59 replies to this topic

[naserian]

Hmmm....from where to start??? I am a mix of Greek/Spanish/German and Nordic decent...but since i was born and rased in Greece i prefer to say im Greek(so many countries in a mixer uhhh if a say all of them ...) My mother is from Greece(Cyprus) her father , Spanish(Basque)German(somewhere in the west i dont remember) and Greek(her mother was abopted by Greek parends )My father is from Greece( Athens) his father,his mother mixe of Greek ,German and Nordic decent..
Most people quess im Eastern European (mostly Russian)it ..lol

[Adalaide]

I don't know much about my mother's family. Her mom died before I was old enough to learn anything and her father was adopted, I never met him. My dad's family we've traced back several hundred years to Ireland and Germany. My first ancestors came to America (Philadelphia) shortly before the American Revolution. I can proudly say that I come from a family that has bled for our freedoms, more than anything that is a part of my heritage that I hold dear. The tradition has held strong and several members of every generation have joined the military.

I grew up in Pennsylvania in an area where "Pennsylvania Dutch" traditions and foods are such an integral part of everyone's lives that you don't even think about it. We also had many Amish neighbors who still speak what used to be German but has evolved a bit since they've been over the pond for so long. I didn't realize how much of what I grew up with is not mainstream in America until I left that area. Trying to find a perogi in Utah is slightly more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack. No one here seems to know how to make sauerkraut, which I kind of just assumed everyone knew how to do.

I lived outside of a small town on a farm and our family was pretty self-sufficient. I didn't have much cause to ever participate much in a lot of the local culture other than what was part of the farming community. Most of the community activities I remember took place at churches and were a variety of huge get-togethers with enough food for an army.

I don't know a whole lot about Utah culture to be perfectly honest. Much of the time I've been here I've been far too sick to participate in much. Also, as a childless couple my husband and I don't really fit in with any other married couples around our age so we don't have the desire to socialize much. We do have a pretty significant population of latino immigrants in my area, so they bring much of their cultures to my area of Utah.

I have to say it is quite fascinating to read through all of the posts here.

[notme!]

i am american. i was born in new jersey but moved to east tennessee. i am comfortable either place, but i love my new home and i will live here until the good Lord takes me home. my paternal grandmother was full-blooded hungarian. my paternal grandfather was half mohegan <(sp) indian and half english. my maternal grandfather was english and irish/scottish <he was a foster child so that was never too clear) and my maternal grandmother was a colby, a very old english family who settled in massachusetts back in the day. they have traced our roots clear back to good king charlemagne. i remind my husband that i am of royal blood all the time. sometimes it even works other times he just threatens to cut off that little finger where all the royal blood is.....

my hungarian grandmother had alot of influence on my traditions and menu choices - you know the old woman who got married in the depression, she spits on a napkin to clean your face, crashes cheeks instead of kissing, knows how to make head cheese, (or a 'salve' omgosh - salves! lols) - stuffed cabbage, crepes, goulash, etc.... also, macaroni with ketchup sprinkled with breadcrumbs <yuk but i bet this will be my dad's last meal request when the day comes!

this is an awesome thread - thank you

[navigator]

Thank you to everyone who has taken part in and enjoyed this thread. I'm really enjoying reading all the replies and it's so nice to have such a great response to my thread.

[kareng]

Right now, here at our house in Kansas City, its FIRST Robotics season. From last Saturday until sometime in April when the championships are, life revolves around building the robot, feeding the kids and mentors who are building the robot, feeding the robot, chasing around town trying to find some odd part then finding out what they really need is the suction cups on cheap bathmats from Walmart not the $45 part I drove an hour to get, etc. It keeps the Dad's out of trouble.

[eatmeat4good]

Ah!
Thank you for this thread!
Very interesting and...
I'm half Scots/Irish!
Is that how you say it?
or Scottish/Irish?
or is it Scotch/Irish???


I've never known one darn thing about the Scottish way of life...and often wonder.

The other half is
German, German, and German!

I think we must have been directly related to Hitler or something because my mother told stories of not being able to understand her grandparents because they had not been able to learn English well enough to communicate regularly that way, but they punished their kids severely for speaking German...even at home! They were ashamed to be German and wanted their children to be successful so they were required to only speak English. Consequently they didn't teach their children to speak German either. So my mother only knew a few words and didn't really know her grandparents all that well.

Sorta sad.

I'm kidding about being related to Hitler.
But it very likely could have been that they didn't want the association with Hitler


And there is another bit...one of my grandparents was High German and the other was Low German...and that caused a bit of scandal in the family...on the German side of course. I have no idea what it means other than...Somebody was from the wrong side of the tracks.

[mushroom]

We lived in Bavaria during our time in Germany, and the daily greeting was Gruss Gott! When we got to northern Germany we found out that was definitely "low" German

[beebs]

I am from Australia my dad was Welsh/Irish (who emigrated here in the 60s) and my mum is Irish/Australian. I lived in Ireland for almost 4 years and Newfoundland for one and now I live in the central west of NSW. I have traveled to 18 countries -all before I was gluten-free - I dread to think of what it would be like in some of those place gluten-free. But I dread the thought of long haul flights with 4 kids so I'm not going anywhere for awhile

I play traditional irish music, as does my husband, as did my dad and my grandad. Kind of family tradition I suppose.


We have lots of wildlife around here. Kangaroos and amazing parrots, lizards, goannas and snakes (not my favourite!) possumes etc, we go swimming in the river and explore all the gold rush towns of the area - lots of bushranger history here too. Love it.

[beebs]

Could be why Australia has a high rate of celiac too??---as you suggest, you had an influx of immigrants throughout your rich history. BTW, I have always dreamed of visiting Australia! We keep returning to Ireland as we both love our grandparents' homeland (we've gone there 4 times) and it's time to venture elsewhere in the world.

Also, some have joked this is not Celiac Disease but "Celtic Disease" as this population seems to be impacted so deeply.

I absolutely agree with you, 3/4 of Australians claim Irish heritage.

[sora]

I am from Oregon in the states but have been in Canada for 40 years.
My maternal grandfather was Russian (Ukraine)and arrived in the U>S> at the end of the 1800's, early 1900's and my grandmother was German.
My son has been teaching himself Russian for a while now and he has a fascination with Russian prison tattoos, not getting them, studying about them.
My paternal side goes all the way back to 1702 Wales. One story is that a family member at that time was a highwayman.
Most of my relatives from my fathers side live in Tennessee area. I have never been there but we were raised on greens with vinegar and fried white cornbread, black eyed peas and Sassafras tea.

[Nadia2009]

I am Canadian but maybe the only one originally from Africa here and wondering why me why gluten intolerance chose me? When you're originally African with this disease, your genes have truly betrayed you. Or am I guilty of years of French bread eating? When you're from Africa, there is always someone to tell you "put your trust in God and eat you will be fine". Ok but God doesn't expect me to sleep at the middle of the street where I could be hit by a car . Same here. Doctors think you can't have celiac because you aren't looking very N-W European.
Anyway, my sister who lives in Africa was shocked the first time I told her about my intolerance. Now, she keeps meeting new celiac regularly. She was telling about someone she knows who grinds her own rice. It is tough for children as there aren't many desserts and sweet food without gluten over there. Maybe I should be doing something just to help the poor kids with celiac in a country where nobody understand them. Often, it is the cases of malnutrition that are known to the doctors or first discovered. We eat alot of bread back home but unfortunately, the bread is less and less made from the native sorghum and more and more of wheat. Growing up, I remember my mom was anti-wheat she wasn't impressed by the wonders of gluten and how it made the flat bread chewy. Btw, sorghum is one of the healthiest grain. It contains vit B17 which has anti cancerous properties. Long time ago, colon cancer was unknown to Africans but not anymore!

[GlutenFreeAustinite]

I'm American.

My mother's side is Swedish, German, Scottish, and English.
My dad's is Irish, Scottish, German, and English.

[RL2011]

Born in America (Yonkers, NY). My Mom's grand-parents were from Ireland and my Dad's parents are off the boat from Italy. But somewhere in there a dog was added to the gene pool...I think I am part dog too.

[navigator]

Ah!
Thank you for this thread!
Very interesting and...
I'm half Scots/Irish!
Is that how you say it?
or Scottish/Irish?
or is it Scotch/Irish???


I've never known one darn thing about the Scottish way of life...and often wonder.

The other half is
German, German, and German!

I think we must have been directly related to Hitler or something because my mother told stories of not being able to understand her grandparents because they had not been able to learn English well enough to communicate regularly that way, but they punished their kids severely for speaking German...even at home! They were ashamed to be German and wanted their children to be successful so they were required to only speak English. Consequently they didn't teach their children to speak German either. So my mother only knew a few words and didn't really know her grandparents all that well.

Sorta sad.

I'm kidding about being related to Hitler.
But it very likely could have been that they didn't want the association with Hitler


And there is another bit...one of my grandparents was High German and the other was Low German...and that caused a bit of scandal in the family...on the German side of course. I have no idea what it means other than...Somebody was from the wrong side of the tracks.

Hi. In terms of the correct way to describe your Scottish heritage , you're half Scottish. Scotch is a desription of items such as Scotch whisky(Mmmm) but not a person.Hope that clears it up.

[ButterflyChaser]

I'm Italian born and bred, temporarily a US resident for higher education reasons my heritage cooking may actually be what makes it easy to be gluten-free because we rely more on veggies than grains, at least compared to the US, which, come to think of it, is kind of weird, as I always assumed we were very much grain-fed beasts.