The Smell of Home: Refogado and Culinary Identity in Portuguese-American Culinary Literature

Abstract

This article examines the ways in which the cuisine of the Portuguese diaspora in the USA comes to represent the ethnic heritage of those who produce it, both as the food that holds connotations of home, and the food that allows them to perform their identity as Portuguese-Americans. The article focuses mainly on the work of two cookbook authors: Maria Lawton and David Leite. It analyses how specific culinary techniques, such as those used to make the onion, oil and garlic base for many dishes, which is known in Portuguese as the refogado, may reveal tensions between cultural identities, practices and values. It explores how the materiality of food and specific dishes are used by cooks to negotiate memory, emotions and cultural identity.

Opsomming

 Hierdie artikel bestudeer die maniere waarop die kookkuns deur kokke uit die Portugese diaspora in die VSA hul etniese erfenis verteenwoordig. Dit geld sowel die kos wat konnotasies met die huis het as die kos wat hulle in staat stel om hul identiteit as Portugees-Amerikaners uit te leef. Dit fokus hoofsaaklik op die werk van twee kookboekskrywers: Maria Lawton en David Leite. Die artikel ontleed hoe spesifieke kulinêre tegnieke, soos dié wat gebruik word om refogado te berei, wat as die basis dien vir baie Portugese disse en bestaan uit uie, olie en knoffel, spanning tussen kulturele identiteite, praktyke en waardes kan ontbloot. Dit verken hoe die essensie van kos en spesifieke disse deur kokke gebruik word om ’n oorgang na geheue, emosies en kulturele identiteit te bewerkstellig.