In my country, Venezuela, we have so many delicious and important food. Hallacas is one of them, it consists of corn dough stuffed with beef stew, pork, or chicken and other ingredients such as raisins, capers and olives, hallacas are folded in plantain leaves, tied with strings, and boiled. It is a typical dish of the Christmas season and the tradition is to prepare it with the whole family. My mother is from Dominican Republic and my father is Venezuelan, that is why my brother and I grew up and lived with a little of each culture. My father grew up with that tradition and that way he wanted us to enjoy that culture so each year he took us to spend Christmas with his family, so we could live the beautiful experience. Moving to New York changed many things, among that tradition, things we use to so would no longer be the same or simply would no longer be; in the first Christmas living here we did not do hallacas, which made me think that the tradition was lost with the trip, but the following year everything was different and we did hallacas, when I was eating I had beautiful memories of Venezuela. Despite the distance there are always important things, such as food, that can make you feel in your country not physically but emotionally. 

– L

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant