Community found in the kitchen
In 1989, my grandmother, Lorraine Braun, began creating a cookbook for my mother, Maurya. For three decades, she handwrote recipes of foods that were significant in our family or the Mennonite community. This recipe book is a central memory from my childhood. The book’s pages are covered with the ketchup we used to make rib sauce…
Family tradition goes back 500 years
“Pfeffernusse,” Dora repeated after me in amazement! She couldn’t believe that my Christmas treats were the same as hers. It was Nov. 7, 2002, and we were sitting around the pool at Toddy’s Backpacker Hostel in Alice Springs, Australia. Nostalgia crept among us; we had wandered far and wouldn’t be home for Christmas. At the…
Peppernuts and anarsa
I recently learned to eat anarsa—a sweet, rice-based treat—while travelling in India visiting with Mennonite women, and learning about their religious lives and food practices. It was late February, but I was told that Christians in India normally prepare anarsa at Christmastime as a seasonal and festive treat. I couldn’t help but reflect on the…
Rollkuchen Remorse
In grade 7 I met a particularly tall kid whose nickname was ‘Moose.’ One day I asked one of the guys that went to the same junior elementary school as him when this nickname came about. I assumed it would have been soon after he hit a growth spurt. The sarcastic answer surprised me. A…
