When Leah and I were freshman in college I took her to meet my grandparents and see their farm in southeast Ohio. I don’t believe that at the time Leah and I knew that we would one day be married, but my grandma apparently did. I remember that Grandma invited Leah into the kitchen where a lesson was conducted on how Grandma made angel food cake. Viewing that scene from another room, I knew that in my world of small-town Ohio -- where family ties are the ties that bind -- my future was obvious: I was as good as engaged.
This past weekend our friends in the Seattle-area Tibetan community invited Leah and me to join with them as they made pastries and decorations for their upcoming celebration of Losar, Tibetan New Year. We made a dumpling-type dish called momos, and the traditional Tibetan Losar cookie, khapsey.
And I was struck by something that I believe we all need to keep in mind: That from family to family and culture to culture, we human beings who share this planet might have differences, but we have many, many similarities...and one of our most wonderful shared human customs is the use of food to connect our generations.
Leah and I watched our adult Tibetan friends teach their children the ways of their ancient culture. And we came away understanding that, geography aside, Ohio and Tibet are not so very far apart.
