Once a year, when my family gets together for Christmas, the kitchen turns into a mess.  My mom started to follow her mom’s recipes a few years ago. On Christmas Eve, we have impassioned conversations about her dinner plans. She tells me about everything she will put in the Pozole, soft pork, red chiles, and hominy. I’m already thinking of how I’ll be eating leftovers for the next two weeks. My mom would always tell me stories about her mom’s cooking. My mom isn’t the greatest cook, so whenever she is cooking she’s on the phone following someone’s instructions. The only recipe she could replicate was Pozole. My mom’s Pozole is a rich red stew that has pork with a mixture of spice and vegetables. Chile gives the stew its flavor and memorable red color, my mom uses two types of chiles, one for flavor and one for color. Hominy is going to be in every spoonful so it’s important to know what it is. Hominy is corn with the germ removed and it has no flavor by itself so it makes you appreciate the stew. Pozole reminds my mom of her life in Mexico, where she was really close with her family. My parents didn’t bring a lot of things from their homes, so these family recipes are some of the only things they have from Mexico. Pozole to me represents the journey my family had to persevere to give me the life I have. Every time I eat Pozole it makes me appreciate my family and everything they do. It also takes a lot of work to make so it puts how hard my mom works straight into my face. 
 

– Lenny C.

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant