heritage

“Aha” Moment

by Maria Guinnip
Photo from https://healthtransformer.co/the-aha-moment-5-entrepreneurs-share-origin-stories-of-their-moonshot-mission-work-12856b179ad9

For me, this week was extremely developmental. As I struggled to make new friends and adjust to an extremely new setting I learned a lot about myself. I came from Los Angeles knowing no one and was forced to mingle and go outside of my comfort zone in various situations, but my biggest “aha” moment actually stemmed from this class. In one of the first days I reflected on my heritage and pride. It was here I realized I was lacking confidence, not just in expressing my heritage, but in every aspect of my life. From then on I tried to be more open with people and confident in myself. That day I met at least five new people. As soon as I opened myself up to rejection and all of my social fears, they didn’t seem scary and I was able to connect and make deeper friendships. Reflecting on my time here, as well as my life as a whole, has helped me build perspective and better cope with my emotions while being away from home. This week there were three big earthquakes in Los Angeles that affected my friends and family. This made me very upset for a couple days and while my friends comforted me and my family assured me of their safety, I was very anxious. This week was a bit of a rollercoaster for me, but I worked through it and am really happy with where I am now.

Recipe As a Narrative Artifact

by Maria Guinnip
Photo Credit

One of my favorite dishes that has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember is Chicken Tortilla Soup. A recipe my mom has used since my childhood that I will carry on into parenthood is listed below.

RECIPE:

Ingredients: roasted chicken, 1/2 chopped onion, one bag of frozen southwest veggies, 1/2 jar of red chunky salsa, 2 cartons of chicken broth

DIRECTIONS:

  • Cut roasted chicken into small pieces
  • Chop onions
  • Combine all ingredients and cook on stove at a medium temperature until done
  • Then, put into bowls and add toppings such as tortilla chips, cheese, cilantro, and avocado as you please for the perfect taste!

Although this recipe is not super complex, it leaves a lot of room for expression through toppings and overall presentation. I inherited this recipe from my mom and abuela, who have helped me immensely in developing my relationship with food. Because of them, I am more confident in sharing my heritage and being extremely proud of where I come from. This recipe is a major comfort food that I eat at least once a month and encourage others to try.

Through my recipe and narrative I was trying to tell a personal story to connect with the audience and invite them into my life to learn more about myself, my family, and my heritage. My narrative was acting as an introduction to my family and my personality through my connection with food. Since I am both Mexican and Irish, food plays a big role in family gatherings along with my everyday life. We eat large portions of mainly ethnic foods and exchange recipes frequently. Some of my ideas that I wanted to leave my audience with were that I spend a lot of time around my family and that food plays a big role in my connection with my family and the world around me, especially in understanding myself and my heritage. I included a picture of Chicken Tortilla Soup on my blog and in my presentation to help the audience visualize my narrative and feel a connection. Presentation is one of my favorite parts of this dish because you can customize it however you want and the picture I used helps to communicate that. I communicated my ideas mainly through my verbal storytelling with the aid of my visuals and recipes. Through this project I hope that my peers get to know me better while also being genuinely interested in me and the development of my relationship with food.