I grew up in the diaspora, born after my parents migrated from Puerto Rico to the U.S. in search of better opportunities. And like so many Puerto Rican families away from the island, food became one of the ways we kept our culture close. My mom’s homemade sofrito was a staple in almost every dish. She made her everyday version with what she could find: onion, peppers, garlic, cilantro, culantro/recao. Most of the time, if not always, ají dulce wasn’t part of her recipe.

I only came to understand through my visits to Puerto Rico that this particular ingredient was almost always included. In my grandmother’s version. In my aunt’s version. Yet my mom, perhaps due to circumstances, perhaps due to unconscious habit, never mentioned it and never included it.

I reflect on this sometimes. How a seemingly “silly” ingredient could disappear. Her culture dissipating before her eyes, without perhaps her full awareness. As it happens, so often, when you migrate to a new country and are forced to adapt to what’s available.
I’m sharing my mom’s version as it was. Everyday. In every dish.

A reminder that Puerto Rican sofrito is not defined by one recipe card. It is defined by the kitchens that keep making it. ...

Frozen Puerto Rican foods are often framed as convenience and for many families, they are.

This is not about shaming anyone for buying pasteles, alcapurrias, sorullitos, or empanadillas frozen. People are tired, and time is limited. Sometimes the frozen version is what keeps the taste close. I get it, but the other side to this is that traditional food knowledge is not only the recipe. It is the representation of our culture. The practice of keeping it alive. If that gets removed, the food may still exist, but the tradition is replaced.

An increasingly industrialized food system does not just feed us differently. It reshapes how culture gets passed on from generation to generation.

When our food becomes products built for scale and profit versus for the people and their heritage, we have to ask who benefits and why. It’s the hardest realization to see it happen before our eyes.

Sources / further reading:

Traditional Food Knowledge: Renewing Culture and Restoring Health, Jennifer C. Kwik

Time Spent on Home Food Preparation and Indicators of Healthy Eating, Monsivais et al.

Puerto Rican Women’s Perspectives on Food, Identity, and U.S. Colonialism, María E. Rodríguez ...