At least every week, I am fed a dish of steaming hot rice and beans, for lunch or dinner. Whether it is given to me by my mother, my father, my grandmother, or my tias, it symbolizes the importance of my heritage. My father ate rice and beans every day, for every meal in Brazil, and in America, we still embrace this ethnic dish. This was fed to me since I was just a small toddler in Chelsea, and just the other night while sitting by the kitchen table. The world changes, and so will the technology used to make rice and beans, cooking the rice in an airfryer and beans from a can cooked in a pot. So I will admit, the way our family makes rice and beans isn’t the traditional way, with minced garlic and onions mixed with the rice and cooked in oil, and the beans mixed with green onions parsley, and spices, sprinkled with minced onion and garlic, yet having it served fresh from my parents fills me with warmth, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. There are not many ways I can connect to my Brazilian roots, but as I eat and share traditional Brazilian dishes, I feel pride for my heritage.

– LC

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