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Food Migrations

Marie Baca Poem

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History through Recipes Books add value to your life. Usually, people think about getting knowledge from books, but Marie Baca, a Czech-American living in Texas, saw books as a source of support for building a new institution for elderly community members. Marie Baca gathered recipes from residents in the El Campo, Texas town and surrounding regions and compiled this information in a book dedicated to the creation of the Hillje Old Folks Home, also called the Czech Catholic Home for the Aged. Her compilation of Czech-American recipes helps us see how food changes when people migrate.

The name of the institution and the Slavic last names listed underneath each recipe show us how Czech-Americans adapted traditional recipes to life in America in the twentieth century. The book, compiled in 1957, is called a memorial book but includes a variety of information including recipes, anniversary announcements, ads for local stores, and obituaries. The book, much like a newspaper, shows the history, culture, and concerns of the community members. Marie Baca’s contribution pulled value from the very community members that its purpose- the Home for the Aged- intended to serve.

This memorial and recipe book for the center in Hillje was sponsored by local businesses and various national Czech organizations. The first half of the book is comprised of ads for local butcher shops mixed in with memorials and anniversary announcements. Most of the black-and-white photos show families with Slavic last names. The second half of the book is a compilation of recipes and cooking advice from local members of the community and Czechs from anywhere between Houston and San Antonio. The recipes highlight the transition from cooking in then-Czechoslovakia to cooking in Texas. For example, the recipes have already been translated from the metric system of using grams to measure ingredients to the American imperial system of cups and tablespoons.

In addition to the logistical changes, some traditional Czechoslovak recipes now have American, especially Texan variations- a recipe for Texas Hash is pictured above. There is even a visible mix of Czech and Hispanic cuisines. One recipe for Tamale Pie uses a combination of cornmeal and Crisco to create the tamale dough. While cornmeal and masa harina (the corn base for regular tamales) have the same origins, cornmeal as an ingredient in this recipe makes sense because it is much easier to produce. For more information on cornmeal and other corn products, check out the Epicurious food blog.

Directly beneath the recipe for Tamale Pie is a process for making head sausage. What is head sausage? Well, it is simply a pig’s head and other organ meats mixed with onions and other spices. The resulting mixture can be used much like ground sausage or beef in other recipes. The juxtaposition of a traditional Czech sausage recipe with a Hispanic-influenced recipe is rather jarring but makes sense in the context of Texas. However, other recipes– such as Mayonnaise Cake – remain uniquely Czech.

One of the most well-known aspects of Czech culinary culture is the kolache (koláč). Kolaches are traditionally round, sweet pastries that have a fruit or nut-based filling exposed in the center of the dough. As seen in these recipes, not only do Czechs prepare the traditional dessert differently but the fillings vary greatly. The most common fillings in the Czech Republic are apricot and poppy seed, but here we see pineapple and cream cheese fillings. A comparable Czech filling would be tvaroh, or farmers cheese, which is not readily available in the United States. A particularly Slavic filling, cabbage, is included.

Cabbage and pineapple are reoccurring ingredients throughout the cookbook. The picture below shows a recipe for Cabbage and Pineapple Salad that also includes marshmallows and French dressing. These “salads” are quite common in American-Slavic cultures. My own Polish-American family would create these types of salads, usually with marshmallows and canned fruit, strikingly similar to the Fruit Cocktail Salad recipe on the same page. It is no wonder why I gain weight anytime I visit my family in Minnesota (the Southeast corner has a large Polish population) or travel abroad to the Czech Republic.

Texas Czechs adapted to American culture after the first waves of immigration which started in the 1850s. Through this memorial and recipe book, we see how their cooking traditions adopted ingredients found at their local grocery stores and how Texan and Hispanic cultures influenced their own traditions. While the cultural identity of many Texas Czechs is preserved by organizations and community events, these recipes show a melting pot of food traditions.