Want to Taste Some New Ethnic Dishes

      Have you ever stepped foot on Ridgeview High school’s campus? If so you will see that the campus is made up of a unique population. With that population comes a diverse culture. These cultures have some unique food and interesting stories.

     Loren Meraz, a senior at Ridgeview, she is from a Mexican culture that is very united. She states “We have a lot of tradition, foods,  and most importantly family which we grew up knowing that was the most important thing in our culture.” Meraz said she enjoys eating the cultural food her family makes which are tacos, enchiladas, menudo, and tamales “Mexicans take pride in their dishes because they have been passed down from generation to generation.” She says.  “My culture is honestly beautiful and I’m glad to be a part of it.” she says. 

     Sukhmanjot Kaur is another senior at Ridgeview, she is from an Indian culture. The cultural food she love to eat is Makki di roti and Saag, she also said, “We Indian love to eat food and there is one more good food item that is really famous is kheer .It is a combination of milk ,rice ,sugar and lots of dry fruits and most Indians love eating that.” She says it’s hard to cook the food, she also said people should try these foods because they are delicious, spicy, and healthy. A little bit more about her culture and family,  “My family is from India and we are north Indians and we have a rich culture and heritage with lots of food items to eat and with lots of festivals to celebrate like Baisakhi ,Diwali ,Holi and many more.” she says. These are the unique and interesting stories and cultures of  Kaur.

       “Both of my parents are from Asia, and came to the United States when they were both teenagers. My dad was originally from Laos and my mom was from Thailand. They came here to have more of a life and more opportunities to make their life better and also learned English.” says Vanessa Phengdy, who is a senior. Her culture is Laotian/Thai, some of her favorite foods are papaya salad with sticky rice, and roasted duck. A story behind cooking these foods is when her parents were younger and she was a kid, they would make these foods with her grandma & grandpa.

      There are many interesting cultures at Ridgeview that we don’t realize. Elijah Munoz is German, Filipino, Mexican. He likes to eat Jagerschnitzel and schnitzel. Bratwurst and Kartoffelkloesse which are potato dumplings. Filipino dishes are  lumpia and Pancit  and squid , salmon , Adobo , lechon and now desserts halo halo and ube.  Now for the Mexican side he enjoys  tacos and  Lengua , Orange  rice with tomato sauce , Churros, tamales Verde with homemade tortilla chips, Papas Fritas tacos.
There is a different type of food to a culture. All foods are different in their own way, for example Jaron Amos likes to eat Chitlins. Chitlins  are a prepared food usually made from the large intestines of a hog. It is a well known dish that people love.

     Some people don’t only have one culture they can have multiple. Meaning one side of the family is one culture and the other side is different and the grandparents too. Gracie Omadahl is Italian, Irish, English, and Scottish. On her mom’s side the Lemucchi family is from Lucca Italy, And from parts of England and Scotland. An Italian dish is spaghetti and lasagna, Gracie and her family make the spaghetti from scratch. Some information on the Lemucchi family is, they came through Ellis island and the English Scottish heritage migrated in the early 1900s. 

    Some other interesting foods are hamburgers, and meats. These foods are Abbie Antrim favorite food. She is white, and her family is from California, and they also have some Irish in them. She says she has cooked more since quarantine started. Antrim suggests people try this food because they are very delicious and some might like it.

    People should try new food and learn the back stories to the food. It is interesting to learn about  new food you try. At Ridgeview there are so many different cultures to learn about, and not just about the food the families, and traditions some people have.