Family tradition

At the family table 

Family tradition is all about connecting the young to the old. Passing traditions does not just involve the food you prepare for your family. Tradition can contain sitting together at the dinner table every night at 7:30pm. 

The Latino culture has one of the best foods and best traditions. Knowing what food is coming to your holiday celebrations makes you excited for example Thanksgiving everyone knows what is going to be served at the dinner table; Mash potatoes, Turkey, Yams the original tradition. In the Hispanic culture there are many different flavors added to the table, For example; Vanilla-Orange Flan, Rose Sangria's. Christmas is a various of delicious foods such as; your main meals Ham, Mash potatoes, cookies. Hispanic culture makes Tamales 2 weeks prior or 2 months to Christmas, making Pozole, Albondigas is a tradition families do together. Happiness is what makes a tradition a tradition that is why it is continued throughout centuries. 

Hispanic mothers, especially those in urban and low-income areas and who have recently migrated to the U.S., have difficulty adapting to the food culture of the United States. That sudden influence of fast food, easy microwavable meals and high-fat ingredients makes healthy cooking difficult for Latinas who struggle to keep a sense of food culture at home for their easily acculturated children.

Data, compiled from a study published in the Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, indicates the acquired eating habits of Hispanic children plays a role in the difficulty Hispanic mothers face, as little ones are quickly exposed to American dieting habits at school and in the homes of friends, as well as influenced through the media.

In fact, studies now show us that acculturated Hispanics face many more health difficulties and higher obesity rates than new Hispanic immigrants, and adoption of the so called American diet has a lot to do with it. For many, the easy access to drive-thrus, and low prices of fast food, become a quick and affordable way to provide for the family, especially if there is little awareness on the health risks of these new dieting habits.

So what is a Hispanic mother to do in order to help her children stay healthy despite new cultural influences?

“Food in general is a social event we as humans share with one another,” Jenny Patrizia, psychologist, nutritionist and personal trainer, told VOXXI. “That’s why we see foods in all types of celebrations in a person’s life—baptism, birth, weddings and yes, even funerals. Food is something more than filling up our tummies but a way to form a bond between one human being to another.

“So when you introduce to an immigrant mother mac and cheese or hamburgers and fries not only do they have to adapt to the new flavors the food brings but also to the new lifestyle of eating. We as Latinos share our food with our family. It brings our families together at the dinner table while U.S. families tend to be more independent when it comes to food,” she added (Gillette)