I am from potatoes

from big green fields and far away mountains

and the Fraser River. 

I am from tea kettles, 

          whistling, warm. 

          Sweet.

 

From flowers are food. 

From my mother,

          and for my mother, 

          and all the other mothers I’ve adopted over time. 

From peppermint

and huckleberry, 

and the bushes that bloom in the spring. 

 

I am from the frying pan,

          melting, sizzling

          the half a dozen eggs my brother cooks himself each morning.   

From mashed potatoes and pasta bakes,

Towering cherry trees,

and Saturday night movies.   

 

From the house I don’t live in anymore but still call home. 

I am from everywhere,

And of everything. 

 

Hello everybody! My name is Emma (she/her/hers) and I am a third year English major here at UBC. This is actually my first semester at UBC, having completed the first two years of my degree at Langara College, and I’m super excited to start my journey here! I moved out of my childhood home almost exactly one year ago now and currently live and work in Downtown Vancouver which honestly still feels surreal sometimes. I love anything crafty/creative, and my dream job (at the moment) would be to work in some form of marketing where I can combine my love of design with my love of writing! I also love to read – my goal is 36 books this year! – and I recently invested in a HelloFresh subscription which has so far been life-changing. 

I originally signed up for this course because my partner is from Mexico, and I am able to experience first hand how big of a role food plays in his (and, by extension, my) daily life. I see how it affects both him and his family, how it connects him to home, and can recognize that food plays an entirely different role in his culture than mine. I have spent the last ten years of my life not eating meat, and when my partner and I first met, this was actually a pretty big point of contention between us. I am very interested in learning more about the history of food within/throughout Latin America in hopes of a) better understanding my partner and learning more about his culture, and b) better understanding my own relationship with food and learning about practices/attitudes that differ from the Western ones I grew up with!