However, this is NOT what diversity activists seem to want us to think. If you watch any TV show attempting to be more “diverse,” they often emphasize ONLY the old culture, that of their parents, and do not even WANT to mention that the children (even adult children) may think differently, do things their own way that acknowledges both their ancestral heritage(s) and that of the country they were born/raised in. The so-called DE&I “leadership” will never admit that this happens. In fact, they’ll likely just say that we’re too “colonized” and need to be “reprogrammed.” Okay, maybe not the latter term, but you know what I mean. Do they realize how INSULTING this is? Racist, even? I mean, what’s WRONG with them? If you want diversity and inclusion, you HAVE to note that this happens. Unfortunately, I don’t feel that they do. I’ve been personally insulted ENOUGH by these groups. And it’s sad, because I have a lot to offer them. Don’t they want to hear about different experiences?

Anyway, enough on the diversity rant. You hear/read enough of it from me, both on this site and on my podcast (haha). What I want to say is that this way of cooking is by no means about people turning their backs onto their culture nor is it diluting their ancestry. It’s actually quite the opposite. It IS, in fact, emphasizing one’s culture. No matter what you do, you have to admit that the chef’s culture isn’t ONLY that of their parents, but also the culture they grew up in. So if your parents came from Korea and you were born and raised in, say, Manhattan and you own a bagel shop, why NOT have kimchi flavoured cream cheese as an option (well, once the apparent shortage is no longer an issue)? Or, I don’t know, one of my Christmas Day traditions where I use Hong Kong style coconut pull-apart bread for French toast. It shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, I think it’s pretty cool!

Some of these dishes actually come from our own childhoods. We wanted so-called “Canadian” foods, but our parents wanted to make food from their homelands. Most of us end up eating both. Some of us had nice parents/grandparents who made fusion dishes at home, and sometimes for us to take to school. For example (and I probably mentioned this in a Cynthia Talks Life episode), (leftover) soy sauce roast chicken sandwiches for me. The whole idea of stinky “immigrant kid” lunches is a foreign concept for me. And I really think there are more people like me. But then again, it might just be the circle I grew up with. I don’t think any of us had that so-called “typical narrative” that so many in the diversity space want to emphasize.

We talk about fusion cuisine all the time. It’s usually something “elevated,” so why not start calling it something else? Like, oh, I don’t know, CANADIAN (or American/British/Australian/wherever you’re from) food? That said, I can’t wait to try dishes like, steamed pumpkin pie dumplings, apple pie stuffed naan, linguini tossed with char siu and choy sum (even though this is kind of boring-sounding) and the like. Grilled cheese with Peking duck sounds pretty interesting too. And isn’t this so-called NEW cuisine really part of what diversity/inclusion is all about anyway? If you don’t agree, then it’s kind of sad. Culture is meant to evolve, after all. If it isn’t supposed to, then wouldn’t everyone still be eating whatever people in their ancestral heritage ate thousands of years ago? Heck, I don’t even KNOW what people from the area of China my ancestors are from ate 4,000 years ago (and which part? It’s a big country. Most of my family is from the southeastern area (I think), but some are from the north) unless I went to a food museum and they had some sort of exhibit. This kind of fusion only enhances things and makes things more interesting.

NOTE: I realize I talked about this on an episode of Cynthia Talks Life in October. I just wanted to re-emphasize this issue now that REAL MEDIA has acknowledged it!!!

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Recipe info (four of them are links to older posts on this site):

Cin Cin Mien:  A Dan Dan Inspired Dish 

Kefir Soda Bread 

Cacao Oat Cookies (this is a cacao version I made over the holiday season in 2020, using oat bran rather than rolled oats) 

The OG two ingredient oat/banana cookies recipe (from Ambitious Kitchen) 

Pumpkin Mooncakes (you can use the same recipe to make squares so it’s not an issue that we’re out of season) 

The post Cooking CYNTHIA’S WAY vs Her Family’s appeared first on Cynthia C. Mintz.

It’s December 25, so Merry Christmas to all who celebrate the holiday. We had our annual holiday dinner party over the weekend, so we’ll be spending today watching movies and ordering in Chinese. In other words, it’s what my husband calls “Jewish Christmas.”

So what’s “fake Chinese?” Ummm, it’s North American-ized stuff. You know, chicken balls and chop suey? Except we aren’t getting chop suey. We’ll have egg rolls though (rather than SPRING ROLLS). I’m sure I’ve written about this before. It’s something we’ve been doing years – probably since we married and I like it!

So how was our annual dinner? It was GREAT! Our menu was a little different this year. No latkes, since Hanukkah was early (we always have our meal catered from Pusateri’s), but it DID include turkey breasts and beef. The truffle mac and cheese I served last year (NOT from their “official” holiday menu) was difficult to get. I had to call the store several times just to get it and confirm that it was there. Since you can’t order it online, I wasn’t able to have any sort of official confirmation. I ordered it again since it went really well with the guests last year.

This year is Jr. Mintz’s first Christmas. He isn’t old enough to understand presents, Santa or decorations yet, but he seems to LOVE the tree. He likes lights in general, preferring to look out the window than play with the dangly toys on his play mat. He did receive toys for the holiday, including a stuffed dog by Cuddle+Kind and a doll by Birds Love Bees (we aren’t trying to limit his exposure to big brands, but we DO love to help smaller/indie companies). I really hope he’ll appreciate them eventually.

What else did we do? I made my annual baked French Toast (or more accurately, bread pudding). I made both savoury and sweet again this year, using both challah (savoury) and croissant (sweet). The savoury one was soaked in an egg (two egg whites, one whole egg) custard mixed with both regular dairy and almond milks (the almond milk was from Greenhouse Juicery. They FINALLY have an unsweetened version!!!) mixed with some garlic powder, black pepper and a spice mixture I made. I also added quark to the custard. The casserole was topped with grape tomatoes and bocconcini. The sweet one, with croissant, was first topped with a spread called Rawtella (think Nutella without the nasty stuff) and dipped in an egg (again, two egg whites, one whole), dairy, almond milk and quark mixture with cinnamon, as well as vanilla and cacao powders. Yum!

Tomorrow’s Boxing Day. I’m NOT going to make the same mistake I did last year – purchase a useless printer (I thought I had a good deal by paying $60, but it looked like the printer I had in 2011. Ummm, NO. And I STILL haven’t replaced it. I don’t print much, so I guess it isn’t that big of a deal. It’s been working, and that’s the important part, right?). I’m really going to focus on things we need for Jr. Mintz. He doesn’t need any more toys – more like a better baby monitor (the one we have is supposed to be good, but it seems to go offline at least once a day). Yeah, I know, #firstworldproblems.

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