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.