Thoughts from the Kitchen… Food and Cultural Identity

It’s no surprise that I spend most of my waking time thinking about food in one way or another. It is such a huge passion of mine, and I am always on the lookout for new and exciting things in the world of food. It got me thinking the other day about food and cultural identity. Food plays such a huge part in most if not all cultures; I started to get a bit jealous of how food can hold such deep meaning for a variety of cultures. Then I started thinking about how food plays a part in my own cultural identity. Initially I felt a bit of a disconnect, perhaps I’ve been away from America for too long, or perhaps I just didn’t grow up with any particular food that felt like much of a tradition. Looking in (as a former insider) from an outside perspective is weird, and I don’t mean that just for food either (it’s weird watching USA politics play out from afar as well). I don’t really feel like I relate to a lot of the food that the world associates with the USA. I’m not a big fan of hot dogs, I don’t like overly sweet things (which there literally seems to be sugar in just about everything there), and I’ve cut down on my intake of delicious fried foods (instead opting for air-fried, oven roasted, and if pan fried-- exclusively in Olive Oil).

     Of course, when you look deeper there are plenty regional foods throughout the USA, I grew up eating my fair share of southern dishes thanks to my mother’s Virginian heritage. When it comes to making these things for myself, because I do like quite a few of them, I feel somewhat of an outsider. I love a good fish fry, a hushpuppy, freshly shucked lima beans, a crawdad boil, and a bowl of hearty gumbo as much as anyone can, but when I make them, I can’t help but feel like somewhat of an imposter. This feeling translates to just about any type of cuisine I might make. I love Mexican food, Indian food, Italian food, Middle Eastern food, British food, really, just about any food I can get my hands on. However, when I experiment with dishes from these cultures, I know that I am only copy catting. Maybe that’s not really a problem though, after all food is made to be shared. With the introduction of more accessible travel, and internet we are exposed to more and more every day. Perhaps my exposure to all these different cuisines has morphed my own food identity into something different. Of course, there are a few dishes where I don’t feel like an imposter, one being chili, another being chicken fried steak, and then when I’m grilling just about anything especially burgers and steak (i.e. things I don’t regularly consume anymore).

     When I really think about my own personal cultural identity with food though, what really sticks out to me is not any one type of cuisine, but instead where the things I eat come from. I grew up hunting wild game to stock our freezers with because it was cheaper than buying from a grocery store. My burgers were venison or elk, the meat in my Bolognese sauce pronghorn antelope, and my favourite type of bird to eat was grouse not chicken. This is where my food identity crisis leads me. To the dark, freezing cold early fall mornings waking up and going out to hunt for the years’ supply of meat with my father. Eating tinned fish on crackers and drinking coffee out of a thermos flask. Shivering even in my thick camo hunting coat, staring into the lightening horizon, and listening for the bugle call of an elk. Or hiking behind our family cabin down to the creek to fish for dinner to be fried up with onions and potatoes. Or eating fresh green beans, tomatoes, and carrots out of our family garden. Perhaps that is why as I have gotten older, I have become more and more passionate about sourcing my ingredients. The dream for me is to eventually be sourcing nearly everything I consume from within the area I live, the produce from my own garden, the fish caught straight from the sea about 7 miles from me, the meat from local farms, heck there’s even a flour mill down the road.

     I guess that’s what cultural identity in relation to food boils down to, the feeling of enjoyment in sharing food with people or even just with yourself no matter what that food is. A feeling of some sort of connection whether you’re just eating a pot noodle in your comfiest chair in solace after a long day or sharing a feast with a bunch of friends on the weekend. With that introspection I’ll leave you with a recipe for Chicken Fried Venison Steak that gets me feeling nostalgic.

Chicken Fried Venison Steak with Creamy Pepper Pan Gravy for Two

2 Venison Steaks

1 Cup of Flour, seasoned to your liking with Salt, Pepper and Chilli Powder

1 egg, beaten

4-6 cloves garlic, diced

½ of a Yellow Onion, diced

300ml stock of your choice

300ml double cream

Salt and Pepper to taste

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Heat oven to about 150 C to keep venison warm once cooked. Pound venison steaks with mallet or rolling pin until about 1 cm thick. Dredge in flour mixture, then in egg, and again in flour. Heat up frying pan with about ½ cm of oil in bottom. Once oil is heated turn heat to medium and add coated venison steaks and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until both sides are nicely browned and crispy. Transfer to an oven tray preferably with a rack on it so that any juices/oil can drain away and not make the steak coating soggy and put it in the oven while you make gravy.

Take a couple tablespoons of the flour used for dredging and add it to the same frying pan over medium/medium high heat, stirring to prevent burning. Once flour starts to brown a bit turn heat to medium if you don’t already have it there and add onion, sautéing for a couple of minutes before adding the garlic to sauté for a minute or two as well being careful not to let it burn. Add stock to pan and stir to mix, allowing to bubble and thicken. Add double cream and repeat, adding more water or stock if it starts to get too thick for your liking. Add salt and pepper (lots of pepper in my case, green peppercorns would also be a nice addition if you have them on hand) to taste. Pour gravy over venison steaks, serve with whatever sides you want (I went for wilted greens with a red wine and garlic vinegar and cheesy allium rice, though mash would be a good option for extra gravy) and enjoy!