We Were Mint To Be!
Hello and welcome to the first AP (Action Project) for my class Food For Thought! This class is a buddle of integrated humanities classes including, history, geology, and anthropology. The history of food and how it helped build civilizations, the geology of the origins and travels of food, and it all goes into anthropology! In this unit (Life), we have studied a book by Andrew Rimas and Evan D.G. named Empires of Food: Feast, Famine, and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations. We have talked about surplus, civilizations, the origins, and travels of food, pronouns, sustainability, our family's food traditions, and our favorite foods. We actually did a project about our family's favorite foods over generations!
This AP is about my family's famous dish albondigas. We were given the task to choose one ingredient in our family's most popular and traditional foods. And one ingredient in albondigas is hierbabauena, or in English, spearmint! I went through the journey of figuring out where spearmint originated and how it got to where my family lives, Sonora, Mexico. As well as it's general history, I learned about where mint got its name, a lot of myths and stories about it. And I learned a lot about my family in the process, here is the translated transcript of my mother's interview:
Me: "Who are the most well-known cooks in our family?"
Mother: "Your tio (uncle) German is the best baker in Obregon!"
Me: "Woah, really?!"
Mother: "Yeah!"
Me: "Okay, what is our family's most famous recipe or food"
Mother: "Oh! Let me think...I think our albondigas is the top one. But there is also our babrbaqoa and ceviche!"
Me: "Yes, they're my favorites!"
Me: "Why is this recipe important to our family? What's its history in our family?"
Mother: "It comes from a lot of generations, so many that we don't know when we started making it! And it reminds our family of each other, it keeps us a family through generations!
Me: "What? Really?"
Mother: "Yes!"
Me: "Okay, what is the value of this (the albondigas) recipe in our family? And if you had to put a price on its value, what would it be?"
Mother: My mother gasps and says: "What do you mean value, you can't put a value on family and love!"
Me: "You gotta!"
Mother: "Fine, 25 million."
Me: "Creative."
Me: "Okay you know there's hierbabuena in the albondigas right?"
Mother: "Yes, I make them like that."
Me: do you know how hierbabuena came to Sonora, Mexico?"
Mother: "Most of our herbs came to us because of the Spanish and their invasion of Mexico."
Me:...
Me: "Okay, do you think that if we ate different foods, we would be different people?"
Mother: "No, because who we are is in our being not our food, through our physical appearance might change."
Me: "Okay, last question, why do you think food has such a big impact in our lives?"
Mother: "Because they bring with them the memories of family or at least bring familiarity with them."
I really enjoyed completing this AP, and I hope you like watching it!
Script
The Servin-Islas family uses me to add a delectable favor to their albondigas! How I got to Sonora Mexico is a bit of a mystery but according to Silvia Serin-Islas: “Most of our herbs came to us because of the Spanish and their invasion of Mexico.” Spain was one of the first places I was distributed to, though to get to Spain I went through Germany, Italy, and France and other countries in Europe! So to get to Sonora Mexico I went from Eastern Europe down through Germany, France, Italy, other continents, through the North Atlantic Ocean, and other states in Mexico to finally arrive at Sonora Mexico for the Servin-Islas family to use me. The dish albondigas is a soup kind of, that has little balls of beef that have rice and spearmint or heirbabuena. It is put water with potatoes and carrots usually. It used in the Servin-Islas family to bring everyone together, family members who lived far would come an visit just to have a plate of albondigas! This dish goes a long way through generations, to them, albondigas symbolize family, home, and their ancestors! They usually but me from their local supermarket, La Chiquita or farmers markets!
That's my life story goodbye!
Citations
This AP is about my family's famous dish albondigas. We were given the task to choose one ingredient in our family's most popular and traditional foods. And one ingredient in albondigas is hierbabauena, or in English, spearmint! I went through the journey of figuring out where spearmint originated and how it got to where my family lives, Sonora, Mexico. As well as it's general history, I learned about where mint got its name, a lot of myths and stories about it. And I learned a lot about my family in the process, here is the translated transcript of my mother's interview:
Me: "Who are the most well-known cooks in our family?"
Mother: "Your tio (uncle) German is the best baker in Obregon!"
Me: "Woah, really?!"
Mother: "Yeah!"
Me: "Okay, what is our family's most famous recipe or food"
Mother: "Oh! Let me think...I think our albondigas is the top one. But there is also our babrbaqoa and ceviche!"
Me: "Yes, they're my favorites!"
Me: "Why is this recipe important to our family? What's its history in our family?"
Mother: "It comes from a lot of generations, so many that we don't know when we started making it! And it reminds our family of each other, it keeps us a family through generations!
Me: "What? Really?"
Mother: "Yes!"
Me: "Okay, what is the value of this (the albondigas) recipe in our family? And if you had to put a price on its value, what would it be?"
Mother: My mother gasps and says: "What do you mean value, you can't put a value on family and love!"
Me: "You gotta!"
Mother: "Fine, 25 million."
Me: "Creative."
Me: "Okay you know there's hierbabuena in the albondigas right?"
Mother: "Yes, I make them like that."
Me: do you know how hierbabuena came to Sonora, Mexico?"
Mother: "Most of our herbs came to us because of the Spanish and their invasion of Mexico."
Me:...
Me: "Okay, do you think that if we ate different foods, we would be different people?"
Mother: "No, because who we are is in our being not our food, through our physical appearance might change."
Me: "Okay, last question, why do you think food has such a big impact in our lives?"
Mother: "Because they bring with them the memories of family or at least bring familiarity with them."
I really enjoyed completing this AP, and I hope you like watching it!
Script
Hello! My name is hierbabuena, or to those who speak English, Spearmint. I am a perennial herb that grows to about 1-2 inches tall, I usually have four angled leaves and my stem is hairless! I am also the better-flavored sibling in the Mentha family, and I, like my sibling, grow well in warm, sunny, climates with lots of water! I am Native to Europe, but since I have been used a lot and without documentation, it is hard to tell where I come from exactly. Though it is inferred by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, and The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, that I am native to East Europe and I made it down through Siberia, and the Middle East, all the way to China! The only place I am definitely not from are the Baltic states in Europe, they’re 3 sovereign countries in the northern part of Europe, where I never grew!
I was introduced to a lot of new places over the years including Corsica, Balearic Islands, Crimean Peninsula, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, North and South America, Madeira, the Azores, the Canaries, and Spain. From these main locations, I was spread and distributed all over the world! Sadly there are no certain dates or locations to when I began to be wildly cultivated but is estimated that I was being cultivated since ancient times. And I am still being cultivated, I am actually mostly produced in America, India, and China! Fun fact I’m in the top 50 top cash crops in the United States!
I have quite very rich history, even my name has a story behind it; My name Mentha is derived from a story of the Goddess Persephone. Persephone was in love with Pluto but Pluto loved a nymph named Minthe, jealous and outraged Persephone turned Minthe into a common garden plant. Pluto, devastated, promised that Minthe's fragrance would waft in the garden's breeze having a better aroma everytime she was stepped upon. There are also a lot of funny stories about me throughout the years of mankind. In the first century A.D., a naturalist named Pliny requested his student make and wrap a braid of spearmint around their heads to bring joy to their souls. Aristotle wouldn't allow soldiers to use mints before a battle since he believed it held a quality that would diminish their willingness to fight. In the Middle Ages when someone got bit by a wild dog mint was mixed with other herbs and salt to treat the wound. And, during the American Revolution, teas were made out of me, and I became popular because they were not taxed by the English; I was actually an important cash crop in Connecticut during the revolution!
In China, I am known as bo he and am used to treat influenza, sore throat, inflammation of the eye, and headaches. More generally I am known to help stimulate the movement of qi which means the life energy that becomes stagnant in the body. And in Mexico and the Middle East, I am known as a symbol of hospitality and wisdom! I am offered to guests in the form of tea to show that they are welcome! And am often used for medical reasons mostly, stomach pains, cramps, headaches, bad breath, bloating, and vomiting. Though I am also used to add flavor to things!
I was introduced to a lot of new places over the years including Corsica, Balearic Islands, Crimean Peninsula, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, North and South America, Madeira, the Azores, the Canaries, and Spain. From these main locations, I was spread and distributed all over the world! Sadly there are no certain dates or locations to when I began to be wildly cultivated but is estimated that I was being cultivated since ancient times. And I am still being cultivated, I am actually mostly produced in America, India, and China! Fun fact I’m in the top 50 top cash crops in the United States!
I have quite very rich history, even my name has a story behind it; My name Mentha is derived from a story of the Goddess Persephone. Persephone was in love with Pluto but Pluto loved a nymph named Minthe, jealous and outraged Persephone turned Minthe into a common garden plant. Pluto, devastated, promised that Minthe's fragrance would waft in the garden's breeze having a better aroma everytime she was stepped upon. There are also a lot of funny stories about me throughout the years of mankind. In the first century A.D., a naturalist named Pliny requested his student make and wrap a braid of spearmint around their heads to bring joy to their souls. Aristotle wouldn't allow soldiers to use mints before a battle since he believed it held a quality that would diminish their willingness to fight. In the Middle Ages when someone got bit by a wild dog mint was mixed with other herbs and salt to treat the wound. And, during the American Revolution, teas were made out of me, and I became popular because they were not taxed by the English; I was actually an important cash crop in Connecticut during the revolution!
In China, I am known as bo he and am used to treat influenza, sore throat, inflammation of the eye, and headaches. More generally I am known to help stimulate the movement of qi which means the life energy that becomes stagnant in the body. And in Mexico and the Middle East, I am known as a symbol of hospitality and wisdom! I am offered to guests in the form of tea to show that they are welcome! And am often used for medical reasons mostly, stomach pains, cramps, headaches, bad breath, bloating, and vomiting. Though I am also used to add flavor to things!
The Servin-Islas family uses me to add a delectable favor to their albondigas! How I got to Sonora Mexico is a bit of a mystery but according to Silvia Serin-Islas: “Most of our herbs came to us because of the Spanish and their invasion of Mexico.” Spain was one of the first places I was distributed to, though to get to Spain I went through Germany, Italy, and France and other countries in Europe! So to get to Sonora Mexico I went from Eastern Europe down through Germany, France, Italy, other continents, through the North Atlantic Ocean, and other states in Mexico to finally arrive at Sonora Mexico for the Servin-Islas family to use me. The dish albondigas is a soup kind of, that has little balls of beef that have rice and spearmint or heirbabuena. It is put water with potatoes and carrots usually. It used in the Servin-Islas family to bring everyone together, family members who lived far would come an visit just to have a plate of albondigas! This dish goes a long way through generations, to them, albondigas symbolize family, home, and their ancestors! They usually but me from their local supermarket, La Chiquita or farmers markets!
We Were Mint To Be! from GGS on Vimeo.
Hierbabuena.” Medicinatradicionalmexicna.uman.mc. Biblioteca
Digital de la Medicina Tradicional Mexicana, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2018.
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Britannica, inc. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Feb. 2018. Web. Apr. 27 2018.
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