Kathy-Ann Hart
Born in San Fernando, Trinidad, I immigrated to Orlando, Florida when I was 15 years old. I now live in Somerville, Massachusetts (named the All-America City in 2009, see: http://www.somervillema.gov/NewsDetail.cfm?instance_id=1473) with my sometimes lovely, can-be-challenging daughter and a man whose name is the same as an herb.
A random sampling of Trinidadians would yield a handsome ad for the United Colors of Benetton, people of West African, Chinese, Middle Eastern, native (Amerindian) and East Indian, and European ancestry. My ancestors hail from in at least four continents.
Because of my own personal history, I am interested in questioning the meaning of culture as well as current ways in which we understand identity constructs. Through cooking (and eating, which I love) and writing (which I sometimes hate) I hope to examine how we preserve meaning in our individual and collective past(s) in times of increasing globalization and change.
With this blog I intend to share the dishes my deceased maternal grandmother (“Mother”) may have made. More than that, I hope to honor Mother through exploring our (Mother’s and mine) collective and individual cultures and identities, inviting readers to reflect on the posts, considering their own culture and identity experiences, as well as, of course to try out the recipes.
