Nourishing Nostalgia

There’s a quote in this issue’s cover story, “The Universal Language of Food,” that made me pause. Chef Yia Vang shares: “I grew up cooking for my family. Food drew people together — this is something I noticed at a very young age.”

Although I didn’t do much cooking when I was growing up, I deeply relate to Vang’s words. Food has always connected people, a truth I’ve experienced in my own life. Editing Vang’s story, I couldn’t help but recall my own childhood and the countless family gatherings centered on food.

I was transported back to weekly Sunday suppers at my grandparents’ home. Those evenings were filled with conversation and laughter as my grandparents, parents, and aunts and uncles crammed around the kitchen table; the kids chattered at our own table set up in the adjacent laundry room.

I remembered holiday gatherings around the formal dining-room table, festively set for the meal, where we passed around traditional seasonal dishes: turkey and stuffing on Thanksgiving, oyster stew on Christmas Eve, ham and mashed potatoes on Easter. And always, without fail, my Grandma Rosie made her knot rolls — these pillowy treats topped with homemade frosting were hands-down the family favorite.

After my grandma passed away, our family gatherings changed, yet the knot rolls endured, lovingly provided by my Aunt Cindy at various occasions each year. About a decade ago, she brought us all together for a baking lesson to ensure each of us knew how to make them on our own. She walked us through prepping the yeast, kneading the dough, and tying the perfect knots “so they don’t end up with tails.”

Food is more than sustenance: It’s a language of connection, a celebration of life, and a bridge between the past and present.

Like Vang is for the Hmong cuisine he loves, so is Aunt Cindy a steward for many of our family’s food traditions. Today, a few of us carry those on in our own homes, weaving them into our food stories and passing them down to the next generation. I now make knot rolls every December.

As a health and wellness magazine, Experience Life regularly explores how our lifestyle choices influence every aspect of well-being — physical, psychological, emotional, social, and communal. When it comes to food, much of our focus is on nutrition and the physiological effects of what we eat. This issue delves into that (see “The Truth About Ultraprocessed Foods,” and “How to Fuel For Your Next Big Race.”)

But just as important are the emotional and social connections that food creates. Meals provide more than nourishment — they bring people together, provide pleasure, and create lasting memories. They can also reveal complex relationships with what we consume, as we cover in “On Orthorexia: When Healthy Eating Becomes an Obsession” and “What Your Food Cravings Are Trying to Tell You.”

Food is more than sustenance: It’s a language of connection, a celebration of life, and a bridge between the past and present. With this, our seventh annual Food Issue, we hope you’re inspired to reflect on your own food traditions and relationships. We hope it gives you a few moments to reflect — and perhaps even sparks some new traditions of your own.