Category Archives: Food

Stone Soup

Stone Soup

By Laurel Aronian, 16, New York

Elizabeth gave us our assignment:
“Today in class you will be making stone soup.” She held up the book for all to see.
“You want us to cook?” a bold boy asked.
“Of course,” said Elizabeth, and handed us the aprons.

We went into the kitchen in the parallel classroom,
And listened to the clink of knives and the bustle of our classmates.
Each of the grades would provide a vegetable,
And as fourth graders, we were assigned the onions.

My friend and I wondered what genius had given us this task.
The teachers only provided us with long, silver knives, intentionally dulled down.
We set to work at our stations, passing the onions and shielding our eyes.

Over time, we came up with useful solutions to protect us from the sting and fiery smell.
Some kids passed around their glasses.
Others grabbed goggles from the science cabinet.
Some even asked the teachers for a slice of bread to hold in their mouths.
We were some wimpy fourth graders.

Yet things improved when we found solutions that worked.
The goggles fared well against the fumes,
And we learned to take turns passing around the glasses.
Soon enough, we had seven big bowls filled with the slices.

We walked outside as a pack and sat on shedding tarps.
We huddled closer around the fire, shielded from air like needles,
We felt our size as we sat with the lower grades, leaders of the school.
And we watched Elizabeth take the lead and open the book once more.

The rumble turned to patter as she began to read,
As the students slowly deposited their chopped vegetables
The smell of the soup filled the air,
The bubbling pot and voices a chorus on the wind.

When it was our turn, we stood up with our bowls of onions.
Full of pride, dropping them in the sizzling soup.
We realized what Elizabeth was trying to teach us,
Standing there with our dulled knives and aprons.

If we were given the solutions to our problems,
We would never learn.
We would never create.
For the next time we made soup without assistance.

The sound of the realization was the clink of spoons,
The passing of mugs, the shatter as one fell,
The clatter of a dustpan as we swiped up the shards,
The happy chatter as well enjoyed good food.

The smell of the vegetables mingling together,
The burning wood within the fire,
The earthiness of the dirt on which we sat,
The wool of our mittens in the chilly air.

Tasting the soup was the ultimate prize,
If we hadn’t been the chefs, we wouldn’t have realized,
The distinct change the onions made to the overall aroma,
And never would’ve known to add them.

Elizabeth taught us more than numbers that day,
She taught us the impact every action makes,
Not only would we be able to make stone soup once again,
But we’d learned creativity in solving the problems at hand.

By Laurel Aronian, 16, Connecticut.

“I love to write in all genres (poetry, prose, journalism). I also enjoy taking photos and creating art. I have a passion for music and perform as a singer-songwriter and accompany on guitar. When I’m not writing or making music, I play competitive chess.

My poetry submissions highlight multicultural awareness as I am of multicultural heritage and recently celebrated Ramadan, Passover, and Easter. My pieces also reflect the awe of nature, earth stewardship, and our planet’s majesty and magic.”

My Life Experiences

My Life Experiences: In and Out of Afghanistan

By Fatimah Habibi, age 18, Connecticut.

To observe and experience so many terrible things at such a young age had a lasting effect on me. When my brother was kidnapped, I was just seven years old. I may not have known as much at the time because I was so young, but when I saw my family, I knew something wasn’t right. Everyone at home cried for a week, and it appeared as though someone had passed away. He was discovered by the police after the week was over, and they took him to the station. As he saw our family when he got home, he started crying. My parents were crying as well. It “felt like I had been gone forever,” he said. After that, life became more difficult for everyone in my family; we were unable to attend school for almost six months and no longer could leave the house. As long as we stayed in Afghanistan, there was no easy moment. For the protection of my brothers and ourselves, we were forced to make the decision to leave our homeland. Every time I watched my brother or other children playing in the park or outside, I wanted to join them and have fun just like they did. I was happy to hear of my family’s decision since I had always thought that once we left Afghanistan, I would be allowed to play freely in the park like they did without anyone objecting.

I was around age nine when we moved to India, and it was quite traumatic and terrible to leave my entire family behind. It was a good feeling of freedom, but I also faced a lot of challenges like at first, it was very hard for me to learn their language, culture, food, and the most important and shocking thing was their religion (Hinduism).

It was my first time to see a lot of people of different colors and different beliefs. This was something totally new for me. However, on the other hand, I felt as though I had started a new life. I could do whatever I wanted without anyone bothering me. I attended school there fearlessly and learned a lot, including Hindi, English, and a ton of other things. There, I knew what exactly life is and how it felt to be a free woman.

I made a lot of friends, and had a normal childhood. I was really satisfied in India, and I lived there for almost three years. However, after spending three years in India we went back to my country to see my uncles, aunts, and grandfather. We stayed about a month in Afghanistan, and when we tried to go back to India, sadly, my Grandfather passed away. We were unable to go back, so we stayed in Afghanistan. There were no easy moments as we stayed in Afghanistan again, especially for me. I was used to wearing whatever I wanted and going outside whenever I wanted; but in Afghanistan, I couldn’t do any of that which was very hard for me. Going to school with fear and then returning home and spending the entire day at home is not simple.

For our freedom and education, we had to leave Afghanistan once again. We traveled to Turkey and stayed there for a year. I was very tired of being forced to move from one country to another and didn’t want to do it again until we came to the United States.

I experienced a lot of difficulties. People treated us differently because we were strangers, which obviously had a big impact on our mental health. I don’t know why, but as I went outside, the people looked weird. But after a year, I began to get used to it. We lived in Turkey for two years before coming to America. At first, I had the impression that because we were immigrants, everyone would treat us differently, the school and people would be like in Turkey. After a few months, I started going to school and there were really nice, respectable people there. I have come to the conclusion that everyone is the same, regardless of their origin or belief. Everyone follows the same process. In the years that followed, I finally understood how to live and now I feel very free.

The United States offered me and my family a chance at a brighter future. We were able to take advantage of the many opportunities available to us, from education to employment. I was able to pursue my studies at a good high school with plans to attend college and study what I want. My journey from Afghanistan to the United States was not only a physical one, but also a mental and emotional one. I had to learn how to cope with the new culture, language, and people I encountered in my new home. I also had to learn how to adjust to the freedom and independence that I was granted—the freedom and independence that I did not have in my country.

My experience as an immigrant in the United States has been an enlightening one. I have been able to gain an appreciation for a culture different from my own and to gain an understanding of the difficulties that come with the process of acclimating to a new environment. I have also been able to gain a greater sense of appreciation for the many freedoms and opportunities available to me here. I may have left my homeland behind, but I will never forget the strength and courage it took to make such a big move. I will always carry with me the lessons I learned, and the experiences I had during my journey from Afghanistan to the United States. Finally, I have arrived at the place I had planned for myself. I am able to live independently and attend school. I have the opportunity to pursue my dreams in the U.S. and make them come true. I’m a senior in high school now, and intend to go to university to pursue a career that I hope to have and love in the future.

By Fatimah Habibi, age 18, h.s. senior, Connecticut.

Fatimah adds: “I was born and raised in Afghanistan. My cultural background is Afghan and I was raised in a household that placed a strong emphasis on our cultural traditions and customs. One of the traditions that is most important to me is the celebration of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. During this holiday, my family and I gather together to pray, give gifts, and share meals. It is a time for us to feel connected to our culture and to pass on our traditions to future generations.

I was also taught about the history and values of my culture, which has had a big impact on my worldview and how I approach life. For instance, the importance of family and community is something that is very important to me and something that I try to incorporate into my daily actions. My cultural background and traditions have played a significant role in shaping who I am and have given me a sense of belonging and connection to my heritage.

The most popular and my favorite dish in my country is called Qabili palau. This is how we make it.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of basmati rice
  • 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 1 pound lamb or beef, cut into small pieces
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1/2 cup slivered almonds
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Recipe:

  1. Rinse the rice in a fine mesh sieve until the water runs clear.
  2. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add chopped onion and cook until it is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
  3. Add the lamb or beef to the pot and cook until it is brown on all sides, about 10 minutes.
  4. Add the salt, pepper, turmeric, cumin, coriander, and garam masala to the pot and stir to coat the meat evenly.
  5. Add 3 cups of water to the pot and bring to a boil.
  6. Add the washed rice to the pot, stirring to combine. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the rice is tender and the water has been absorbed.
  7. Stir in the raisins, almonds, and parsley. Cover the pot and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
  8. Remove the pot from the heat and let it sit, covered, for 10 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork and serve. Enjoy!

Editor’s Note: If you are a vegetarian, like many people are in India, you can choose to skip the meat—lamb or beef, etc. The rice pilaf dish will still be very tasty.

A Letter to my Grandchildren

A Letter to my Grandchildren:

How To Save Our Health and the Health of the World!

With Earth Day approaching I have been giving a lot of thought to how I can contribute to making this world a healthier and safer place for you. We have a number of issues that may be stressful for you… but I would like to share some of my thoughts on why the food choices we make can be powerful factors in improving the health and safety in your life as well as the health of the world.
What are some of the problems we face?

  1. Global warming leading to extreme weather (storms, floods, tornadoes, droughts, etc.)
  2. Species extinction due to loss of habitat
  3. Crime and violence
  4. Pandemic issues
  5. Obesity and increase in chronic illnesses (like diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, etc.) 

What is one of the most effective ways to reduce these problems? It’s Food!

Why? When you look around the world…you will discover that certain populations live longer (into their 90’s and 100’s) and are healthier than others. The book, The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner, documents the five regions of the world that have a number of similarities—a whole plant food diet, movement throughout the day, and good social support from family and friends.There are two sources of food available in our world—plants and animals. In the Americas, raising animals for our main food source contributes more to global warming than all the transportation we use. It uses more water and land than using plants for our main food source. And raising animals in close quarters has led to spreading diseases to humans and has contributed to antibiotic resistance. Animal foods are high in saturated fats, which leads to inflammation and clogging of our arteries. Saturated fats also are an underlying cause of obesity, diabetes, and many other chronic illnesses. Also, the processing of our foods to increase shelf life and to make food choices more attractive has increased the fat, salt, and sugar content, and at the same time, made them highly addictive. Addiction leads to anxiety, depression, and a lower quality of life. It may lead to mental illness and potentially to increased crime and violence. All in all, raising animals for our food is not only contributing in a huge way to making our health worse but it is also making our planet sick.

So what is the solution? The one thing we can all do is to start asking ourselves questions like: “Are the food choices I am making now because of my habits or will they help me reach my goals and help improve the health of our planet?” Greta Thunberg’s answer is to just eat plant-based foods. And eating plants as they have grown in nature (with only minimal processing) is the healthiest choice we can make.
What gets in the way of us making healthier choices?

  1. Family and friends
  2. Our culture
  3. Myths we live with…

Let’s look at some of the myths we live with.

Myth# 1. Our Genes Determine Our Health
We used to believe that our genes were the main determinants of our health. We now know that genetics account for about 20% of our health. 80% of our health is determined by our lifestyle (what we eat, how we move throughout the day, the chemicals we use, and how we deal with stress). A good analogy is this… If you put a bullet in a gun, no one gets hurt unless the trigger gets pulled. Our genes are like the bullet. If we choose unhealthy foods, live a sedentary lifestyle, use tobacco or alcohol, or do not learn how to handle stress, then our trigger gets pulled and we can develop the diseases that hurt us. So if you want to be the healthiest, do not stress out too much about your family history, but instead concentrate on the lifestyle choices you make. And eat healthy foods regularly to achieve your best health.

Myth# 2. The Best Source of Protein Is Animal Foods
The building blocks for protein are called amino acids. All of these building blocks are made by and found in plants—greens, beans, legumes, grains, roots and tubers, seeds, fruits, and nuts, etc. Animals are like a middleman. They eat plants and plant products to make protein. Our teeth and long digestive tracts are meant to grind up plants and make our own protein, just like the strongest animals on Earth—elephants and gorillas. We have no need to eat other animals. When we eat protein from animals we decrease the fiber content of our diet. Dietary fiber is the main deficiency in the American diet—the Standard American Diet (SAD).

Myth# 3. Protein Is Deficient in our Diet
If you eat enough calories and a variety of foods in the day, you will get enough protein. Do not focus your attention on getting enough protein, but do focus on how you are going to get enough fiber. Why is fiber so important? Fiber provides bulk and makes us full so we do not overeat. Fiber hooks up with excess cholesterol, other excess hormones, and toxins and wheelbarrows it out quickly through our intestines. For every 10 grams of fiber you add to your daily diet, you decrease your colon cancer risk by 10% because the toxins pass through the intestine so quickly they do not have time to do as much damage to the cells lining your colon. Fiber is the food for the good bacteria in your colon. These bacteria are called your microbiome. When you feed these bacteria they feed you back with chemicals like butyrate and serotonin. Butyrate is an anti-inflammatory chemical which helps heal the body. Serotonin is a hormone that prevents anxiety and depression. Remember… more fiber from whole plant foods leads to better health.

Myth# 4. Carbohydrates Are the Enemy
Many of us are confused about this issue. We all know that eating more fruits and vegetables is healthy. But we are told not to eat carbohydrates. Yet fruits and vegetables are carbohydrates plus fiber. So, why wouldn’t we be confused?

Carbohydrates packaged with their usual fiber are healthy and not harmful. That is why eating whole plant foods as grown in nature is healthy, but processing these same plant foods by stripping away their fiber leads to inflammation and spiking blood sugars that lead to disease. So avoid all processed foods like white sugar, white bread, sugary drinks and sodas, and artificial foods that are not grown in nature.

Myth# 5. Willpower Is the Main Factor in Obesity
Willpower is not the main factor in the epidemic of obesity in the Western world. Our foods have been altered (processed) in such a way as to make them highly addictive. Like any other addiction, high calorie density foods light up the pleasure centers in our brains and keep us wanting to eat more…even though we know this is harming our health. Transition your food choices to low calorie density and you will not have to worry about your weight. It may take several weeks for your body to adjust to eating low calorie density foods rather than the high calorie density foods that you are used to eating.

Myth# 6. Milk Does the Body Good!
Milk has been promoted for its calcium. However, science shows that milk drinkers do not have lower rates of bone fracture. In fact, sometimes they have higher rates of bone fracture. Get your calcium from the beans and greens in your diet. 75% of the world population lacks the enzymes to metabolize lactose (the sugar in milk). This lactose intolerance leads to bloating, increased gas, and a lot of unnecessary abdominal pain. Milk has IGF-1 (a hormone that promotes growth). That is good when you are a baby…but it is not so good if you are older and happen to have some cancer cells whose growth might be stimulated by the Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 hormone.

Myth# 7. You Can Trust your Doctor or Health Care System for Nutrition Advice
Currently there are very few medical schools that share the science of ‘food as medicine’ in the curriculum. So do not be surprised if your doctor or healthcare provider actually learns from you. If you look around and see the number of people who are overweight, have diabetes, or other chronic illnesses, you might ask yourself, “Do I really want to trust the information (nutritional advice) that my healthcare system has been promoting for many years?” or “Do I want to do some research and find a better way?”

Myth# 8. Animals that We Eat are Well Cared for
This might be one of the biggest myths. Big Ag (agriculture) has taken over how animals are raised and killed for our food. Animals are kept in very crowded conditions (I think of these conditions like concentration camps) that require the use of antibiotics to prevent spreading disease in these animals. This use of antibiotics has led to antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance is an important issue because if a person gets an infection that our antibiotics no longer can treat…it could result in increased rates of disability and death. The way we treat others (and that includes animals) will influence how kind or compassionate we become as human beings. The way we have been treating our animals is not an example of how I wish to be treated. My choice is to not support an industry that treats animals inhumanely—as is currently practiced in the meat and poultry industry.

It took over 30 years for the United States to understand that smoking causes cancer and death. Food has become our new tobacco. Promote transitioning to a whole food, plant based diet and watch the reduction in deaths from most of our chronic diseases as we eliminate calorie-rich and processed (CRAP) foods from our diet. We will feel healthier as we replace these with greens, beans, legumes, grains, roots and tubers, seeds, fruits, and nuts in our daily diet. Some of these can be eaten raw while others can be soaked and cooked—boiled or baked to make them digestible and palatable. Minimizing salt, oils (fats) and refined sugars and using whole grains (rather than white flour, white rice, etc.) in preparing meals, and fresh fruits rather than fruit juices ensures that we get that important dietary fiber in our digestive system.
The time is right to transition what we eat…let’s be thoughtful about the science of healthy food choices…not only for our individual health but also for the health of our planet!

Love,
Papa

By Dr. Charles “Charlie” Ross. Doctor Ross is a practicing osteopathic physician for over 45 years and a part-time Assistant Professor at Western University of Health Sciences in Oregon. He wants to change the practice of medicine from treating symptoms to treating the root causes of disease. He practices Lifestyle Medicine and co-teaches free community classes on the science of nutrition and food as medicine.  

 

 

A Scallion Pancake Recipe Inspired by French and Asian Cuisines

A Scallion Pancake Recipe Inspired by French and Asian Cuisines

By Owen Lu, age 16, California

Introduction:

This pancake recipe is surprisingly simple and versatile, allowing for many variations by adjusting the portion size or adding other ingredients of your choice. The batter in the recipe resembles that of crepes, the traditional French pancakes. Chinese cuisine also contains many similar versions of this recipe, like Jian Bing(煎饼)and scallion pancakes. The dish I present here combines elements from these two cuisines.

The original pancake recipe (without additional ingredients) was passed on from my grandmother. The recipe stemmed from the hope to create an easier version of scallion pancakes; scallion pancakes are much more complicated to make as you have to carefully layer the dough to create a crisp exterior but maintain a soft interior. This pancake recipe produces a dish with similar ingredients but in a much simpler way.

I fused my dish with Chinese Jian Bing, which often contains crisps inside that provide a texture contrast. After some research, I found that the crisps can be easily made by shallow-frying, pre-made wonton wrappers.

I hope you have fun experimenting with this quick but tasty recipe!

Ingredients: You will need:

  • Wheat flour (type of flour doesn’t matter too much), 3 cups
  • Eggs, 2
  • Water, 3 cups
  • Green onions (finely chopped), ½ cup
  • Cilantro (finely chopped) ¼ cup
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Olive oil (type of oil doesn’t matter too much)
  • Chili Oil, Fermented Bean Curd (optional)
  • Wonton wrappers
  • Any other toppings / additions of your choice to wrap inside the pancake

Directions: This recipe produces around 5 servings.

  1. Add 3 cups of flour to a bowl.
  2. Crack 2 eggs into the bowl
  3. Add cold water slowly into the bowl by keeping the faucet barely open and taking the bowl out every 10 seconds or so to mix.
    1. Mix thoroughly—at first, as you add more water, you may notice “clumps” forming in the mixture. Be sure to continue stirring until these clumps mostly disappear.
    2. The purpose of adding the water slowly is to prevent these clumps from growing larger—it is hard to dissolve the clumps if you add too much water at once
    3. The consistency we are looking for at the end is in between the dough and soup. The exact amount of water needed for this recipe is hard to measure because we are adding it incrementally.
  4. Chop green onions and cilantro relatively finely and add them to the mixture. Chopping them too big may prevent them from properly incorporating into the batter. Chopping them too small may make them burn before the pancake is fully cooked yet.
  5. Add salt and any additional spices you wish to include. I often like to include a bit of spice, so I mixed chili oil and fermented bean curd and added this mixture to the batter. You may instead want to add additional ingredients, like onion, peppers, etc.
  6. After adding all the ingredients, be sure to mix thoroughly one last time.


To cook the pancakes: 

  1. Add oil to a nonstick pan on medium-low heat. Medium low heat guarantees that the pancake will not solidify before you finish spreading out the batter into a circular shape.
  2. Add a few spoons of the batter to the center of the pan and spread the batter out until it more or less fills up the pan and forms a circle.
  3. Turn the heat slightly up to medium or medium high so that the pancake can form a nice color on the outside.
  4. Flip the pancake when the other side develops a brown color; be careful! This process only takes around 1-2 minutes. If needed, flip the pancake around a few more times to fully cook it.
  5. Repeat steps 1-4 until you use up all your batter, making sure to adjust the heat according to the instructions. You may also need to add more oil before you begin cooking each pancake.

If you want to, you can stop here. However, if you want to add a few extra ingredients, please follow the steps below: 

  1. Take out your wonton wrappers and bring them to room temperature—if needed, you can defrost them using the microwave.
  2. Season the wonton wrappers with a touch of salt and pepper to give them some flavor
  3. Turn the heat up to medium-high
  4. In the same oil that you used to cook the pancakes (which should have developed some flavor by this point), place the wonton wrappers in.
  5. Carefully monitor the wonton wrappers and flip them over when the other side turns brown. With medium-high heat, this process takes only 15-25 seconds. I find it easiest to flip them over with a pair of chopsticks.
  6. Take the crisps out and let them dry on a towel.

About the author: Owen Lu, age 16, California, is currently a high school junior and is particularly interested in STEM subjects like physics and computer science. When he’s not solving problems, he enjoys playing the violin, sailing, and cooking.

Pumpkin Cakes: A Traditional Chinese Breakfast

Traditional Chinese Pumpkin Pies (Cakes) Make a Perfect Chinese Breakfast (and a Delicious Dessert too).

To make the traditional Chinese breakfast of pumpkin cakes, you will need:

1/4 pumpkin, 2 tbsp sugar, 200g rice flour, red bean paste (optional), and white sesame seeds (optional). 

You will need to prepare the pumpkin first.

  1. Get rid of pumping seed and it’s inside fiber.
  2. Peel off pumpkin skin. 
  3. Slice into thin pieces ~3mm. Thinner pumpkin slices will reduce the time it takes to be cooked. 
  4. Boil the Water first and Steam it in a bowl for 10 min.
  5. After steaming, pour out water from the bowl if any.
  6. Will need to add 2 tbsp sugar and smash it until there are no pumpkin lumps left. 

Making the dough

  1. Add in 50g of the rice flour, and mix evenly. Repeat 4 times. Do not add-in all the flour at once.
  2. What we want is a rather soft dough. (If you have reach this texture, you don’t need to add exactly the same flour amount as I did; different pumpkin and flour will perform differently).

Making the pumpkin pie 

  1. Take approximately half a hand fist of dough. 
  2. And rub into a ball shape, then press over the dough making a round cake shape. 
  3. If you have red bean paste you can take a scoop of it and place it on the pie shaped dough and close it up and repeat step 2. If you are adding the paste make sure your pie shaped dough is thinner and bigger. Don’t add too much of the paste. 
  4. If you have a plate of white sesame, run both sides of the finished pie in the plate, you can press upon the pie softly allowing sesame to stick to the surface of the pie. 

Cooking the pie 

  1. Preheat the frying pan.
  2. Put in enough oil to cover the bottom of the frying pan.
  3. Add in the pie when oil is hot enough. 
  4. Cook the cakes on low medium heat. 
  5. After every one minute, flip the cake(s) over to the other side. Prevent overcooking on one side. 
  6. To test if it’s cooked. You press upon the pie (cake) and if its shape returns quickly it means it’s cooked. Normally it takes 2-4 minutes.

Pumpkin pie is full of nutrients and is very delicious. Chinese often have pumpkin pie as a dessert or breakfast. Pumpkin pie has the best taste the day it’s made, so please enjoy and finish them quickly after made. This recipe makes 5 to 8 pies; you can adjust the recipe proportionally for your family size!

Wendy Mou, age 16, California. Wendy is an active student who enjoys creative outlets including food. For example, baking is her preferred way to relax after school work and family chores. Since her childhood, she has always held respect for the natural ingredients that go into her food. Currently, she is in the process of starting a food science club at her school. She looks up to those unique recipe makers, and hopes to become one someday. 

The Sweetest Treat

The Sweetest Treat

By Jacob Lockett, emerging author, Pennsylvania.

Roshni finished making her costume at five o’clock on Halloween night. Happy with her work, she ran downstairs.

“What do you think, Mama?” she asked. “I’m a khargosh.”

Mama turned from the stove, where she was cooking. “Wow!” she said. “You’re such a cute little bunny!”

Roshni giggled. “A cute little bunny that can jump really high!” she said, hopping around the room on spring shoes she had made herself.

Mama handed Roshni a pumpkin-shaped bucket. “Ready to trick-or-treat at school tonight?”

“Yep,” Roshni said. “I love getting candy!”

“Remember, you have time to go trick-or-treating at just one or two houses before going to school,” Mama said. “And I want you back by dinner.”

Roshni nodded excitedly.

Mama hugged her. “Get hopping. Halloween comes only once a year!”

With a spring in her step, Roshni bounced out the door and into the cool night air, her large bunny ears flopping this way and that. Kids ran around the street, dressed in fun costumes.

As Roshni hopped to school, she looked around her neighborhood, deciding which house to go trick-or-treating. A house with a ramp and a brightly lit pumpkin by the door caught her eyes. She remembered Mama telling her that a new family had moved in recently.

Curious to see what her new neighbors were like, she went over to the house and rang the bell.

The door opened.

“Trick or treat!” Roshni shouted.

A boy in a wheelchair appeared, a candy bowl sitting in his lap.

Roshni recognized him. He was DeAndre Lewis, the new kid at her school. He was in a different grade than Roshni, but she sometimes saw him in the hallway. He always seemed… lonely.

She waved. “Do you remember me from school? I’m Roshni.”

“Sure. I do remember,” DeAndre said, smiling. He rummaged around in the bowl, giving Roshni a Nougat Rocket Bar. “Super costume!”

Roshni blushed. “Thanks! I’m a khargosh—that’s the Hindi word for bunny.”

“That’s really cool,” he said.

“So, are you trick-or-treating?” Roshni asked.

DeAndre shook his head sadly. “My mom’s too sick with a cold to take me out tonight.”

Roshni gasped. She couldn’t imagine not going trick-or-treating. She looked at DeAndre’s sad face, and Mama’s words came back to her: Halloween comes only once a year…

“I can take you trick-or-treating,” she offered.

DeAndre’s eyes shone with hope. “Really? That would be wonderful! I’ll go ask Mom.”

DeAndre returned to the door with Mrs. Lewis. “You must be Roshni,” she said, sniffling. “Your mother told me so much about you at the store last week. DeAndre said you want to take him trick-or-treating with you.”

Roshni explained about their school’s Trick-or-Treat Fair and how there would be lots of treats, games, and contests for DeAndre to enjoy.

“Sounds like a good time!” Mrs. Lewis said. She turned to DeAndre. “Get your costume, honey. You can go have some Halloween fun with Roshni tonight.”

DeAndre’s face lit up just like the jack-o’-lantern that sat outside his door. He turned around and disappeared. He soon came outside wearing a superhero’s mask and a long cape.

“DeAndre, I want you back by seven,” Mrs. Lewis said. “Now, go have fun.”

The kharagosh and the superhero went off into the moonlit night. In no time at all, they arrived outside the school, which was covered with Halloween decorations. After DeAndre wheeled himself up the long entrance ramp, he and Roshni entered the cafeteria to the sound of spooky music and laughter.

They went around to different booths, collecting delicious treats from their teachers.

As Mrs. Garcia handed the kids each a pack of Licorice Lassos, DeAndre asked Roshni, “What are your favorite sweets?”

“I have so many!” she replied. “But I think my favorite would have to be galub jamuns. I make them with Mama for special occasions. They’re kinda like spongy—”

“Donut holes!” DeAndre finished.

“How did you know?” Roshni asked, surprised.

“I had one during Multicultural Day at my old school,” DeAndre explained. “It was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. I make them with my mom now, too!”

They laughed, high-fiving.

After they were done trick-or-treating, Roshni entered the costume contest. After Roshni and the other contestants had displayed their outfits for the judges, Principal Jackson cleared his throat near the microphone. “And, the first prize goes to Roshni Kaur with her homemade bunny costume! Come on up!”

“Way to go!” DeAndre cheered loudly from the audience as Roshni hopped on stage to receive her blue ribbon.

DeAndre pointed at the haunted house in the corner of the cafeteria. “Let’s go in there.”

Roshni shivered. “I don’t know…”

“Have no fear!” DeAndre shouted, striking a pose. “I’ll protect you!”

“Ok,” Roshni said. “As long as you protect me, I won’t get scared.”

They went into the haunted house. Kids dressed as monsters jumped out from the shadows to try to frighten them. But every time they did, DeAndre would boom, “Back, you villains!” in his superhero voice. Roshni couldn’t stop smiling. Because of DeAndre, she didn’t get scared, not even once.

After they bobbed for apples, they sat at the snack table and drank pumpkin punch and talked about their favorite scary movies. All of Roshni’s favorites were DeAndre’s favorites, too!

Soon, Roshni checked her watch. She felt her heart drop. “It’s almost seven,” she said glumly. “Time for us to go home.”

“Aw,” DeAndre moaned, shaking his head sadly. “Do we have to?”

DeAndre guided his wheelchair down the school’s ramp and onto the sidewalk. He looked up at Roshni. “Thanks for taking me. I had a blast!”

“Sure,” she replied, swinging her bucket of candy as she hopped. “Halloween comes only once a year!”

“Do you… want to trade candy tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yes, we can do it at my house,” Roshni replied. “You can help me make gulab jamuns when we’re done at my home. Mama would love it.”

DeAndre giggled. “Great. But… don’t you only make gulab jamuns for special occasions?”

Roshni blushed. “I do,” she replied. “But you’re the special occasion.”

Now DeAndre was blushing, too!

On that Halloween night, Roshni had collected many sweet treats. But the sweetest one she had received was a new friend, DeAndre.

By Jacob Lockett, emerging author, Pennsylvania.

Gone Bananas

By Connie Salmon, bilingual author, originally from Puerto Rico, lives in Connecticut.

You put it in your cereal. You eat it with peanut butter and bread. You eat it with ice cream in a special dish. But have you ever wondered where your banana came from?

Bananas for Sale in a Grocery Store

Many people think that bananas grow on a tree. The truth is that they grow on an herbaceous (herb) plant. It’s leaves sprout from the ground and wrap around each other very tightly, forming the stem. Large purplish red buds push through the center of the stem and later form smaller purplish flowers that grow into bananas. The banana got its name from the Arabic word for finger, banan. A single banana is called a finger.

Bananas most likely came from South East Asia, about 7,000 years ago. Then they were taken to Arabia, and later to the Middle East and Africa. They were transplanted to the Canary Islands. From there, the Spanish brought bananas to the New World, after the voyages of Christopher Columbus.

Bananas grow in plantations in countries with a tropical climate. Leading exporters of bananas to the US are Columbia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and West Africa.

The banana is America’s favorite fruit. There are 500 different types of bananas. The most popular one in the US is the Cavendish.

If the bananas are going to be harvested the traditional way, they are sprayed with pesticides (chemicals to get rid of insects) at the plantation. Then the farmers add fertilizers (artificial nutrients) to the soil to help the crop grow.

If the bananas are to be harvested organically, natural fertilizers like manure and seaweed are used. Insect predators and barriers are used to prevent pests. For example, crushed eggshells or pistachio nut shells prevent slugs and snails. The plants are weeded by hand or mulch is used to prevent weeds.

Farmers tie banana plants to long poles for support and cover them in large, plastic bags to protect them from insects and birds. The clear plastic lets light reach the leaves, allowing the fruit to mature.

Nine to twelve months after planting, the fruit is ready to be harvested. The bananas grow in large bunches. These are broken down into smaller groups. 10 to12 bananas are called a cluster, 4 to 6 are a hand, and each individual banana is a finger.

There are many steps to the harvesting (gathering) of the bananas. They are picked while still green to prevent them from spoiling while being shipped. A worker called a cutter cuts down the plant with a machete. Another worker, a backer catches the plant as it falls into a large cushion on the backer’s shoulder, to prevent the fruit from bruising. The backer attaches the bunch to one of the overhead cables that run between rows of plants. The moving cables bring the bananas to the packing shed, located in the plantation.

The bananas are washed in large tanks of cold water. The water removes most of the chemicals from the fruit. It also lowers the temperature of the bananas, which are still warm from the tropical heat in the field.

Inspectors then examine the bananas, to make sure they are of good enough quality to export. Once they pass inspection, the bananas are carefully packed into boxes, so they don’t bump against each other and bruise.

Boxes of bananas are loaded into huge, refrigerated ships or reefers, to prevent the bananas from ripening any further, putting the bananas “to sleep.”

Once the reefers arrive at their destination, they dock at food terminals. They are then inspected for insects, snakes and other tropical pests (spiders sometimes hide in banana leaves).

Then the fruit ripens in special rooms for 3 to 8 days. Ethylene gas, which is produced naturally by all fruit, is pumped through the ripening rooms to speed up the process. The temperature is lowered as days pass, so the bananas don’t over-ripen before they are loaded onto refrigerated trucks and brought to the market to sell.  

The banana has at last made its long journey to you. The next time you are in the supermarket with Mom, you can pick out a hand or a finger of bananas and tell her all about them.    

Sidebar: TOP EXPORTERS OF BANANAS TO THE UNITED STATES

The banana is the most traded fruit in the world. Bananas started to be traded internationally by the end of the 1300’s. Today they are grown in over 150 countries.

There is an organization called Banana Link in Latin American countries like Ecuador, Honduras, Columbia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua. It campaigns for fair and ethical trade practices for banana (and pineapple) plantation workers. In a largely hostile work environment for trade unions, there is a high level of violence and repression.

There is also a failure of health and safety standards, that causes much devastation of human health and natural environments, due to the use of toxic chemicals in banana production.

Banana Link fights for the dignity of workers (both men and women) and trade union rights. Trade unions try their best for workers to have better wages and benefits as well as better working conditions.

Bananas and plantains are a staple food in many tropical countries and play a major role in food security for many households.

TOP EXPORTERS:

ECUADOR:  US $3,68 millions in exports. Total Banana production: 6.28 million metric tons.

THE PHILIPPINES:  US $1,608 million in exports. Total production: 8.4 million metric tons

COSTA RICA:  US $1,083 million. Total Banana production: 2.27 million metric tons

COLUMBIA:  US $990 million. Total Banana production: 3.7 million metric tons

GUATEMALA:  US $956 million. Total Banana production: 3.8 million metric tons

Other smaller banana exporting nations include countries like Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Ivory Coast.

Sources for the Information:

“How bananas are Grown, Banana Link”  www.bananalink.org.uk

Encyclopedia Brittanica.com:  “Banana (Description, History, Cultivation, Nomenclature)”

By Connie Salmon, bilingual author, originally from Puerto Rico, now lives in Connecticut.

Nice Rice

By Gloria Lauris, Ontario, Canada.

Allow me to take you on a quick rice journey through several culinary dishes and countries.

I grew up in British Columbia, Canada, to second-generation Ukrainian parents who were raised on farms in the prairies, so our dinner was typically bread, meat, and potatoes. We rarely had rice, and it was usually parboiled or instant. It was cooked occasionally as part of something like stuffing in cabbage rolls or in a casserole or pudding. Little did my younger self realize that my travels, especially to Africa and Southeast Asia, would drastically change how I viewed food, especially rice. Just as wheat is a staple in a grain-growing country like Canada, so is rice a cultural way of life in rice-growing countries and is the main cereal crop for over half of humanity.

Fast-forward several years to when I visited Egypt with my Canadian Egyptian husband, I remember seeing large pots of warm, freshly cooked white rice in their kitchens. Sitting on the floor with Egyptian women relatives, we would laugh, smile, and chat speaking broken English or Arabic, taking turns picking up limp pieces of steamed cabbage to fill with a mixture of short grain rice and seasoning to make mashe karumb (cabbage leaves filled with rice). This is a mini-version of the more common Western-style cabbage roll, halupki, which my mother made as a throwback to our Ukrainian heritage. Eastern Europeans make cabbage rolls large and smother them with tomato sauce. But in Egypt they are finely rolled, and just a little sauce is used, as they are mainly steamed in chicken stock and are delicious finger snacks. Egyptians also fill other tasty vegetables with rice, such as peppers, grape leaves, eggplants, and zucchini.

Another exotic rice dish was chicken baked on a bed of Egyptian rice, with nuts and vermicelli. Sometimes yellow or red saffron was added, although that was popular mainly in Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, where people could more readily afford this expensive spice. Sometimes pine nuts and caraway seeds were added for flavour.

Egyptian Rice Dishes. Photo by Gloria Lauris, Canada.

Koshary, believed to be the national dish of Egypt, uses rice. A flavorful mix of lentils, rice and macaroni is topped with a tomato-chili sauce, garbanzo beans and fried onions. It is served in just about every Egyptian restaurant, in most homes, and on many street corner stalls. It makes a hearty, delicious, and affordable meal.

Later, I visited my son who was living in Japan for a while. I found almost all foods included rice; snacks, bento boxes, and sushi and sashimi all came with rice. There was the right way to cook and eat rice: white, steaming, and fresh to be scooped up with chopsticks. To put soy sauce on this essential but bland food was blasphemous to rice purists!  When we ate sushi, we were always amazed how perfectly the rice was cooked. Yet it was sticky enough to be held together with Nori (a seaweed) and veggies to make rolled shapes. We were so impressed with the art of making excellent rice that we bought a Japanese rice cooker in Canada to create perfect rice, every time. The pot somehow senses the right temperature and humidity to produce a quality product consistently.

Sushi (left) and Rice with Chicken and salad. Photos by Gloria Lauris

Now, let’s go to the Southeast Asian country of the Philippines. Rice is grown in many of these islands with their tropical climate, and they export a lot of rice. Some Filipino agricultural institutes even offer a PhD in rice cultivation!

While living in the Philippines, I remember my Dad, who had re-married a Filipina, remarking how the Filipinos love their rice. They have it not only with every meal, but even the desserts were usually made with rice. It was perplexing to a man raised in the prairies to be served a daily diet of rice and fish! He lost a lot of weight during his time there, whereas many Filipinos gained weight due to the regular intake of this starchy food.

In the Philippines, my personal favourite became Dona Maria Jasponica white rice, a type of hybrid Filipino and Japanese jasmine scented rice, famous for its fragrance, soft texture, and pleasant taste. However, jasmine rice is not good for a risotto as the starch count is not high enough. The Philippines Miponica brand is fluffier and stickier, making it good for risottos, paellas, and congees. Indian basmati rice is a long grain rice which is soft and fluffy when cooked, and it is served with Indian dishes such as biryani, or spicy dishes like butter chicken, chicken tikka and various curries. Filipino Harvester Dirorado rice is naturally fragrant and fluffy in texture and is used in Asian cuisines and in most Filipino dishes such as with chicken inasal, kare-kare and sinigang. At a cat café in Manila, Philippines, I remember being served decorative rice cat cut-outs, their eyes and whiskers being decorated with bits of sauce. Perhaps a sticky rice was used for this?

Rice Cake and Cat Cut-outs. Photos by Gloria Lauris, Canada

Affordable and filling, rice is a staple food for many. It is used in Asian (e.g., Chinese, Indian, Filipino, etc.), Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean cuisine. But different types of rice are used for different dishes. Did you know that brown rice is unpolished so it contains selenium and has fibre and B vitamins? It is mineral rich, thus keeping a person full longer than with white rice. However, it takes much longer to cook, and so it is less commonly used, and it is more expensive to buy.

My favourite rice recipe? Although I am a converted fan of Egyptian rice and the delicious Mediterranean style food produced in and around the Nile Valley, my favourite is probably a coconut-flavoured rice, made from jasmine fragrant rice like Jasponica and adding a Thai twist to it. As taught by my kitchen helper in the Philippines, you rinse the rice thoroughly to get rid of any dust and foreign objects in the rice before cooking. Then you add some young coconut milk (buko) to water (liquid to rice ratio is 1:1) to make this delicious rice dish. I have had coconut-flavoured rice in Thai restaurants, and it is a delightful accompaniment to chicken dishes, like peanut chicken satay sticks. Another satisfying dish for me is Egyptian mashe (filled) vegetables, as it brings back happy memories of hearty, flavourful Egyptian meals made by friendly extended relatives, a world away.

International travel and overseas living have opened my culinary taste buds to elevate what I once considered lowly rice. I have come a long way, and not just figuratively, from cooking instant rice once a month in my meat-and-potato youth!

Do you have a favourite rice recipe too?

By Gloria Lauris, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Gloria is an emerging Canadian writer. She has visited over 50 countries, and lived in three of them (in the Middle East and SE Asia). She is a long-time animal welfare promoter. She loves to cook.

Taiwanese Food

By Camille Chen, age 10, Asian American, California.

I eat, sleep, and speak Taiwanese culture every day. Not a day goes by without my speaking Taiwanese or eating Asian food. My parents moved from Taiwan to America before they had me. Their childhoods were very different though, because my dad had to travel with his family because of his dad’s job. My mom experienced the art of Asian foods, and learned how to cook Asian food from her mom, her grandma, and other elder family members. 

I think that to be in an Asian family, it is a necessity to be able to at least cook some egg-fried rice. There are so many people out there that make such simple things the wrong way. You wouldn’t know how many videos are on YouTube with Asians looking at other people cooking Asian food and correcting them. Also, I think that Asian food allows you to really freestyle/improvise. For example, one of the dishes that my mom makes is Udon. Even though Udon is a Japanese type of noodle dish, you can cook it on the pan and mix it with pork and vegetables, and it is so enjoyable! 

Taiwanese food is very unique compared toEuropean food. You need a lot of effort to make it,  and learn about it. For instance, egg-fried rice can be extremely easy to make, but if you want someone to taste it and immediately love it, you need wok hay to make the flavor scrumptious when you are chewing the rice. The wok hay gives the rice a special flavor as if it’s cooked right under charcoal with a big fire underneath it. I consider the Wok as one of the wonders of Asian culture! It is so special and when you use it to cook anything, you can sense the heat and unique smells. The garnish adds even more flavors and makes it even better. But, you also need the correct garnishing. Egg-fried rice garnished with green onions is a classic, and adding cabbage with it is nice, but you don’t want a salad-like vegetable to go with your rice! The tiny details make Taiwanese food extremely difficult, but if you trust the process, it is all worth it in the end. However, egg-fried rice is just square one. Taiwanese food also includes soups with strong flavors or soups that can actually help your health! 

One soup that’s healthy and delicious is ginger soup. Usually, my mother adds cooked chicken to make the soup less boring. My mother also adds rice to make it more child-friendly. The real stuff about it is the special cooking wine. And a pinch of garlic. That makes the whole house smell like heaven. When I taste the soup, first I detect the rice. The rice has no flavor on it’s own, but since it’s been in the soup for some time, it tastes like the soup. Its texture is sort of al dente and the chicken is no different. When I eat the chicken, it has the flavor of the soup and tastes wonderful. The garlic is so soft that you can eat it without thinking it tastes weird. You won’t even notice you’ve eaten garlic. Underneath the base of the soup, I taste the ginger combined with the cooking wine, but it isn’t overpowering. Soy sauce is added as well. The rice, chicken, and the stock together make a wonderful homey ginger soup. The best thing is that each quantity is about equal, so you won’t have to waste anything. Once it’s on the table, we finish it all and stay full for a long time. 

Taiwanese food is important to me because I feel it brings culture and tradition. For example, dumplings, a very common and well-liked dish, are shaped so that they look like bars of gold; so when Chinese New Year comes along, people make or buy dumplings to eat in hopes of getting more money in the new year! The dumplings are a symbol of wealth. 

Zong Zhe, another very popular Asian food, also has a long history behind it. Once, a man named Chu Yuan was hired as an advisor of the King. After a long time, he became an extremely wise advisor and everyone saw him as a good person. But then, one day when Chu Yuan was giving the king advice, the King disagreed with him. This made Chu Yuan so sad that he thought he was unfit to serve. So, he drowned himself in a lake. Everyone felt sad that such a good person would die, so they wrapped up the rice in leaves to prevent all the fish and shrimp from eating up Chu Yuan’s body. This rice wrapped in leaves soon became known as Zong Zhe. Nowadays, people eat Zong Zhe at the Dragon Festival. I feel like this is an important and somewhat heartwarming story. It’s pretty entertaining to see others’ reactions to the story of Zong Zhe. 

When my grandpa was young, his family didn’t have much money. He didn’t have shoes to wear, no toys to play with, and they rarely had meat on the table. But when Chinese New Year came along, his family mixed flour and water together to make a certain type of dough and pinched it into shapes of butterflies and flowers. The point is, just because my grandpa’s family was poor, his mom still did her best to keep the tradition going on, and also wanted the kids to have =>p.17 Taiwanese Food continued from p. 16

fun moments in their childhood. So when he was in the hospital, he remembered all of these fun moments and savored them. 

Taiwanese culture and food are very important to me. I know many of these stories by heart; they were told to me by my family. I hope that one day I will be able to cook our traditional food and share our culture and history with the next generation. My family keeps the Taiwanese traditions going.

By Camille Chen, age 10, Asian American, California. This was selected as a Noteworthy Entry in our 2021 Youth Honor Awards program.

Mother’s Daughter

“The way you cut your meat reflects the way you live.”  –Confucius

If Confucius was right, then my mother lived delicately, treading a tightrope as thin as the slices of her twice cooked pork.

When she ate her first American hamburger, she had complained.“Ai ya. Why is the meat so big? With a hulking piece of meat like this no wonder they all in debt. Americans cannot save.”

She told me this while I minced the pork for our dumplings and she rolled the dough. “Thinner, Jian Yang. We are not the barbaric Americans.”

She didn’t intend it, but with those words, the knife I held slashed across my life like the cuts across the pork. In that moment I told myself I am not a barbaric American because I am not an American. My narrative became a relic of my mother’s, two sides of the same page, her side’s ink still impressed on mine.

For five years after that, I remained scared of knives, and my mother cut my meat for me.

“You are what you eat.” –American proverb

“Is that dog food?”

“It can’t be, because Ling Ling doesn’t feed dogs, she eats them.”

That day I went home in tears and asked my mother to pack me a sandwich. I showed her what the pale kids kept inside of their princess lunchboxes—spongy white bread around ham and cheese, a cereal bar, an apple.

“Ah yes, I make for you.”

The next day I found a pork bun in my backpack. I held the baked dough and took a bite. I tasted pork marinated with soy sauce and chives. As I chewed, I hoped the hujiaobing could pass off as a hamburger.

“Ling Ling is eating dog food again.”

“Does that make Ling Ling a dog?”

The day after, there was steamed bun inside my backpack with barbecue pork and black pepper. I looked once at the pearl knot before throwing out the chasiubao. I didn’t eat my lunch the day after, or the day after.

If you are what you eat, I thought, I don’t want to eat Chinese anymore.

And so my transformation began. Everyday at lunch I’d throw out the delicacy my mother had packed. Everyday at dinner I’d pick at my rice while staring at the woman across from me, pockmarked yellow on her cheeks and creased valleys in her forehead. My greatest wish was not to turn out like her.

I thought I had actualized my wish when my skin began to turn translucent from skipping meals. I thought I was becoming white. I started eating nothing altogether, and I became nothing.

Once my mother scolded me for not eating. “Jian Yang, you look like ghost. Eat your noodles and you become yellow again.”

I can’t remember most of what happened next. I remember my tongue, poised like a knife, uttering some ugly sounding words I barely understood. I remember wanting to make her bleed with my words, one cut for each bite of dog food I had endured. I remember pretending she could seep out red on a cutting board, bleeding until we were left colorless.“Chink.”

“He who takes medicine and neglects diet wastes the skills of the physician.” —Chinese adage

My mother doesn’t cook anymore. Instead, she lays on a red-blanketed bamboo mat in a room brimming verdant. On her desk, an incongruous collection of terracotta cups, holding qi-rectifying rhubarb and shen-calming wolfberry.

The doctor said her condition is too fragile to eat. Strong flavors could disturb her gut, and I should instead blend basic nutrients for her to drink. I promptly replied that he was a fool.

The first time I cooked for her, she was coming back from the hospital. When I saw her, face of mountains reduced to ash, I dropped the plate. She asked what was wrong with me. I told her that my greatest wish was never to turn out like her. She told me that she had shared the same wish.

“You must turn out better than me,” she said.

We ate my meal, pork buns ribbed in ginger, in silence.

“Fashion is in Europe, living is in America, but eating is in China.”  —Chinese adage

I saw this scribbled against a dusty window to a grocery store in Chinatown. I don’t know why they say living is in America, because this country killed my mother. She died four months after the pork bun meal—inevitable, the doctor said. The nail salon she labored nine hours a day at had used illegally toxic polishes for years. While she scrubbed counters and coughed chemicals, her liver simply gave out. It was a miracle that she lived as long as she did.

My mother was a failure of an immigrant in most aspects. She stood at the Angel Island bridge seeking freedom, yet each day she beat herself an ocean back, until her vision became a mirage on the horizon. By imagining walls of white supremacy and shadowy businessmen, she trapped herself in a prison of her own making. She never found freedom because she never made it off that bridge.

I live in America, though. For lunch I go out for drinks with my roommates. We catch up on Grey’s Anatomy and someone invites me to a frat party later, which I only pretend to consider.

For dinner I stay home and cut my own meat, a piece for Brooklyn, a piece for Chinatown, for eating, for living. One piece for Jane Young, amateur journalist and cup-pong champion, one piece for Jian Yang, aspiring princess haunted by the paleness of memory. They are the decussations of a third-person America, carved apart by my mother into island pieces long before I realized that action had shattered me.

And so, I reassemble. I take the pieces, toss in a million chili peppers, and sauté in an ocean of soy sauce until they become one and the same.

By Samantha Liu, 16, New Jersey. She adds:“Mother’s Daughter” parallels my two clashing heritages. Having been raised speaking and reading Mandarin Chinese, I was expected to fulfill all the Confucius-esque dreams of my Chinese immigrant mother, whom I ended up resenting more than anything. Through the symbol of food, my story explores my struggle to reconcile these beliefs as I learned to define myself—as Chinese-American, as heterogeneous as food itself.”