Culinary Influences

A Big Family Cooking Affair

Does your family have a few great chefs or bakers, who are well known for their talents within the whole family? It is likely these great cooks or bakers know the traditional ethnic dishes passed down from generation to generation, so it is very important (well, required) that they pass down these recipes, cooking and baking techniques down to the rest of the family. For example, if your Polish grandparents had a tradition of making pierogi or the aunt in your Czech American family knows all of the secrets to making those delicious kolaches—then it’s time to let the rest of the family in on the secrets and practice. It is likely that not all of the family members are very interested in learning to cook or bake these specialties at this time, however, it is very important that everyone be exposed to these techniques while the experts can teach them—because later on, it is likely there will be regrets.

A great way to demonstrate these cooking or baking techniques with family members is to make a weekend party out of it. It is so difficult to get everyone together nowadays, but with advanced planning and enough notice—people will try their best to make it happen. Be sure to have plenty of room for everyone in your kitchen, as well as a place to stay overnight.

In summary, it’s time to start planning your family cooking or baking party! It is not meant to be a formal event—just a fun event involving EVERYONE (all grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins)! Also, it cannot happen without all of the family recipes and memories, so have everyone dig these up before the event so that everyone can experiment. Remember, you cannot learn to cook or bake if you don’t experiment! If all goes well, then why not make this an annual event!