It Turns Out I Like Pig Food

A few evenings ago I learned that I like pig food. You see, I happened to stumble upon John Maggio’s wonderful documentary called “Italian Americans” which aired on our local PBS station. One of the topics that the film covered is the reaction of immigrants from southern Italy to the well meaning suggestion for them to replace their typical breakfast with some healthy oatmeal. The Italians bristled at such a recommendation. It was insulting to ask them to eat what they considered to be pig food, as oats were what they fed their pigs back in the old country.

Fortunately, oatmeal is seen in a much better light by Italian Americans in the 21^st century.

This film made me realize that long held traditions can be adjusted without losing ties to your cultural and family heritage. I’d be surprised if oatmeal eating Italian Americans consider themselves to have lost part of their cultural identity. Traditions change, some more slowly than others.

Change is Hard

We all know that change can be difficult, but it is often for the better. Convincing Italian Americans of this can be a challenge – especially if the change involves giving up some of their traditional foods. Accepting oatmeal as “people food” may have been difficult for my grandparents, but I imagine it would have been easier for them to accept oatmeal, than to accept the idea of no longer eating cheese or using olive oil. Over the past few years, I’ve had many opportunities to encourage Italian Americans to give up olive oil. They usually react as if I had asked them to give up a lung. The good news is that some have successfully given it up as they’ve adopted a WFPB diet. Much to their surprise, they don’t miss it at all. It’s a small price to pay on their journey to better health. They also discover that they can still enjoy many traditional foods. They just need to make some adjustments to recipes.

I come from a large Italian family and have siblings who have also started a whole food plant based (WFPB) journey. A big concern for them was getting over the perception that they’d have to discard all of their cherished traditional foods. Luckily, they know how to cook and they’ve begun to adjust recipes of meals we ate during childhood that were provided with love from our parents and grandparents.   I’ve been fortunate enough to test a lot of these dishes and almost all of them have been delicious. The closeness to the original meals have varied from:

• “Delicious! Can’t tell the difference.” to
• “It’s not quite the same, but it’s still delicious.” to
• “Back to the drawing board.”

A pleasant bonus of preparing these WFPB versions, are the fond childhood memories they bring back – memories of great times spent with parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Instead of looking at altering the recipes as an act of sacrilege to tradition, I see it as a way to both improve our health while we honor our family.

New Traditions

Now it’s important for me to share that some traditional foods that my grandparents ate will NEVER have a corresponding WFPB version. A plant based version of pickled pig’s feet ain’t happening. But I’m confident that enough of these new versions will allow traditional meals to be enjoyed without the negative health impacts that are often caused by ingredients in the old versions. And these new traditional meals can be passed down to children and grandchildren. So not only do they receive the gift of tradition, they are also given a better chance to live long lives free of chronic disease.

That’s a pretty nice gift if you ask me. Maybe this tradition can include a new family saying – “Eating pig food is better than eating the pig”.

A “Thumbs Up” for the Italian Americans Documentary

In addition to informing me of my fondness for porcine grub, this film revealed how little I knew about some of the grueling hardships Italian Americans had to endure as they assimilated into American culture. I was a little embarrassed that I had never heard of people like Amadeo Giannini, Joseph Petrosino, Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Nicola Sacco and other important Italian American figures. It’s amazing how some important people and events in American history are easily forgotten. Suffice it to say, I give this documentary a Plantastic Life Seal of Approval. I’m confident that most Americans will learn something new. Check your local PBS station for airing dates and times.