My Cultural Food and Settlement Experience

“As we encounter each other, we see our diversity- of background, race, ethnicity, belief -and how we handle that diversity will have much to say about whether we still in the end to rise successfully to the great challenges we face today” (Dan Smith, The States of the World Atlas).

Clearly, immigration is a very significant event in one’s life. Each person is the summation of his/her experiences. Looking back at my experience, after I moved to Canada, the importance of finding one’s personally preferred food, stands out. I migrated to Canada in 2012, nervous about how I would launch my career and integrate to an unfamiliar terrain. I did not know I would need to look for food that I love as part of my new experience in Canada. It did not cross my mind that the term” Ethno-Cultural” food even existed. Since the fall 2012 our family has been living in Guelph. We have spent a significant amount of time looking for Jordanian food as we settle down.

Cultural food and Ethnic Grocery stores 

 Like many other immigrants, I’m from a culture that values our own foods because of the uniqueness of the food. But it was a challenge finding my own food in Canada. The face of immigration to Canada has changed to the point where now a significant part of it is Asian, especially including South Asian, Filipino, Chinese, Korean, West Asian in addition to Arabic (Condon, 2013). Remarkably, these visible minorities are changing grocery sales in Canada to a great extent, as these ethnic shoppers bring with them the traditions and cultures of their homelands. That’s why instead of shopping at mainstream Canadian grocery stores, they try to find out local stores operated by their own ethnic groups.

These stores sell their familiar brands and scarce items not carried by most Canadian stores. In these ethnic stores I was able to find items such as Freekeh, which is roasted green wheat. In Arabic Freekeh means “what is rubbed”, referring to the rubbing technique necessary to process it. Freekeh is low in fat and high in protein and fiber. Bulgur, another favourite,  is a cracked wheat which is a rich source of nutrients and vitamins. It is low in fat, and high in fiber. Olive oil, my essential ingredient, is a fat obtained from the Olive (the fruit of Olea Europaea; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is recognized as one of the healthiest edible oils since it contains very little saturated fat. And Semolina, made from durum wheat, keeps you full for a longer period of time and prevents you from overeating. It is used in making pasta, and couscous. Finally, Spice Cardamom is regarded as the Queen of spices and is found in the form of a small pod with black seeds inside. The black seeds are added to deserts and tea.


Middle Eastern Key Ingredients 

 The culinary art of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine took shape centuries ago as different cultures flowed through the Middle East, and left traces of their foods. Historically, wheat based cuisines such as Freekeh and Bulgur are our staple foods. Even though Freekeh and Bulgur are prepared differently they are still produced in an ancient way in our small villages. Bulgur production starts once farmers boil the wheat in huge pots (sometimes for days) until they are thoroughly cooked. Then they remove the cooked wheat and spread it out on their flat rooftops to dry in the sun. Afterwards, the hardened kernels are cracked into coarse pieces and sieved into different sizes. Freekeh production starts early in the spring, when the leaves of wheat turn yellow and the seeds are still soft and milky. The wheat stalks are harvested, dried in the sun, and carefully set on fire to burn the straw and chaff. The seeds do not burn due to their high moisture content. Once cooled, the wheat undergoes a rubbing process that cracks the seed and separates the chaff.


Jordanian and Somali food 

 Building on my personal experiences, and being a researcher for ECV Ontario has helped me find answers to questions which were revolving in my mind. Moreover, interviewing Somali women in Toronto and learning about their food preferences helped me and I now appreciate the value of cultural food in enhancing settlement and integration of refugees and immigrants in the Canadian context. In addition, I learned that we have so much in common. Even though some of my food seems to be similar to Somali food my first impression was that Somalis eat my own food. Similarities, include using certain spices in cooking such as Cardamom, cloves and sage, having liver for breakfast, and using Semolina as an ingredient in preparing certain types of food such as Hareesa sweet is also similar to what Jordanians like to eat.

We also share similar preparation and consumption of Sambusa which is a triangular snack stuffed with meat, and usually eaten during the (Iftar) month of Ramadan. Moreover, the desire to consume halal meat is shared between us, and we also transfer this knowledge to our kids. Furthermore, I was lucky enough to join the Somali community in Toronto for the Eid Al-Adha celebration, where I discovered that we have the same way of celebrating and eating kidney meat on that day. Based on my personal and learning experiences using the Canadian context, I am truly convinced that our cultural food makes a huge impact in enhancing immigrants’ and refugees’ settlement in their new countries. Therefore, I advise anyone who is planning to migrate or who has recently immigrated to explore the possibilities of keeping their own cuisines and learning from other cultures.


References: 

Condon, G. (2013, April, 1). “Yes, you should pay attention to ethnic grocers”. Retrieved from http://www.canadiangrocer.com/top-stories/yes-you-should-pay-attention-to-ethnic-grocers-8663

Smith, D. (2017), The States of the World Atlas. Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/migration

Rana Telfah, Graduate Research Assistant, ECVOntario, UoG, Guelph.