Food, cooking and the people who feed us
By Christina You-Sun Park, assistant director, the Studio for Creativity, Place and Equitable Communities
On Monday, March 25, 2024, Anna Alvarez-Loucks hosted a HERStory event celebrating home cooking, women and community in recognition of Women’s History Month. This story circle brought together students, staff and faculty at Arizona State University’s Multicultural Communities of Excellence (MCoE) space on the Tempe Campus, as part of a series of heritage month events sponsored by the Herberger Institute Office of Culture and Access, MCoE’s Council of Coalitions and Educational Outreach and Student Services.
In this interview, Anna Alvarez-Loucks, senior coordinator for the Studio for Creativity, Place and Equitable Communities, shares her thoughts on food, cooking and gender dynamics with Christina You-sun Park.
Christina: What inspired you to host this story circle?
Anna: I think a lot about food in general. I like to cook, I’m into wellness and I think a lot about how food is connected to so many things. I was also inspired by Dr. Duane Roen, who leads conversations on food and families at ASU’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) conference every year. But I think food and cooking carry extra weight for women in particular because there are so many stereotypes and expectations that come with it.
When I was growing up, my mom was not the cook in our family. She was the first person in her family to go to college, so she really instilled in us the importance of education and breaking gender roles. My dad was the one who cooked dinner for us every night. Later, when I got married and had a kid, I found I really liked cooking and I would put a lot of time and effort into it. But that made me think, am I still a feminist? Can I be a part-time, stay-at-home mom, spend so much time in the kitchen and still set a strong example for my daughter? Meanwhile, my sister and other friends were like, “Oh, god, I couldn’t wait to get back to work.” There’s such a wide range of experiences and motivations for how we approach food and cooking, and it’s all valid.
Christina: At ASU, you work at the Studio for Creativity, Place and Equitable Communities, which focuses on building the field of equitable creative placemaking and placekeeping. How do you connect food culture with creative placemaking?
Anna: In creative placemaking, we look at how the unique knowledge, history and culture of a place can strengthen social cohesion and inform more equitable policies, and food culture is definitely included in that knowledge, history and culture. Food is such a communal thing, from swapping recipes and families cooking together, to sharing food at community gatherings and celebrations. It’s so universal, but also unique in each culture and community, with specific ingredients and recipes that carry stories of human interaction. Those nuances need to be stewarded and raised up the same way other cultural traditions are, which is what we were trying to do at this event.
Christina: The universal aspect of food and community was reflected at this event. Was there anything that was shared that surprised you from today’s circle?
Anna: I was really happy to share space with such a beautiful mix of people. We had so many different perspectives and cultures represented. An intergenerational mix, too! We talked about Indian food, Chinese culture, Southern cooking, Mexican food and so much more. And there was a lot of nostalgia for home cooking across the board, which shouldn’t have surprised me, being on a college campus.
Christina: I can see a very strong tie between the food that we choose to consume, our families and our experiences growing up. Eating out also came up, versus cooking at home, and how that’s changed over time. Do you mind talking about that?
Anna: People shared a lot of reasons not to cook at home. One is cooking takes time and time is something none of us has a lot of. Sometimes you just need something quick and easy. Another thing mentioned was the joy of variety and trying new foods. Someone shared about the first time they had pizza. A few people talked about the foods from other cultures that they really love. So I don’t think any of us have to give up eating out, but the hard thing is that eating out continues to get easier and more affordable. I remember not eating out very often as a kid, but that changed in my teenage years and early 20s. I think it takes more and more effort to resist that shift toward cheap and easy.
Another thing that came up related to that is the change in what food we eat for celebrations. Do we make something elaborate at home, like a special family recipe, or do we order out? It’s a lot of work to cook for a larger celebration, but most of us agreed that it’s worth the effort to have those dishes that we remember our mothers or grandmothers making. Like, I remember family parties when I was a kid and the smell of food cooking in my grandma’s kitchen and all the activity in the house. It’s such a powerful memory for me that it drives me to take the time to try and learn all these recipes and sometimes fail, just to pass all that on to my daughter. Not just the food and the recipes but the experience of family gatherings. So we do a lot of potlucks in my family, or I especially love cooking parties where everyone comes over to cook together. Share the work, share the knowledge, and celebrate together.
I read this book that talked about how, when women started working outside of the home more, in the 50s and 60s and 70s, food companies would advertise that the answer to women feeling overburdened was for husbands to order out. There was never like, “Husbands, maybe you try cooking dinner.” I mean, because of course not. Corporations are about making money. They’re not gonna tell people to cook at home more. Nobody’s like, “Everybody pitch in!”
Christina: And that goes to what you mentioned about the relationship between capitalism and home cooking, and how it drives our relationship to sugar and refined foods. There’s also the potential loss of nutritional knowledge that exists in traditional foods.
Anna: Yes! I’m just beginning to learn about this, but there’s a lot of ingrained knowledge that has been passed down in traditional foods and recipes, sometimes unconsciously. Some foods just go together, and the nutrients in one ingredient might complement and like unlock nutrients in another when they’re eaten together or prepared in a certain way. Or some foods have medicinal qualities. Our grandmothers may or may not have known about the specific chemicals and nutritional components, but they all had that knowledge passed down of eating what makes you feel good and what keeps you healthy. Which is another reason why it’s so important to cook at home and preserve traditional recipes.
Christina: And how would you recommend preserving this connection?
Anna: Just by cooking, by doing it. And if you are lucky enough to have someone who cooks for you, just love and support them. When I was a teenager I asked my grandma if she would teach me how to make tortillas, and she said, “Oh, you don’t have to make them. They sell them in the store. Just buy them from the store. It’s way easier.” And I mean, she had eight kids and at least 20 grandkids by that time. That’s a lot of tortillas so no judgment. I think about her and all the ladies in my family a lot when I’m in the kitchen cooking for my family of three! I think about my mom who taught me that cooking is not my “role” if I don’t want it to be. I think about my dad, too, who taught me to cook with joy and creativity. I want to honor all of them, because they were all just doing the best they could, the best way they knew how. So I just keep trying the best I can too. Sometimes cooking, sometimes ordering out, and I just hope that all of it gets passed down to my daughter — that love of good food and family cooking.
For further reading about food culture and creative placemaking:
La Doce: Barrio Foodways: A report on community knowledge and recommendations for sustainable change in Tucson, Arizona
