Never Say Never

I was chatting with my son about our days living in the Catskills in New York, and what some of his classmates were up to. We had moved there shortly after 9/11, along with everyone else who thought it was a good idea to get away from living near New York City.

Where we moved to was inhabited by two main groups of people: the “locals” who had lived there for generations, and the “flatlanders”, people who owned vacation houses and came up on the weekends. And then there was a smaller population of people who were “transplants”, people who moved there but had no roots or family. That was us.

Long story short, the living was not easy for transplant families. The was a lot of resentment and animosity from the local population. And the weekend tribe did treat many of the residents with disdain and looked down on them. We just didn’t fit in.

Many of the “transplant” students in my son’s class couldn’t wait to get out of the Catskills. They had not grown up there, and many had traveled and had life experiences that were not available to them in this small rural town. They went off to college and moved to metropolitan areas. We relocated as well to the Philadelphia area in Pennsylvania.

So imagine my surprise when my son told me that one of his classmates, Alexis deBoschnek, had returned to the Catskills. Alexis was a highly motivated young lady, and completed high school in three years just so that she could leave the area. She had gone to college in New York, and had moved to Los Angeles and was in charge of the test kitchen for BuzzFeed. So what was someone who had lived in the two biggest cities, was creating content for BuzzFeed and had worked with Marcus Samuelsson doing back in the rural hills of the Catskills? I had to find out.

I caught up with Alexis last month to see what she was working on and what had brought her back. A little more background:

Alexis graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, but rapidly discovered that the fashion world was not as expected and the “glamour of the fashion industry was shattered”. Interested in cooking, she went on to receive a certificate in Culinary Techniques from the International Culinary Center. But she found that she didn’t want to be in the restaurant industry. Then she discovered Ruth Reichel, who had gone from working in restaurants to becoming the editor for Gourmet Magazine until it shuttered in 2009. Alexis found her niche in the world of food writing. She moved to LA and became one of the culinary influencers of Tasty, creating videos of recipes and techniques like the perfect pancake or roasted chicken. She also had her own video series, “Chef Out of Water” where she has to create a three course meal using only a coffee maker or an iron. You can watch the coffee maker video here. Alexis has great screen presence, and is delightfully funny in this series. Alexis says she is really “quite shy” but her videos say otherwise!

Enter the pandemic. With changes in her employment, Alexis decided to head back to the Catskills for six months. Her mother still lives there, and she felt it made sense to go ride out the pandemic with her. But still thinking of it as a temporary move. Reminder, this area is remote. The closest Target is ninety minutes away… not lying. So moving from LA is beyond a big adjustment. It is culture shock. She was concerned about moving back to a place where she had very little in common with the people who lived there, flashbacks of high school and her escape. Alexis was now doing freelance work and creating recipes. Her recipes have been featured in Food52, The Kitchn, BuzzFeed’s Tasty, Chowhound, and Tasting Table. Her mother has a beautiful home with amazing gardens, and Alexis found a great sense of place and balance, which allowed her to concentrate on her creative side. The area has changed, with a larger and more diverse population now living there. Since the world has finally embraced remote work, it is now possible to live in a place like the Catskills and have your career.

Six months became several years. It’s now 2022 and Alexis is still in the Catskills. She has found her creative groove in the mountains. When I asked her what was a source of inspiration, she said ” Most definitely, my Mom’s gardens.” Alexis’ mother is a landscape designer, so she is surrounded by beauty and bounty.

When I asked her about her perspective on food, she said” It is so important to use all of the ingredients so that there is no waste.” In her experiences in the food industry, she was appalled at the amount of food waste. This became her inspiration to write her first cookbook, “To the Last Bite“. Growing up with her Mom’s garden, Alexis learned how to make every ingredient last. The cookbook focuses on using the entire ingredients to cut down on food waste, save money and have an impact on climate change. Go to her website to learn more about Alexis and her life in the Catskills and to order her cook book.

I was delighted to hear Alexis’ story, and how her path has lead her full circle to a place she never expected to live in ever again.

You just don’t know where life will take you, so Never Say Never.

My Dia de los Muertos party- Celebrating Life

I have always been fascinated by the tradition of Dia de los Muertos-the Day of the Dead celebration.  Held on November 1 & 2, this festival is held primarily in Mexico. It is a time to remember and celebrate your ancestors that have passed. October 31 to November 2 are sacred days in a number of religious and pagan traditions. It is believed that the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead are the thinnest on these days, enabling the spirits of the deceased to communicate with the living. November 1 is known as the Day of the Innocents, and celebrates children that have passed. November 2 is All Souls Day, when all of the adults that have passed can reach back to their living family members. Graves are cleaned and decorated with candles, brilliant orange marigolds and offerings of favorite foods and drinks are left on the graves.  Alters known as “ofrendas” are also built in homes, and photos of family members are placed on the alters.

Skulls are a major icon of Dia de los Muertos. Participants wear elaborate skull make-up and costumes, and skulls made of sugar are part of the offerings. They are highly decorated and extremely beautiful. I have always been captivated by them.

So when November 2 was on a Saturday this year, I decided to hold my own celebration.  Guests were instructed to bring a photo of their loved ones and to make a dish that was their favorite. I asked everyone to bring their recipes, and I would compile the recipes into a cookbook from the party.  I set up an ofrenda for everyone’s photos, and decorated with sugar skulls and paper marigolds.

The ofrenda adorned with the guests’ photos.

Everyone visited while the food was being set out. Then we all gathered around the food, and people were invited to share the story of their loved ones. I started with my family, as I have lost my father, my sister and my mother. November 1 was significant to me, because that is the day my mother died. She passed peacefully in bed, and I am convinced that my father and sister  came to her and took her back with them. She was 93.

Each person then shared their photos and their stories. I expected some tears and some laughs, which there were.

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The telling of the stories

What I didn’t expect was the powerful impact that the TELLING of the stories would have on all of us.

We learned that one friend had lost her father when she was only 7 years old. We learned about a new friend’s roots in the Caribbean.  We learned about people who were integral to their communities, who were artistic, and who were really terrible cooks.  We heard about loss, but we also heard about the love and power of family.

But for me, the most powerful moment was that the TELLING  bound all of us together as another type of family.  The sharing of food and story is a strong and binding ritual.  And a number of guests thanked me for holding the party and allowing them to tell their stories. It was cathartic and uplifting.  In fact, we all got so involved in the stories, that the food started to get cold! (Next year, stories first, then the food goes out.) So it looks like I will be adding this celebration as an annual event.

So much food! 

Our past and our heritage is important. All of our stories need to be shared and remembered. Passing down your history to friends and family is what keeps your stories alive and vital. So next November 1 and 2, think about celebrating your past. Share your food and stories with your friends.

You will be amazed at how alive you will feel.

Blog, Interrupted

What a year.

My poor, poor blog, so neglected.  2018 was not kind to my blog.

My year began with being really, really busy at my job.  Actually, busy is  an understatement. The company I work for is growing at breakneck speed and my job is to oversee the design, construction and move-in into new laboratory and office space. Because this is a young company, they don’t know what they don’t know, so things got very hectic. Honestly, this was the most difficult project in my career. So I spent many, many hours in meetings, talking , redoing stuff, fixing stuff, etc. This went on from February until mid November. Finally, things have slowed down and I have some space in my brain again.

I was also very involved in our local politics. Here in PA, I live in a county that ends up being pivotal to elections. I decided to help make the change I want to see, and ran for a local office, which I won. OK, so I ran unopposed, but hey, I made the commitment and now have to  fulfill local responsibilities for the next 4 years. And I have learned so much about how very critical and important local, county and state elections are. I also volunteered on  a campaign for a candidate who was running for State House of Representatives. Like me, she had had enough, and against all odds ran and won.  She will represent us well in Harrisburg, and that effort was so inspiring and gratifying.

The state of our country and the world has been draining for me this year. With the current insanity in the White House, I have been angry, depressed, frightened, and just plain pissed off. Every day, or multiple times a day, things got worse. Gun violence, children separated from their parents and then dying, lies from the President, a complicit Congress, more lies. Just when I think I have seen the worst, it gets worse. Never have I felt so disenfranchised from my own country.

So when I would try and write a blog post, I struggled. I mean, people are dying, losing their homes to floods or fires. It felt trivial to write about some type of ritual or story and  food.  People are suffering, how can I expect people to want to read about  local ice cream or my latest favorite cookbook author? Writing my blog made me feel like I was being disrespectful to all of the troubles in the world.

It felt insignificant.

So, I didn’t write.   I guess it was a form of writer’s block, but I couldn’t find anything that felt valid or inspiring enough to put out there.

But then I found the fix.

I was listening to a podcast the other day, and they were talking about that annoying topic of New Year’s resolutions. But what one of the guest said was transformative to me.

She said she doesn’t do resolutions; she does intentions.

Think about that for a minute.

A resolution is an act-I’ll go to the gym more, I’ll quit smoking, I’ll spend more time listening to my kids. An intention comes with something you value. It includes what you find ethical or moral. Intentions require more of you. More thought, more purpose, more conversation, more soul searching.

Instead of a making a resolution to write more blog posts, I will have intentions of writing what speaks to me.  I’m going to turn off the judgmental internal critic that held me captive this year.

And I will write. Because I love what I write about. And I hope you will too.

Wishing everyone an inspiring, loving and Happy New Year, filled with all of your intentions for 2019.

Taylor Pork Roll-the Meat, the Legend, the Regional Ritual

Memorial Day weekend was coming up and I was looking for something to do.  On my way to work, I heard about a festival that sounded perfect for my Regional Ritual type of blog post.

The Taylor Pork Roll Festival. For those of you from Jersey and the southern Pennsylvania area, you get it.  For those of you who aren’t from here, let me give you some history.

Taylor Ham, as it was originally called, was made by John Taylor in 1856. He kept the recipe a secret, but was force to change the name to Taylor Pork Roll in 1906, as the product did not meet the definition of ham in the new Pure Food and Drug Act. It was made in a cloth sack for easy transportation, and was rumored to have been a provision for soldiers in the Civil War. Production was set up in Trenton, NJ, where it remains today, made by Taylor Provisions.  It still comes in the sack, but also come pre-sliced and ready to fry or grill. Tradition dictates that you cut a slice in the the edge of the round pieces so that it will stay flat when you cook it. Looks like PacMan…

 

 

 

So what is in it?  The recipe is still secret, but it is similar in consistency to SPAM. A blend of herbs and spices, and ground pork.

Whether you call it Taylor Ham or Taylor Pork Roll depends on where you are from.  Central and northern New Jersey tend to call it Taylor Ham, but South Jersey and the Philadelphia area call it Taylor Pork Roll. You can check out the divide here.

So, off we go to Trenton, NJ.  The Taylor Pork Roll Festival is sponsored by Trenton Social , a bar and restaurant who has been hosting the festival for 5 years. The festival invites local vendors and food trucks to set up and offer their specialties, but they must include pork roll. My first stop was a Bloody Mary, with a tiny pork roll sandwich as a garnish.  Great way to get started!

 

 

Off to what looked to be all thing pork roll,  The Pork Roll Store located in Allentown, NJ. I met Robbie, the self proclaimed “Pork Roll Princess”. Her family has owned their store for 98 years. Robbie is a bubbly ambassador of pork roll, and will gladly tell you all about her family’s business, which she now runs.  They were grilling up Pork Roll kebabs, which consisted of pork roll, pineapple and a cherry.  The combination of the salty pork roll with the caramelized sweetness of the pineapple is quite a taste treat.

 

 

Delorenzo’s The Burg food truck was offering the traditional tomato pie (another food ritual I will save for another blog post) with pork roll included.  If you read the Stephanie Plum book series by Janet Evanovich, you will understand the reference to “The Burg”.  The Burg is the nickname of the Chambersburg section of Trenton. A diverse neighborhood, it was home to Poles, Slovakians, Germans and Irish before becoming predominately Italian.

For the classic pork roll sandwich, it has to be Johnny’s Pork Roll.  Johnny’s has your  pork roll, egg and cheese on a hard roll, but also offers variation on the traditional, like the PBLT-pork roll, bacon, lettuce and tomato; The Western-pork roll, provolone, pepper and egg; and The Reuben-pork roll, kraut, Russian dressing on rye bread. Johnny’s embodies the story and the love of pork roll. Check out the video here.

There was also pork roll versions by the Bacon Broads, and all types of hot sauce to try on your pork roll by Dirty Sexy Sauce.

But you have to have dessert, right? Go for the Pork Roll Ice Cream. Yup. Made by Jake Hunt of Windy Brow Farms, the ice cream had a bourbon-y-caramel-y base with chunks of pork roll in it. Salty and sweet, it was delicious! Don’t knock it until you have tried it.

This had everything a food festival should have. Recipe contests, music, and the crowning of the Pork Roll Queen. What’s a festival without a pageant? Oh and every festival needs a mascot. Not sure what he was called, but Trenton Social is located near the courthouse, so hence the”Meat of Justice”.

So why does pork roll rate a festival? South Jersey and Philly folks are passionate about their food products and sports teams.  We are a scrappy bunch.  We love our pork roll and our Eagles. Any reason for a party. Super Bowl win or Pork Roll Festival, we are there!

The summer is still young, and there will be more food festivals to attend. Check out the link here in the Philly area.

Which food festivals are in your area?  Go check them out, and post about them here! Would love to see what is your favorite.

Sidenote: We had to try the pork roll kebabs ourselves, so here is a picture of our version. We still had the pineapple, but added yellow pepper, and mushrooms. It is brushed with a Mandarin Orange Ginger salad dressing while grilled, which added a sweet and tangy punch to the kebab. Grilled eggplant was the side.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Taking Back Your Roots

I first read about Chef Sean Sherman, know as the “Sioux Chef” on ” The Splendid Table” Facebook page. I was intrigued. Chef Sherman was taking indigenous Native American foods and creating contemporary dishes.  Chef Sherman, an Oglala Dakota, grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He began working in restaurants at a young age, and has worked his way up over 27 years to the owner of “The Sioux Chef“, a catering company in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Chef Sean Sherman (photo credit Heidi Ehalt Photography)

My first impression was that Chef Sherman was  taking the old to make the new, and that was  cool and interesting.  But as I did my research, I discovered that  he was doing something much more important.

He was taking back something that his culture had been robbed of.

When Native Americans were forced onto reservations, they were robbed of their land, their homes, their language and their traditions. And they were also robbed of their traditional foods.  Chef Sherman refers to the foods that are available on the reservations as “oppression foods”. These are your sugar laden, fat laden, processed foods that are predominant in impoverished communities. In another effort to oppress and control, the Native Americans lost their access to the foods of their culture. Generations have now grown up on the reservation with these oppression foods. And access to healthy ingredients is next to impossible. The closest store may be a convenience store or gas station.  A true grocery store may be 60+ miles away. This scenario is referred to as a “food desert“. There is literally  no way to  have access to fresh and healthy food on a regular basis. As a result, Native Americans are among the highest in cases of diabetes. ( Fry bread is NOT a Native American food. This was one of the oppression foods that was created and inserted into the culture.)

Protect What Is Yours

In this country, no other ethnic group  has had their native  foods robbed from them.  All of the immigrants who came to the United States brought all of their native dishes with them. Very often, that was their only link to their home country.  We take for granted the foods of our immigrant heritage.

We all need to take a lesson from Chef Sherman. Keep your family and cultural traditions alive, because it is so much more than your story.  It is your history. And every generation needs to hold that history sacred. You need to guard it and defend it. And fight to keep it if someone tries to take it from you.

 

Amaranth Bite Maple Squash Seed Mix (photo credit Sean Sherman)

Interview

Chef Sherman was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions via email.  The questions and responses are below:

1. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is in such a remote location with little access to contemporary dining experiences. What inspired you from that area to begin your career as a chef?

The short answer is necessity. I started working as soon as I could, I was 13 when I took my first restaurant job in the Black Hills and worked kitchens all through high school and college. After college I moved to Minneapolis and worked my up to an executive chef in just a few years and there began my career. I had a good eye for plates and I knew how to teach my self so spent a ton of time researching other cuisines through books and travel and eventually I saw the lack of any Native restaurants anywhere and that’s where I started my path to understand Native food systems and how to use them as a modern chef.

2. To me, all cooking is part science, part art, and part history. You have done so much extensive research into the ethnobotany and in documenting recipes, it is just fascinating. What was the biggest surprise to you that you discovered in your research? Did you find anything that was totally unexpected, something that made you say,”Wow, who knew?’

My biggest realization was after starting to get an understanding at how much wild food and flavor is around no matter where you are… Being able to go for a hike in the forest, or desert, or ocean side and being able to identify more and more foods and really see the abundance out there… I know it’ll be a lifelong learning process, but that has given me so much joy being able to harvest different foods from different regions and really appreciate the immense diversity out there…

3. I see that you have been working with Native American youths to bring your cuisine to them. This is such important work, as many of the entire country’s youths have very unhealthy diets, and only eat processed food. As you work with these young people, what has been most impactful to them?

Helping kids to really get an understanding of what foods are truly traditional to their heritage and culture and show them that these foods are still around and how healthy they can be… Trying to get them to understand how harmful processed foods can be is important, but more importantly its just getting them to know the old foods that have been around for so long…

4. Do they see the benefit of eating your cuisine?

They do, but it’s hard for them to visualize it being a part of their daily life when the only grocery store in town is a gas station full of processed foods packed with sodium and sugar. One of our big missions with starting native food businesses is to tackle the food accessibility dilemma and how we can get healthy indigenous foods to the areas that need them the most…

5. Are they interested in the history and how it is a part of their culture?

Definitely… food is such a big part of cultural identity… no matter what descendancy you come from, people think back to the foods of their grandparents and great grandparents and what they were eating and how they were preparing it. For many native communities, traditional foods were intentionally and forcibly removed as part of assimilation efforts and to be able to help bring back traditional foods and knowledge is unquantifiable.

6. What is your biggest hope for people trying your cuisine? What do you want them to take away from their experience?

There has been a lot of education needed with helping to reintroduce native cuisines to both native and non native communities, and I really hope people can walk away from one our events and meals with sense of how important the efforts are to bring a stronger sense of true indigenous cuisine back and the positive health impact that it brings.

6. I am sure you are constantly experimenting with and creating new dishes. How do you master being creative while remaining authentic? How do you balance the two?

Its been a lot of fun to keep myself in a box and learn how to cook with using only native ingredients and implementing as many native cooking techniques as possible to keep the food as authentic feeling as possible. We have designed a basic model of understanding indigenous foods systems that can be used anywhere and it helps us with understanding other regions as we travel around the country and explore other cultures and flavors…

6. Last question, and this is the one that I ask everyone that I interview–At the end of a long day, you have worked either cooking, doing marketing, for your business, done interviews, etc. What is your one favorite food ritual at the end of a busy day?

Its obviously nice and necessary to unwind after the long days… I love just having some popcorn with my family and watching whatever random Netflix feels right .

Contact Information

You can contact Chef Sean Sherman at his website, The Sioux Chef, and follow them on Facebook and Twitter. And on their home page, check out the video from the show”The Movement” by Mic.com

Feed Your Roots

I am a big fan of genealogy, because I love peoples’ stories. I was recently watching an episode of “Finding Your Roots” on PBS. Lidia Bastianich, Emmy award winning TV show host, author of numerous cookbooks and accomplished restaurateur ,was one of the people featured on the show. This episode “The Long Way Home” was focused on how families kept their traditions despite challenges and adversities.

Lidia Bastianich (photo courtesy of Diana DeLucia)

Lidia’s story stood out to me because of her early life experiences. Lidia lived in a region of Italy called “Istria,” in the town of Pula .It is a peninsula on the Adriatic Sea, and is now shared by three countries: Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia. During WWII,  the Istrian Peninsula  was taken from Italy by Communist Yugoslavia.  Lidia’s family went from being Italian, to being forbidden to speak Italian.  They were not permitted to go to church and were forced to change their name from Matticchio to Motika. So in terms of identity, I was especially intrigued with which culture she would identify with, and how  did food and ritual shape her through such a tumultuous time.

So I sent her an email. Her very helpful PR team set up a phone interview for the two of us.

We first talked about her identity, about how she defines herself.  She said that there was such a murkiness with the country’s borders. There were so many influences. Her grandparents were considered Austrian/Hungarian, her parents Italian, and Lidia considered Yugoslavian. But she defines her identity as to how she speaks with her family, which is in Italian. She says that you define yourself by “what you feel in your heart.”

During the Yugoslavian occupation (Lidia was 4 or 5 years old) she spent much of her time at her grandmother’s home. Food was very hard to come by at that time, and her grandmother was very self-sufficient.  They had extensive vegetable gardens, pressed their own olive oil, had fig trees and raised their own meat and eggs. Lidia recalled digging potatoes with her grandmother. Her grandmother would pull up the large potatoes, and Lidia would dig through the earth and find the smaller potatoes.

Grandmother Rosa (photo courtesy of Lidia Bastianich)

What she  distinctly remembers is that all of the food was warm. The potatoes were warm from the sun warmed earth, fresh eggs were warm from just being laid by the hens, the olive oil was warm and you dipped fresh warm bread into it.  At an early age, Lidia experienced the crucial connection of the earth to our food. These memories were pivotal  in her experience of food and connections.

As the war progressed, Lidia’s family made the decision to leave their town of Pula. Her mother, brother and she made their way to the town of Trieste, in Italy. Ten days later, her father managed to escape and joined the family. But the family then had to migrate to a political refugee camp, the Risera di San Sabba. They were in that camp for two years before being permitted to leave. During those two years, food was scarce, and there certainly was nothing available to them that was anything like the food they had at her grandmother’s home.  How difficult it must have been, to go from a place of  love and family and warm, sun-kissed food, to scraps in a refugee camp.

In 1958 Lidia’s family immigrated to the United States. They settled in Queens, NY and Lidia began working in a pizzeria. She met her husband at her sweet sixteen party. The couple’s  food empire began in 1971,when they opened their first restaurant in Forest Hills, Queens. Lidia felt that coming to the United States had given her a huge opportunity. She states “And I am the perfect example that if you give somebody a chance, especially here in the United States, one can find the way.”

For Lidia, her roots are through food. She says that cooking with her grandmother was  a connection to her.  She calls it “food nostalgia.” She believes that “food becomes a messenger, it connects you to the dirt, and this is something we all need to cherish and protect.”

I asked her  why  she thought people are so interested in shows like “Finding Your Roots,” and did she think that people are more isolated today and have lost  much of their own food rituals?

She believes that people understand that their OWN foods are an imprint of themselves; the aromas, textures, the flavors.  She feels that people are longing for this connection. “We need to connect to and have our own roots. Food gives you strength, and is a magnet.  We are social animals, and food is what brings us together.”

Lidia values the importance of sharing meals at the table.”Because we all need to eat to survive, we give ourselves up to food-food takes precedence, and at the table, we become vulnerable. True connections are made face to face. Look at the business lunch, the family dinner, the anniversary celebration, the date with your sweetheart.  All of the connections are based around food. This is the way we nourish both our bodies and our spirits.”

I asked her what her favorite ritual with her family is.  That was easy for her.  She makes the foods that her relatives who have passed away loved to eat.  She says by having those dishes at her Christmas Dinner, it honors her family members who are no longer there. When she makes her father’s favorite bacala dish, it is like he is right there with her.  She can feel her grandmother’s presence when she makes Capon Soup. She shared a hilarious memory of seeing her grandmother running all over chasing the cockerel around the courtyard, trying to catch him for the soup pot.

My question that I ask everyone is:  at the end of a busy day, what ritual do you have that brings your day to a close?  Lidia loves a good prosciutto (her Dad used to make it, and would hold it like a violin and used a small sickle-like knife to cut it), a good crusty bread and some Grana Padano cheese, some figs and  a good glass of wine.  She likes all of her food at room temperature, a hearkening back to those beautiful warm foods at her grandmother’s table.

What I took from my time with Lidia is how  very precious our connections are. Through adversity, maybe all we have left are our connections. In these times, it is so, so important to remember that we are not just individuals, but part of a network of connections, reaching to our past, and guiding us to our future. Lidia lost the home she loved at a young age, but  she never lost her foundation. She kept it alive, and shares all she knows and loves today through her business. Her kindness of spirit and her generosity is a testimony  of how we all need to live.  We all need and want, I believe, to be kind, welcoming and to break bread with each other.

I worry, in this current  environment of divisiveness and  bigotry, that we are losing our connections to each other as human beings. We have forgotten our roots. So, work hard at keeping your connections. Have dinner with your family. Throw a party for your friends, for no other reason than to celebrate each other. Honor your deceased loved ones with a dish that they loved at your next holiday. Give to a food bank.

It’s not enough to find your roots. You have to feed your roots as well.