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Sunday, March 25, 2018

Sum It Up Sunday-A Taste of Culture

Food is definitely a bit part of why I search out the holidays of other cultures, I am not going to lie. I mean come on, we all know that food is my life. And yet I really like learning about the traditions and reasons behind them as well. Celebrating cultural diversity has become a big part of who I am, and why I started the podcast.

For example, on March 21st I celebrated Nowruz or Persian New Year with some friends by making Ash-e Reshteh (Iranian Noodle Soup to celebrate the coming of spring. A delicious way to celebrate "the new day" which is what nowruz translates as.

Every year I also get a group of folks together to fill our faces with dim sum on Chinese New Year. This year there were 15 of us spread over two tables with lazy Susans spinning in the middle full of plates and steamer baskets, and sharing isn't just encouraged, it's mandatory!

Holi is one of the most celebrated of festivals in India. It's sometimes called the “festival of love” as on this day people get to unite together forgetting all resentments and all types of bad feeling towards each other. You may know it as The Festival of Colors, where those celebrating throw colored powders on one another is a riotous rainbow hewed carnival atmosphere. I haven't had a chance to really celebrate, but hope to the next time it rolls around. I was in Seattle once during Holi and serendipitously caught a parade or revelers.
Diwali is a festival I was able to catch when I was in Singapore and India. Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains each celebrate in their own way and yet a common symbolism remains. It celebrates the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, and good over evil.
As I meet more and more folks from around the world or right around the corner, I'm finding that their different observances can teach me not only about their culture and food but about how we all are connected by the core ideas. Rebirth, good over evil, springtime, and on and on...


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