Mennonite vs Mestizo Foods
Mennonite werenaki (perogies)
Schmauckshoen? she asked, grinning broadly and offering me another perogie. I looked at her, drew a deep breath, and ran for the bathroom with peals of laughter following and my ears burning. This was my introduction to the famous Mennonite werenaki, 15 years ago. I had convinced a girl I could eat the perogies with cottage cheese filling even though she knew very well I was not a fan of both milk and cheese (why are Plautdiestch Mennonites so fond of milky, creamy, cheesy, WHITE foods?) hence her challenge. I lost.
Growing up in a Mestizo--aka "spanish"--culture influenced by Plautdietsch Mennonites from Spanish Lookout and North American Holdeman Mennonites, I grew up eating a good amount of what would be considered Mennonite food compared to our Mestizo neighbors: cheesy casseroles, mashed potatoes, etc. yet they were always seasoned with plenty of the necessary "spanish" spices and most importantly...colors. I have to have color in my food, whether it's the bright red of adobe in chicken stew, the simmering yellow of caldo, the bright green of avocado, the dark chocolate color of thick stewed beans, the brilliant multicolored pieces of habanero, the gold-black of fried plantains.
This posed a problem during our first weeks of marriage. We had just declared for better or worse, and suddenly I sit down at the table in our cozy new home and find myself staring at a white dish full of...white noodles, covered with white cream, with a salad of white steamed veggies, and a tall white cup of white milk. Marriage shock number one. I stared at her, she stared back at me. I stammered, coughed, cleared my throat, gulped and croaked out something unintelligible about not liking cheese and milk. She smiled sweetly, batted her greenish-gray eyes at me, and said, "You promised". Suddenly I realized this was one of those "for better or worse" moments and that there were worse things than eating a meal devoid of color and lacking the spices I was used too. I ate the noodles, but it was the last time I ever ate such a meal.
Yes, we're still married and our culinary tastes have clashed many times, but on the whole it's been an extremely upbuilding experience, combining both of our culture's unique foods and thus creating a new diet for our children which consists of colorful spicy Mestizo meals as well as cheesy, milky, creamy, white foods (forgive me). The children have not been harmed in the process.
Since cooking is a hobby of mine, we decided early in our marriage that I would pass on my expert and world-class knowledge to her, and vice versa. Needless to say now she has surpassed me in cooking skills. In fact we eat a lot more "spanish" food in general than she ever expected too but, she loves it. Belizean rice and beans, tamalitos, salbutes, empanadas, garnachas, enchiladas, tacos, and the centuries-old favorite: stewed beans and tortillas.
A tamale wrapped in banana leaves; the meat inside will usually be chicken. Pork is sometimes used.
For my part, I've done my best to eat my share of her culture's foods since it's only fair and now, lo and behold, I actually look forward to those meals, slightly modified of course in order to suit my color-loving eyes. For example borscht, a vegetable soup with bits of meat and bread and butter. As an umarried person I would always eat soup with either rice or tortillas, never bread. Yet now I myself request this Mennonite soup. Then there is the nuddelsuppe, a plain soup made of noodles. Another meal is the werenaki: I prefer them fried but still avoid the schmauntfat. What about pluma moos, and rollkuchen, and brodje mat schoeblen? Yes, I didn't think so at first but I actually quite like buns with canned beans. And I thought I would never be able to eat beans without tortillas. I still can't bring myself to eat plain noodles, or cheesy casseroles, or the boiled werenaki instead of the fried ones, but perhaps another 15 years of marriage will enable me to overcome these.
A. Mendoza
