{"id":13884,"date":"2024-01-30T08:20:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T13:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=13884"},"modified":"2024-01-30T09:09:25","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T14:09:25","slug":"cooking-series-tastes-like-family-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2024\/01\/30\/cooking-series-tastes-like-family-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooking Series Tastes Like Family History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An aromatic ladle of sopa de albondigas<\/em>, or meatball soup, is made from more than beef, onions, and jalape\u00f1o. For Elannah De La O \u201924, it represents a history of recipes passed down through her Mexican-American family. To share her story in a bowl, De La O hosted a group of curious students in her installment of ALANA\u2019s Cooking Around the World series. Each event gathers students in ALANA\u2019s kitchen space to share and celebrate their heritage through cuisine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The series began when ALANA Director Esther Rosbrook joined the team in 2019. A year later, she welcomed De La O to her team of ALANA Ambassadors: a crew of students who represent and support the center. De La O was later promoted to an ambassador lead, and now serves as the main point of contact for ALANA\u2019s student team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy main job as an ambassador is to connect people to other people,\u201d says De La O. \u201cCooking Around the World allows me to foster those connections \u2014 October is Latinx heritage month, and I am Latina. This event is a celebration of my culture with the student body.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

De La O, who is from the Northern California area, attributes her long-held passion for cooking to her family. Their sopa de albondigas recipe tells a story through the ingredients. \u201cHow we cook the dish is telling of how my family uses seasonings,\u201d she says. \u201cWe make a flavorful broth that can be used across many different soups.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This versatile broth of chicken stock, tomato, garlic, and onion meets De La O\u2019s aim to teach students a \u201csimple, low-budget, but very flavorful recipe.\u201d To it, she adds hearty vegetables and beans: potato, garbanzo beans, and carrots. Next come the soup\u2019s namesake meatballs, to which De La O adds two special ingredients: jalape\u00f1o and mint. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe mint is included not just for flavor, but also to aid with digestion,\u201d she explains. \u201cAnd a lot of people think the jalape\u00f1o will just be spicy, but what I try to showcase is that the chili has its own distinct flavor.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These personal touches make De La O\u2019s dish her and her family\u2019s own. The way she sees it, sopa de albondigas is a comfort meal. \u201cWhether you\u2019re sick or coming home from a long day of classes, the dish cheers people up,\u201d she says. This personal connection to food, Rosbrook contends, is what makes the event one of ALANA\u2019s programming staples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCooking Around the World is not just a culinary program,\u201d says Rosbrook. \u201cIt\u2019s a warm and inviting space where friendships are forged and a sense of belonging flourishes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Cooking Around the World events this academic year include sessions led by Nicole Carvel, Indigenous and Native American programs coordinator, and the South Asian Cultural Club.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an ALANA cooking series, Elannah De La O \u201924 teaches other students how to make her family recipe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1272,"featured_media":13885,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[461,1780,397,50,61],"coauthors":[1451],"class_list":["post-13884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scene","tag-alana-cultural-center","tag-cooking","tag-culture","tag-diversity","tag-food"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-3BW","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/01\/092123_cooking_MDD_0078.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13884"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14138,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13884\/revisions\/14138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13884"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=13884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}