food during Oktoberfest, an autumn festival in Munich, Germany. Legend has it that pretzels have actually been around since 610 AD. The popularity of these treats spread across Europe during the middle ages. They were a symbol of good luck, prosperity, and spiritual fulfillment. Pretzels have grown into a common food in many cultures especially Germany and here in the US. It’s hard not to love the salty and savory taste of a pretzel.

Saurbraten, German potato salad, and sauerkraut were some of the food featured in our German dinner that I wasn’t the biggest fan of. Saurbraten was similar to our roast beef, but it has more of a sour taste, hinting the name Saurbraten. I personally didn’t like the sauce, it was a little too tangy and vinegary for my liking. I noticed the same thing with the German potato salad. I love potatoes but they're made with vinegar and mustard, two things that really aren’t for me. I gave them a try regardless, but I couldn’t eat all of them. I didn’t mind the sauerkraut as much. Sauerkraut is finely sliced white cabbage fermented with lactobacillus bacteria. I liked it better when I put some on my bratwurst.

Overall it was a very delicious feast. The renovated building was beautiful and it had incredible detail. I loved seeing and hearing about all the history.

https://www.kitchenproject.com/german/Bratwurst/history.htm

[reaghanlesh]

Dayenu

After our big Irish breakfast, we headed over to the Jewish Federation of St. Louis where Rabbi Tracy Nathan conducted a Passover Seder meal for us. Passover is the major Jewish spring festival that celebrates the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian Slavery. Seder is the ritual service and ceremonial dinner held on the first night of Passover. The Seder meal has a special order, in fact the word Seder actually means order. We were all given a Haggadah. A Haggadah is a book used to retell the story of Exodus from Egypt and to also guide participants through the Seder meal. The dinner typically begins when it gets dark outside, they start by saying Kiddush which is a prayer or blessing proclaiming the holiness of the holiday. They then drink the first out of the four cups of wine/grape juice of the night. Wine is used as a symbol of joy and happiness and the four cups are linked to the four great qualities the children of Israel had in exile: 1) They did not change their Hebrew names. 2) They continued to speak their own language (Hebrew). 3) They remained highly moral. 4) They remained loyal to one another.

The next step is Urchatz which is where they wash their hands. Rabbi Tracy demonstrated this for us. The next step is Karpas, where they dip a vegetable in salt water and say a blessing. We participated in Karpas by dipping parsley in saltwater. I liked the parsley and you couldn’t really taste much of the salt water. This process was created to arouse curiosity in children, they want the kids to ask questions. The common question that comes up during Karpas is why a vegetable? Why not a fruit? The meaning behind it is that fruit grows above the ground, it stands tall, and it’s a symbol of strength. While the vegetable is on or beneath the ground and sometimes you can’t even see it. We might feel like a vegetable, we might feel low, or that we don’t have the strength to rise and grow. So, they start the Seder with a vegetable. The Seder is such a transforming experience that it can take a little vegetable and put it on the Seder table to become a critical and prominent part. If a little vegetable can do that, we too can do the same.

The next part is Yachatz. Rabbi Tracy demonstrated this to us by breaking the middle matzah, which is unleavened bread, and then hiding the larger half. Maggid is next, this is where the second cup of wine is poured and one of the most significant elements of Passover begins which is the retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt. Rabbi Tracy started the story and then we went around the room one by one reading a part of the story. After the story, it’s Rachtzah which is washing before the meal. Then Motzi/Moatzah is saying the blessings for the bread and eating the matzah. I liked the matzah even though it was a bit bland. It reminded me a lot of a cracker.

The next part is Maror where they eat bitter herbs. We had horse-radish. I had never had horse-radish before so I didn’t know what I was expecting but I definitely wasn’t expecting it to be that spicy. After I ate it I remembered that horse-radish is a main ingredient in wasabi so…

We were also given these mixtures of nuts and cinnamon and other mixtures to help balance out the bitterness. The meaning behind the bitter herbs are to remember all the pain and suffering their ancestors went through and to share a brief moment of that suffering with them. The tenth part is Korech which is eating a sandwich of matzah and bitter herbs. After that is the feast, Shulchan Orech, which includes a hard-boiled egg and the leg of a lamb or beet. Tzafun is after the meal where they take out the hidden half of the matzah. Barech is when they say the blessing and drink the third cup of wine. They also fill the cup of Elijah, open the door, and invite the Prophet Elijah in. Hallel is when they sing lots of songs of praise and eventually the fourth cup of wine is drank. Rabbi Tracy sang many songs for us, they were really cool to hear. One that stood out to me was Dayenu. Dayenu means “that alone would have been enough, for that alone we are grateful.” This song shows so much gratitude towards God and my interpretation of it is that He didn’t have to do all these things for us, but he did. Nirtzah is the last part where they complete the Seder with more songs and prayers. 

Even though our visit to the Jewish Federation of St. Louis didn't fill up our bellies as much as the other places we visited, it definitely filled our brains up. I really enjoyed this experience. It was something new and I learned a lot from it.

https://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/1751/jewish/What-Is-a-Seder.htm

[reaghanlesh]

Eat Breakfast Like a King, Lunch Like a Prince, and Dine Like a Pauper.

This old motto fits the description of the traditional full Irish Breakfast. Irish are known for having big and hearty breakfasts, a meal that will fill you up and give you enough energy to make the most of your day. Today, I experienced this first-hand at Tigín’s Irish Pub in Downtown St. Louis. We were served a full Irish breakfast consisting of rashers, eggs, tomatoes mixed with mushrooms, black and white pudding, and a sausage they like to call bangers. The manager, Justin Miller, told us that we wouldn’t find anything else like it around here. And he was right. Tigín’s is unique. They have all their meat shipped to their restaurant from a small butcher shop in Ireland. They also import their HP sauce, a sauce similar to US’s A1 sauce, from Ireland.

My favorite part of the dish had to be the rashers. Rashers are basically sliced bacon. They have the appearance of ham and even taste a bit like ham, but better. Rashers just have an overall great taste to them and I really enjoyed my first time trying one. The Irish often make their bacon from the back meat of a pig rather than from the pork belly. Pork has been a key part of the Irish diet since prehistory. Pork was way cheaper than beef so it became very popular. Even when beef became less expensive, pork stayed the most favored because it had become a tradition.

My next favorite thing that I had was the eggs that I mixed in with my tomatoes and mushrooms. When I tried the combination, I was honestly shocked with myself because I’m not typically a big fan of any those three foods. I don’t know if I was in a different mood or the food was just that good. The eggs were scrambled like we typically see here in the US. The tomatoes were a cut into wedges and grilled with caramelized edges.

My next favorite thing was the bangers. I started off with mixed feelings about them but I think I grew to like them. They had a crunchy texture on the outside but once you bit into it the inside was soft. Bangers are Irish sausages typically made from pork or a combination of pork and beef. Bangers are larger than traditional American breakfast sausages but smaller than German Bratwurst. Bangers get their name from their tendency to pop and explode rather violently in the cooking pan.

Last but not least is black and white pudding. Black pudding, sometimes referred to as blood pudding, is sausage made from the cooked and congealed blood of pigs or cattle. The blood is mixed with fillers like pork, beef, fat, oatmeal, bread, or potato. Black pudding is super food and it contains a lot of protein, so it’s actually a pretty healthy choice. I didn’t mind black pudding, and I thought it tasted better when I dipped it in the HP sauce. White pudding is basically black pudding without the blood. I didn’t like the white pudding as much, but it still wasn’t bad.

I really enjoyed the breakfast at Tigín and I thought it was a great experience.

https://www.mrbreakfast.com/w_ireland.asp

[reaghanlesh]

A Cup of Tea is the Solution to Everything. 

While most people might believe that tea originated in Britain, tea actually made its appearance in China. Tea was invented in 2737 BC. Legend has it that Chinese Emperor Shen Nung was sitting under a tree with his servant and tree leaves fell into the water he was boiling. He tried it, liked the taste, and the rest history.

Drinking tea became popular in Britain during the 17th century. Afternoon tea originated with Anna the 7th Duchess of Bedford. She came up with the idea to have tea in the late afternoon to bridge the gap between lunch and dinner. This custom spread across Britain and became very popular. There are five main types of tea. Black tea, which is the most popular in the UK, green tea, white tea, oolong tea, and red tea. Loose leaf tea was the way to go when making tea but tea bags have surpassed that method. Tea bags were invented in the US and became a quick and easy phenomenon. One upside to tea bags is that they remain good for two years, while tea leaves are only good for two months.

This afternoon we had tea with our First Lady of Greenville University, Kathie Filby. She said something that really stuck with me. She said that tea is much more than just the taste, it’s part of the culture. Mrs. Filby said that a cup of tea is the solution to everything. Stressed out because of upcoming exams? Let’s go have a cup of tea. Your boyfriend/girlfriend broke up with you? That’s terrible, let’s go have a cup of tea. Loved one passed away? I’m sorry for your loss, let’s go have a cup of tea. When you’re in the midst of your busy life and you find yourself becoming emotionally or physically drained, the best thing you can do is stop, and have a cup of tea. Between the process of brewing and then the pouring and eventually sipping the hot beverage, tea encourages one to slow down, diffuse, and reflect. When Mrs. Filby said that today, it reminded me of a scene from one of my favorite movies, About Time. The scene gives a little glimpse to the cup of tea tradition.

I would consider myself a tea drinker, I have a cup of green tea nearly every morning. Except I don’t brew it traditionally with loose leaves or even a tea bag, I use a Keurig. It’s simple and quick and gets the job done. I occasionally like making tea with tea bags, but I believe this was one of my few times drinking loose leaf tea. I had black tea with a bit of milk and then a chocolate chip scone on the side. I’ve had black tea before but I never really liked it that much. This tea, however, I loved. It was the perfect temperature and it had a really soothing taste. The scone was also very good. I liked the black tea and scone combination. I think Kathie Filby inspired me to widen my tea palate. I want to try more in the future. I felt like the tea helped my mood as well, I felt a little more relaxed and almost energized. So, if you ever feel like your world is spinning in chaos, find a friend and spend a few hours over a pot of tea and you’ll likely walk away with a sense of peace.

https://www.britainexpress.com/History/tea-in-britain.htm