Not my favorite, but any means, Bamia is significant for just that reason. And also, OKRA makes the cutest block printing:)
Have you ever wondered what foods will carry on in the generations to come?
Bamia- okra and beef stewed in tomato sauce. I enjoy it once a year, when my mother makes it on erev Yom Kippur. That’s when I was a kid, or close enough to home to share the holiday. That was the meal: Bamia, plus chicken soup, roast chicken, and dessert. Sephardic families have very scripted holiday menus that never veer! 😂
These days, I don’t eat Bamia often. I don’t cook it because I enjoy only a few bites. I never made it for my kids because I didn’t think they would like it; come to think of it, there are several Middle Eastern dishes they’ve never eaten. I pass on the foods I like—lots of lemon and allspice: pomegranate molasses, some stuffed vegetables, lots of kibbe and tahina.
Should I be cooking dishes I don’t like? Foods and flavors that introduce and connect my children to their history? My mother does this SO well…
I’m concerned that there are sooo many recipes that will not cross over into the next generation. Have I missed my window? I know that kids like foods they grew up on, flavors and textures that are a form of comfort. But my kids are grown now and some of these flavors- especially okra- are foreign to them.
It’s an interesting thing to think about... what will our kids eat as adults? In our house, we eat so many different foods- Asian and Indian, Italian and French; my pantry is like the UN. It’s my mother’s kitchen, their grandmother, who holds the torch and carries the key.
This is my dilemma- how can I pass down the plethora of Syrian recipes when there are so many more foods to cook???
What do I want to pass down to my children?
What kind of comfort food did I create for them?
Just a little #foodforthought . . .
I made these casserole dishes- throwing a bottomless cylinder on the wheel. I used brown Standard 112 stoneware clay. I attached a bottom slab the next day, including the handle. The following day, I stamped sliced OKRA with Amaco printing inks, as well as colored slips and underglazes. I used letter stamps for the "BAMIA" and carving tools for the grooves in the garlic.
#foodiseverything #familycooking #heirloomrecipes