Within our family, each of us have our own stories that come to mind when thinking about what it means to be Mexican-American. These experiences—of emotions, smells, tastes, sights, and sounds—are nostalgic to us, and embody what it means to “live the hyphen.”Living the hyphen is an important part of who we are not only as individuals or as a family, but on a larger scale, as a part of the Mexican-American community. Following the previous questions we’ve asked the Garzas about their hyphen, we’ve reached the final question: what does their Mexican-American hyphen sound like?
The foods and occasions that the Garzas reflect on in their answers paint a picture of the way (and why) we gather together as a company, years later. They are the same foods that we enjoy on Friday Lunches, summer cookouts, and holiday parties. Their smells bring us to fond memories of living our hyphen, and our nostalgia surrounding them is at the core of the foods we make, and the experience we hope to recreate at your table.
For some, it looked like a family relic of La Virgen de Guadalupe. For others, it looks like the traditions of gathering around spaghetti on Christmas, and regularly, without occasion. To each Garza, however, our hyphen is both literal and symbolic of connection.
The Garza’s further explain their Mexican-American hyphen through one of our familia’s favorite topics: food. Potato chips from convenience stores, doused in hot sauce and lime juice, tangy and icy paletas in the summer, and frijolizzas on weeknights with family. In the words of our Grandma Campos, our Mexican-American hyphen tastes like “a little bit of this, and a little bit of that.”
In a word, we might offer that our Mexican-American hyphen feels like “perspective.” Understanding what albondigas aren’t by knowing what meatballs are; having a firm foot in two seemingly distinct cultures; cooking with ‘a little bit this and a bit little of that;’ growing up in Laredo and living in Austin.
Cinco con Siete is a season for gathering, a celebration of our family's culture, and an occasion for coming together with friends, neighbors, and community.
