Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. It's the holiday season. While we've talked a lot about gathering, conversing about hard topics, and preparing gifts for our loved ones, something missing from this conversation here so far is food. After all, what would a holiday celebration be without a table full of familiar foods cooked by the people we love the most, right? Here at WNYC, our community partnerships desk has been out and about collecting food memoirs from New Yorkers as part of the Queens Memory Project. Take a listen to one of these food memoirs that aired on morning edition earlier this month. This is about two minutes long.

Lisa Wade: My name is Lisa Wade and I live in Addisleigh Park, Queens. The recipe that sticks out for me is salmon croquettes or salmon cakes depending on where you're from. It was a breakfast, like a Sunday morning breakfast that we would have, my great-grandmother would make for me, and especially with grits, it was the best thing ever. We're from Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina, so I share that love of rice. [laughs]

What floods back for me that memory is me sitting in our dining room on a Sunday before church, so she made it very early, and gobbling it up and just think about how good it is because it's usually very crispy, and I like the crispiness of the salmon cakes. My great-grandmother died when I was 11, no, no, 15. She was particular about not sharing the recipe with me because she was a cook and she wanted me to get an education.

She did not want me to cook in someone else's kitchen for a living. It's like a double-edged sword for me because I don't have her recipe so I just have to remember enough to make it. Her pantry was very slim. Some things are hard to figure out what she made, and other things I think I come very close or I actually surpass her. She didn't always use green peppers. Green peppers was my addition. It was onions, salt, and pepper, a little flour, egg.

She'd put it together and throw it in the skillet. The grits would already be in-- I can make grits. Grits are easier. There would be a wonderful breakfast and hot sauce on the side. It's a tradition I'm passing on to my son and my friends who bug me for it. It's just happiness because it's some of my southern lineage that I've brought to the north. It makes me happy because of the memories of the South. It's about family. I always think of a lot of people around the table when I think of salmon croquettes, salmon cakes really, for me.

Brian Lehrer: Hey, my mom made salmon croquettes too, and we didn't live anywhere near the South. Mom, maybe next weekend. You haven't made it in a long time, but that sounds delightful. Listeners, what's your version of salmon croquettes? What's the one food that carries endless memories for you? Maybe it was your favorite food maybe made by your mom as a kid, or dad's Saturday morning special breakfast.

Perhaps it's the show-stopping holiday dish made by your great aunt, the one your family has been approximating ever since she passed away two decades ago. Whatever your family recipe is, especially for holiday foods, we want to hear it. Call or text us at 212-433-WNYC for the last 10 minutes of the show today. 212-433-9692. Joining us to talk about the Food Memoirs Project, as well as an upcoming event in The Greene Space this Thursday, is George Bodarky, community partnerships and training editor here at WNYC. Hey, George, thanks for coming on.

George Bodarky: Hey, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: The series is called Food Memoirs. What is it about the food we eat that tells the story about who we are and who we've been?

George Bodarky: Well, family recipes carry a lot of weight. They not only bring us together, but also serve as powerful reminders of our roots. All of the chefs I talked with for this series expressed how important it was for them to preserve their culture through food. Those narratives are reflected in the ingredients, and the traditions behind the dishes, and of course, these recipes tell a story about family relationships.

They represent a way of life passed down from generation to generation and can truly reflect the values, the beliefs, the history of various communities. Another recipe that we shared in this series was for soup joumou, which is Haitian pumpkin soup, and that tells the story of Haitian independence from France. A lot of newcomers who come to New York for them, cooking traditional food is a way of connecting with home and dealing with feeling homesick sometimes.

Brian Lehrer: All right, listeners, you have just a few minutes here. I think you get the idea now. Tell us about a food memoir, a food memory from your child that reflects something about your culture. Let's get some different ones on the table here, so to speak. 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. Call, you could text it to that number as well, and I'll just shout it out, 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. Call or text. You want to go right to what you're going to be doing in The Greene Space on this later this week so people know?

George Bodarky: Yes, for sure. I'm really excited about this event on Thursday night at six o'clock in The Greene Space. My mouth's simply watering right now just thinking about this event, Brian. It's going to feature five food vendors, each with their own stories about preserving and sharing cherished recipes and their culture. Of course, they'll also be serving up food to taste, so you'll be able to nibble on bites that reflect the great diversity of New York City including Iranian-inspired baked goods, we're going to have vendors who reflect Indonesian and Sudanese culture.

The Queens Memory Project will also be on hand, and we're encouraging folks who attend to bring photos of family cookouts, of holiday feasts, or maybe a handwritten recipe card to have scanned for possible inclusion in a WNYC community cookbook or a future Queens Memory cookbook. Anyone who shares a recipe will receive a free spice courtesy of Burlap & Barrel.

There will also be storytelling about family recipes and a pretty insightful conversation on food entrepreneurship, specifically about the impact of immigrants on the food scene here in New York City. For more information, you can find it at wnyc.org/thegreenespace, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Tom in Yonkers has a Christmassy food memory, I think. Tom, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Tom: Hi, Brian. It's such a treat to be on. Yes, I call in with my mom's potica recipe. It's P-O-T-I-C-A, the Slovenian nut roll. She'd make the dough in the morning. It stretches out over an entire large kitchen table. We had to get the peels from the back and put it in the middle. We'd make this thing over the whole day, roll it up, bake it, and just a real treat.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Have you ever heard of that one, George?

George Bodarky: I have not.

Brian Lehrer: Slovenian nut roll?

George Bodarky: Actually, no, we did have a nut roll recipe, not that particular type, but yes, a nut roll recipe is in our series, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Now, you've been doing this throughout different neighborhoods, mostly in Queens, solely in Queens. What's your geography on that?

George Bodarky: No, we move about the city, no doubt. We've been to various neighborhoods. Several of the interviews we've done have been in Queens. As you can imagine, the stories and recipes are literally all over the map in Queens, from Afghanistan to India to Argentina to Russia. Really, the interesting thing there too is depending on someone's culture, the background is different but the food is the same like dumplings. Dumplings, there are plenty of different types of dumplings or empanadas, but no, we head about and hit up all neighborhoods.

Brian Lehrer: Nikki in Brooklyn Heights, you're on WNYC. Hi, Nikki.

Nikki: Hi. Thanks for letting me talk. I'm yearning for some help in making a recipe my mother always made but she never wrote it down. It's called p'tcha. It's an aspic but it can also be served hot. It's an aspic made with calves' feet or sometimes with chicken feet. Does anybody remember how to make it?

Brian Lehrer: Calves' feet. Wow. You ever hear that one?

George Bodarky: No, not me. This is a new one for me.

Brian Lehrer: All right, listeners, if you know how to make p'tcha with calve's feet or chicken's feet, text it in the next couple of minutes and I'll say it on the air for Nikki in Brooklyn and anybody else who wants to go down that road. How about Marie in Manhattan? You're on WNYC. Hi, Marie.

Marie: Hi. I wanted to say that my daughter and I are the second and third generation of making a cookie that my grandmother made called [unintelligible 00:09:08] We're about to pass the technique on to my two grandsons. It's a twisted firm cookie, it can be either sweet or savory, and we used to make them hundreds at a time. Only during the Christmas season, we made the sweet version. We brushed it either with egg white or we topped it with powdered sugar, and we just feasted for several months after Christmas because we made so many.

Brian Lehrer: Fun. Thank you very much, Marie. Let's go on to Maria in Sunset Park. You're at WNYC. Hi, Maria.

Maria: Hi, good morning. This is a great segment, brought back some very good memories. Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: Good. What food would you want to recall? Yes.

Maria: Food always, yes. I want to share a dish that my memory says that the first time I tasted it, I was maybe four, five years old in Cuba made by my maternal grandmother when we went to visit. Every other year, we would travel across the island to visit her for Christmas and New Year's. It is made with okra, it's an okra stew. In Cuba, particularly in the eastern part of Cuba, we use the African word for okra, which is Quimbombo from Western Africa.

This stew, as food will do, evolved a little bit over the years, so I have researched. The comfort stew that [inaudible 00:10:45] and you prepare it with the Cuban version of Caribbean sofrito, that's starter of the veggies. Then you also add ham hock to it. As that is cooking, you boil or steam semi-sweet plantains, not the real sweet, sweet delicious ones that are like candy or the green ones, somewhere half in between that they've already begun to be a little sweet, and you cook, and you mash them, and then you throw in little bits of chicharrón.

By the way, I have to say that the young woman who answered the phone was able to fill in the little words in Spanish [unintelligible 00:11:38] English since we started. She was marvelous. I don't know who she is, but kudos--

Brian Lehrer: That's our producer, Esperanza, who's absolutely fabulous. Maria, thank you for all that. Yum with the ham hocks and the okra and the plantains, just awesome. We got one more in here. Vincent in Yonkers, you're on WNYC. Hi, Vincent.

Vincent: Hi. I wanted to give a shoutout to my mother's eggplant parmesan. What was special about it, is that my mother was Jewish. I'm from a mixed marriage. My father was from a southern Italian family, and my mother determined to be the best Italian cook, and I think her sister-in-laws probably would have agreed. I will give that shout out.

Brian Lehrer: Did she add any Jewish touch to the usually Italian associated dish of eggplant parmesan?

Vincent: Well, she doesn't, but when I buy a commercial eggplant parmesan, I put it over egg noodles.

Brian Lehrer: Interesting. Very good. Vincent, thank you very much. All right, let's wrap up with George Bodarky, our community partnerships leader who's been going around the city collecting food memoirs, and there's going to be a related event in The Greene Space this Thursday at six o'clock down at the WNYC complex at 160 Varick street, a little below Houston there. Just tell people one more time, George, what they can expect. It sounds like they should bring their appetites.

George Bodarky: Yes, definitely bring your appetites. We will have food vendors there so you can taste a variety of different flavors that reflect the great diversity of New York City. Bring a recipe, have that scanned in for possible use in an upcoming WNYC community cookbook or a future Queens Memory cookbook, and really dig in for some great conversation about the amazing role on the contributions of immigrant entrepreneurs in New York City. We'll be diving into the challenges and opportunities that exist here in the city. Lots coming up. Again, you can find more information at wnyc.org/thegreenespace.

Brian Lehrer: You know you're holding this at dinner time at your own risk. Let's see if you get overwhelmed with hungry WNYC listeners at six o'clock in The Greene Space on Thursday. George Bodarky, thanks a lot.

George Bodarky: Thank you, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: That's The Brian Lehrer Show for today, produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond and Esperanza Rosenbaum, plus Zach Gottehrer-Cohen who produces our Daily Politics podcast. Megan Ryan is the head of live radio. We had Shayna Sengstock at the audio controls today, and Bill O'Neill as well for the last few minutes. Stay tuned for All Of It.

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