My father talks about Sunday family dinners often and fondly. His mother, my grandmother, would make a large pot of stewed tomatoes, peppers, and onions with homemade sausage. His aunt, who raised my grandmother, would make the sausage using a meat grinder not unlike this one. When my great, great grandmother moved to the United States, and her family settled in New Jersey, she always made homemade kielbasa. My great aunt would tell my father that they'd always said kielbasa felt like home. Sunday dinners, and homemade kielbasa, were a way that the family was brought together to sit down and enjoy a traditional meal. Beyond sunday dinners, kielbasa was always served at Christmas, Easter, and any extended family gatherings. It was a skill passed down through the women of my Polish family, and though my grandmother has never been to Poland herself, she says that Polish food keeps her feeling connected both to her family and to her culture. Though I am personally fairly far removed from my polish roots, and my family members who immigrated here, I find comfort in the warmth and sense of community that always surrounds our big family meals. Those meals certainly wouldn't be complete without my great aunt's homemade kielbasa. 

– Madeline Nece

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more