Dig In to the Traditions Behind Two Holiday Dishes That Make the Season Even More Delicious

Two culinary traditions from two island nations reveal what glues communities and households collectively throughout time

Ari Daniel

– Host, “There’s Extra to That”

December 18, 2025 7:00 a.m.

Cherished recipes are sometimes handed down from technology to technology, however how a lot do we all know concerning the tales that formed these meals? Whether or not a tasty cookie, a flavorful facet, a resplendent showstopping entree, these dishes have a powerful affiliation with the vacation season. To have fun, we’re honoring the origins of conventional meals lovingly ready by two of our correspondents.

On this episode, host Ari Daniel drops into two houses to discover two vacation traditions. We begin with Elisa Hough, an editor on the Smithsonian Heart for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, and the Filipino torta recipe that her mom ready each Christmas. Now in the course of the holidays, Elisa is the one making torta. And it’s the time of the 12 months when she connects most intently to her Filipino heritage.

Then we head to Jamaica the place we meet Vaughn Stafford Gray, an impartial journalist and former chef, who explains the colonial historical past of jerk and what it means in modern Jamaican tradition.

A transcript is beneath. To subscribe to “There’s Extra to That,” and to take heed to previous episodes about those who pursue the divisive durian fruit, an award-winning restaurant in New Orleans that showcases Senegalese cuisine, and using fruit depicted in Renaissance paintings to rescue modern agriculture, discover us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

Ari Daniel: Elisa, it’s the vacations. It’s Christmastime for some, and you’re on the brink of make one thing known as torta. Are you able to set the scene for me as to the place this all goes down?

Elisa Hough: Certain, it means various things in numerous components of the world, even in numerous components of the Philippines. For me, torta is a pound cake, mainly, that my household makes each Christmas.

Daniel: Elisa Hough is an editor on the Heart for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, one of many analysis facilities of the Smithsonian. She wrote a story for Smithsonian journal concerning the significance of carrying on her household’s Filipino torta recipe.

Hough: It’s all the time a house operation for me. I are likely to do it on my own late at night time, and it’s quite a lot of pans. It’s quite a lot of components. It’s making a giant ol’ mess. Nevertheless it’s the style of Christmas to me. It additionally finally ends up being my Christmas presents to quite a lot of my members of the family, in order that’s the labor I put into gift-making.

Daniel: Inform me extra about that affiliation you’ve between Christmas and the torta. Why do you’ve that relationship between the 2?

Hough: Each Christmas once I was somewhat child, this was one thing that my mother would make. We’d usually have Filipino meals as our Christmas dinner—massive household occasion. What I bear in mind because the one fixed was this cake, the torta. And I bear in mind as somewhat child studying from her easy methods to make it. It’s not a very sophisticated course of, nevertheless it does take a very long time. One a part of this cake is that it’s lined in what I later realized are known as brioche pans. They’re scalloped edges. And earlier than placing the batter in, you line it with a parchment paper or a tissue paper. And due to the scalloped edges, it’s very time-consuming to try this. However that’s one thing I’ve a transparent reminiscence of serving to my mother with once I was somewhat child. And that’s why, to me, once I take into consideration torta, it tastes like Christmas. After I take into consideration Christmas, I need the torta. I’ve to have the torta.

Daniel: From Smithsonian journal and PRX productions, that is “There’s Extra to That,” the present that celebrates tales and feasts from world wide. I’m Ari Daniel. On this episode, a few household vacation recipes, the place they arrive from, how they’re carried ahead, and extra usually, what conventional meals means in our lives. Plus, why the unique Jamaican jerk was cooked underground. Keep tuned.

Daniel: What’s torta precisely? Are you able to describe what it appears to be like like, tastes like?

Hough: It’s a spherical, once more with the scalloped edge, domed on the highest. It’s vibrant yellow as a result of the recipe requires ten egg yolks.

Daniel: Oh, wow.

Hough: After which the highest, after you bake it, you sprinkle it with sugar so it’s sort of sparkly. It’s very dense. It’s very wealthy. And when it’s recent out of the oven, it simply tastes heavenly.

Daniel: What does it odor like when it’s within the oven?

Hough: It’s flavored with vanilla. I believe that’s the dominant odor, like vanilla ice cream in a cake kind.

Daniel: Are you able to simply stroll me via what the components are, the way you’re placing it collectively, what’s occurring earlier than you set it within the oven?

Hough: That is the recipe that my mother printed out for me once I began school. And as you would possibly have the ability to see, the web page is caked with flour and oil.

Daniel: Yeah, it’s been battered by time.

Hough: I’ll inform you these components and also you would possibly have the ability to inform why we solely make this at Christmas, as a result of it’s simply so wealthy and never the sort of cake you wish to be consuming on the common. It’s quite a lot of sugar. It’s quite a lot of butter. It’s a complete lot of egg yolks. Much more oil on prime of the butter, after which flour, baking powder, salt, evaporated milk—It’s the one time I ever have to purchase evaporated milk—goes into this recipe. It’s such a velvety batter. The recipe that I’ve that I’ve all the time used, it makes a ton of desserts. I wish to suppose the recipe is written this fashion and was handed on to me this fashion as a result of we eat them at dwelling amongst our household, however then we reward them out as properly. So this can be a recipe that’s meant to feed a complete lot of individuals, not simply you.

Daniel: Inform me about that communal facet about it.

Hough: I simply realized this from my aunt. She remembers as a child that one other Filipino household made this recipe and gifted the desserts to my household for Christmas. And my grandma actually beloved it and requested them for the recipe, and that’s what I’ve now. After I was a child and my mother would make this yearly, this was her current to her mother, to my grandma. We didn’t purchase issues for her. She didn’t want extra issues, however she wanted cake. I solely make it now once I know that I’m going to be round quite a lot of household and quite a lot of mates who I may give all of it to, since you would die in the event you ate this complete recipe your self.

Daniel: Is there any type of any particular outfit or one thing that goes with it?

Hough: I’ve an apron that belonged to my mother. My mother had been a cartographer, and he or she would come into me and my brother’s elementary faculty courses and do map-making classes for us. And so my brother’s third grade class drew my mother an apron that has all their names on it and little globes and different little maps. So once I’m baking one among my mother’s recipes, I prefer to put on that apron too, embody her somewhat bit. My mother handed away 15 years in the past, so quite a lot of how I really feel related to her nonetheless is thru the recipes that she handed on to me. Particularly at Christmas, it feels so essential to me to hold on a few of her spirit inside our household and for myself to maintain making these recipes that have been essential to her.

Daniel: So whenever you style torta, you consider her as properly?

Hough: For positive, yeah. In all probability greater than the affiliation with Christmas, that’s what fills my coronary heart.

Daniel: When Elisa wrote her piece about torta, she did some on-line and household analysis.

Hough: That’s once I realized that I’d by no means heard of anybody else, Filipino or not, making this recipe. My mother is full Filipino. I’m half Filipino. As a result of she was the one who made it, I believe I simply figured this was a Filipino factor. And it’s, however not as ubiquitously as I may need thought. However in quite a lot of Spanish-speaking nations, torta is a sandwich. That’s in all probability what most individuals are accustomed to. In some components of the Philippines, it extra usually refers to an omelet full of meat, very completely different.

However within the Visayan Islands, which is the place my grandmother is from, it does consult with this cake. It’s eaten throughout any fiesta, so Christmas, however different saints’ days as properly. And I did discover another recipes that decision themselves torta, one thing, one thing, like some modifier on it. The principle variations that I discovered between these recipes and mine are … I imply, any cake you make at this time, you’re in all probability leavening it with baking soda, baking powder, however extra historically it was leavened with tubâ, which is a fermented coconut wine. We taste ours with vanilla, however historically it is perhaps anise. Very completely different. And the place we sprinkle ours simply with sugar on prime, others sprinkle with sugar and cheese.

Daniel: Elisa, what was that like so that you can put your loved ones’s custom into this bigger context?

Hough: It makes you rethink what you knew rising as much as study that what you thought is custom is barely perhaps your custom. However that, I believe, is what makes it actually particular: that it doesn’t need to be a convention amongst a whole nation, a complete inhabitants, a complete area. It may be a convention simply amongst our household, and that’s nonetheless actually particular.

Daniel: What do you suppose it means to your loved ones that you just proceed to make the torta?

Hough: After my mother handed and I grew to become the torta baker of the household, my grandma was very appreciative. She was diabetic on the time. We should always not have been gifting her these desserts, nevertheless it was her favourite reward to obtain. Now I share it with my associate’s household. They’re not Filipino. They love this cake, too.

Daniel: You talked about that many of the 12 months you consider your self as half Filipino, however at Christmas you’re attempting to extra totally join with that a part of your id and heritage. Why do you suppose it’s essential for you presently of 12 months to be extra in contact with that a part of your self?

Hough: I believe it’s as a result of these are the cultural traditions which might be essentially the most tangible to me. It was throughout Christmas that we’d cook dinner all this Filipino meals. We’d have a Filipino parol, which is a star-shaped lantern hung up in our window. That’s one other very conventional Filipino factor that you just’ll see within the U.S. throughout Christmastime, these star lanterns hung up in entrance home windows.

Daniel: What does it imply to you to be the one who’s now making the torta, and passing this custom alongside to the youthful members of your loved ones, and sustaining it for individuals who realize it?

Hough: It looks like a giant duty. I don’t wish to mess it up, and I don’t wish to neglect all of the little particulars that my mother taught me. And I’m afraid I have already got.

Daniel: You had an incredible line in your piece. I actually beloved it. You stated, “Traditions change and develop, uproot and re-root on the macro degree of countries to the micro degree of households. And that doesn’t make them any much less helpful or significant. It makes them ours.” Are you able to say what you meant by that?

Hough: It was simply breaking so many misconceptions for me {that a} custom needs to be previous, and it needs to be codified and it needs to be ubiquitous to be a convention. And what I used to be starting to study is that that’s not the case in any respect, that traditions reside. And for a convention to be dwelling, that implies that they evolve, that they alter, that they adapt to completely different occasions and locations as communities or households transfer or are displaced or reacting to local weather change or warfare. It doesn’t need to be unfavorable issues. However yeah, as they moved to the U.S. to attempt to begin a greater life, as was the case for my grandparents. However that traditions can also start anew.

Daniel: Thanks a lot, Elisa. This was actually pleasing. And thanks for bringing to life this custom from your loved ones.

Hough: Thanks.

Daniel: We’re leaving Elisa’s kitchen now and heading to the Caribbean. The place do I discover you at this time, Vaughn?

Vaughn Stafford Grey: I’m at dwelling at Kingston, Jamaica, weeks after Hurricane Melissa.

Daniel: Vaughn Stafford Grey is a Jamaican journalist and journal writer. He’s additionally a graduate of culinary faculty. Vaughn wrote an article for Smithsonian journal concerning the historical past and significance of Jamaican jerk.

I wish to acknowledge that as we transfer into the vacations, this isn’t actually a standard 12 months for Jamaicans. Hurricane Melissa slammed into the island on the finish of October and restoration continues to be underway, as I perceive it. How have you ever and your communities been impacted by the hurricane, Vaughn?

Grey: It’s exhausting to even attempt to wrap your thoughts round what restoration appears to be like like, the care of our individuals, particularly those that are aged, youngsters and households who’re combating poverty.

However the different facet, and I’m blissful that you just introduced it up once more about holidays, is that the hurricane tore via what we name our breadbasket parish, St. Elizabeth, which gives nearly all of produce for Jamaica. So we’re having a problem with what the vacations would seem like when what is accessible is now a lot dearer than what it was, or simply not obtainable.

Daniel: Yeah. Provided that this is probably not a typical vacation season for a lot of Jamaicans, are you able to inform me, Vaughn, about the way you’re normally getting ready for the winter holidays? Are you internet hosting? Are you cooking? Are you out buying?

Grey: That’s one factor about Jamaicans is that we’re resilient. We are able to make a celebration out of nothing. Even when a pot of soup, or a bowl of porridge, we’ll all the time have one thing to be glad about, but additionally sufficient to share. And so this vacation season—my father handed away three years in the past—my mom and I are internet hosting my aunt and my cousin and his spouse, which we do yearly. So I’m doing oxtail lasagna and a roast hen. I cured my very own leg of pork, potatoes. We’ll have some rice and peas. We have now for backyard salad, it received’t have as many greens, however there’ll be lettuce and tomatoes and bell peppers. I believe I’m going to do some curried chickpeas as properly. And we’re actually grateful that we now have these things to nonetheless have a really significant vacation, as a result of this one is de facto one for the books for everybody that this hurricane has touched and impacted.

Daniel: What’s for dessert?

Grey: Oh, so we’re making a Christmas cake, or black cake. That’s a Caribbean tackle plum pudding. So it’s one thing that was delivered to the Caribbean via colonialism, and every island has their very own model of black cake, as a result of the enslaved must use no matter that they had on the plantation to recreate these dishes for his or her enslavers. My mom’s recipe truly requires prunes, sultanas, raisins, currants, a lot of port, white wine and stout. So we make a extremely wealthy cake that’s steamed, and it will get higher with age. It’s my favourite cake. So it received’t final for 3 months, as individuals … are likely to hold it.

Daniel: Properly, I’m impressed you have already got your menu specified by advance like that.

Grey: I completely love Christmas. It’s not simply the sentimentality of the vacation for me, however ever since I used to be a younger baby, I beloved meals. And I knew I used to be going to go to culinary faculty to not grow to be a chef, however my complete concept was to grow to be an editor-in-chief of a life-style journal.

However for me, meals is such an essential vessel. It additionally is without doubt one of the few components of each tradition that we will move all the way down to different generations with out it being so valuable within the sense of that, right here is that this and make it your individual. So it’s a type of dwelling, respiratory heirlooms that we now have.

Daniel: You stated roast hen, proper? Are you having jerk hen?

Grey: Sure, there’s jerk hen on the menu.

Daniel: What’s jerk, precisely?

Grey: So jerk is definitely two issues. It’s not simply the seasoning mix, nevertheless it’s extra of the method. Many individuals will know Jamaican jerk or suppose they’ve had Jamaican jerk as a result of they purchased a seasoning mix.

There’s each dry after which there’s moist. The true approach is to make use of each. So the moist seasoning, in the event you solely can get one, is a jerk paste. The key a part of jerk seasoning is pimento or allspice, so pimento berries, Scotch bonnet peppers, inexperienced onions, ginger and thyme, that’s the bottom of jerk seasoning. Then you definitely marinate it. Nevertheless it’s one thing I’ve fought for a really very long time is easy methods to codify what jerk is. And the federal government has been attempting the identical approach that champagne can solely be known as champagne if it’s from the Champagne area, that we wish to make sure that in the event you’d say Jamaican jerk, that it’s performed within the conventional approach.

And what that’s that it’s smoked with pimento wooden and on pimento leaves. Traditionally, the Maroons—who invented jerk, and people have been previously enslaved individuals who escaped plantations and went into the mountains, which the British couldn’t traverse—to feed themselves, they’d hunt boar. After which the Taino, who have been indigenous Indians, taught them easy methods to use the bushes round to remedy the meat. So there was fowl’s-eye chiles and pepper elder that now become Scotch bonnet pepper. However they’d season the meat after which bury it and smoke it on the bottom, in order that cooking it over hearth wouldn’t create smoke, which then would give away their location to the British forces.

A whole bunch of years later, actual jerk facilities, and that’s what we name eating places that serve jerk, so the barbecue pits, we name them a jerk middle, the actual good ones on the island will do the standard technique of pimento wooden and the pimento leaves. However there is a matter with pimento wooden if we’re going to have sufficient for future generations as properly, as a result of quite a lot of years in the past, we got here perilously near not having sufficient pimento wooden for the island, a lot much less sufficient for anyone else. However our authorities stepped in, and we now have a plan in place now for that.

Daniel: What are your associations between jerk and the winter holidays?

Grey: Properly, it comes again to my loving father, who was the perfect cook dinner in our household.

Daniel: And also you realized from him?

Grey: And I realized from him, simply watching him. So regardless that I might use an oven or an air fryer to make jerk at dwelling, he truly had a complete jerk arrange within the yard. And what that appears like is an oil drum that’s been lower lengthwise, and hinges to create a smoker. If you happen to journey throughout the nation, there’s so many distributors on roadsides promoting jerk from these oil drums. The true jerk facilities have the sq. footage to truly have a pit to do the smoking and the leaves and every little thing else. Properly, so my dad had constructed one within the yard and he would all the time, whether or not it have been funerals have been handed, that they’d ask him to jerk the hen for, or infamously, my twenty fifth birthday once I got here again to Jamaica after dwelling in Toronto for a while, he jerked 100 kilos of hen by himself with no assist. I imply, he was on this component.

Daniel: It’s fairly a homecoming, Vaughn.

Grey: It was a homecoming, sure. However being younger and seeing my dad have a look at Christmas with such reverence. And he wasn’t a church-going man, nevertheless it was just like the purposefulness of the Christmas week and what that might seem like. So I knew as soon as he received his paycheck from November, you’ll begin seeing particular gadgets being bought—the flowery sodas, the nice shortbread cookies. However when it got here onto cooking the dinner, he would begin at 4 within the morning. It wasn’t like an American Thanksgiving the place, “All proper, we simply serve it midday.” No, right here is, we serve it when it’s performed.

However since my father’s handed away, I now have extra reverence to the vacation. And I attempt to honor him via the issues that he taught me and specializing in his favourite dishes.

Daniel: Whenever you make jerk now, do you attempt to match his recipe?

Grey: I can’t. Let’s simply be very trustworthy. That was a shedding battle earlier than I even received out the gate. And infamously, I challenged him one 12 months. “I could make the higher jerk hen.” And he was like, “Okay.” My mother went—

Daniel: How previous have been you whenever you threw down that problem?

Grey: It was 5 years in the past, in the course of the pandemic.

Daniel: Oh, wow. Okay.

Grey: I used to be like, “You already know what? I believe I received it down now.” And no, I misplaced gloriously.

Daniel: Who judged it?

Grey: Oh, my mom and my aunt. However then once I realized is that my father’s jerk sauce, which is in a gravy that you just serve with it, he added boxed orange juice. That was his secret ingredient, simply industrial orange juice. I used to be being too fancy. I used pineapple, after which no, boxed orange juice, or higher but, a teaspoon of frozen Minute Maid focus.

Daniel: Did you agree with the decision?

Grey: Oh God, sure. That small addition to it actually simply unlocked that taste bomb of the jerk hen. As a result of there’s lime juice within the jerk marinade. However that little little bit of orange juice within the gravy simply actually took it up a notch. And I nonetheless can’t match it with how he fixes it. He by no means used a recipe. Every thing you do by eyesight. And as an engineer, that man was actually good, and each time he made it, it tasted the identical. Whereas sadly with mine, each time I make mine, it tastes somewhat bit completely different.

Daniel: Are you able to describe the labor related to making jerk? Is it intensive in that approach?

Grey: If you happen to’re operating a restaurant, it’s. However in the event you have been to do it at dwelling, it’s a ready recreation. Once more, the marinade, I do it for 48 hours. That’s a correct approach of doing it. And likewise the smoking, doing it within the oven, it’s good. However I truly put soaked mesquite chips and put them within the backside of the oven in an aluminum tray to attempt to flip the oven into somewhat smoker system.

That’s my approach of doing it as a result of I don’t have the affinity to do what my dad did with the coals and the oil drum and the entire rigamarole of that.

Daniel: In Jamaica, is jerk sort of a elaborate, elegant, particular, costly sort of meals, or is it one thing that individuals eat as an on a regular basis sort of factor?

Grey: It’s an on a regular basis factor. It was that Friday, Saturday night time road meals that you just’d seize, however now we now have a series of eating places known as Island Grill. And jerk is the cornerstone of that quick meals menu. After which there are, after all, so many different impartial eating places. Everyone can have jerk on a Friday night time. If you happen to go to a takeout restaurant and if there’s no jerk on the Friday menu, individuals will say, “Oh, they’re not prepared for service.” It’s the meals of the individuals. We shield it fiercely. When different cooks attempt to capitalize and colonialize what we now have as jerk with not utilizing any of the 5 core components that I discussed earlier than, like jalapeños, that’s not jerk. Cilantro, that’s not jerk. Though I can respect individuals attempting to make it their very own, this isn’t a type of dishes that you could stray from the core components, as a result of then what you’ve is nowhere close to what you anticipate jerk to style like.

Daniel: What does it style like? Are you able to describe the flavour profile?

Grey: Oh, yeah. Consider the perfect barbecue you’ve ever had, with quite a lot of allspice. After which after all, there’s that good warmth from the Scotch bonnet pepper that with the primary chew you’re like, “Oh my God, that’s scrumptious.” And then you definitely begin feeling, you’re like, “Oh, poof.” After which the warmth begins to stand up, nevertheless it’s not a warmth that you just instantly wish to put off. The spiciness of it brings you again, and also you simply can’t cease consuming.

Daniel: Mmm! Do you’ve room at your desk for one more visitor?

Grey: You might be all the time welcome. One 12 months infamously, our neighbors, they have been going via a tough time, and we knew that they weren’t going to have a Christmas like ours. My father simply quietly did the factor of speaking over the again fence, and he’s like, “Oh yeah, you guys ought to simply come.” They’re like, “We have now household right here visiting from the countryside.” He stated, “Convey them.” And even with these additional individuals, we had greater than sufficient. And I believe that’s one of many metaphors of a Jamaican Christmas. Even now, dwelling within the shadows of Melissa, is that we’ll all the time have room at our desk for thus many others.

Daniel: In your article, you quote chef Gariel Ferguson, the place he says, “Jerk is freedom manifested in meals.” Are you able to elaborate on how freedom will be captured in one thing we eat?

Grey: Whenever you suppose again, and even attempt to suppose again, of the atrocities of enslavement—and the truth that they have been nonetheless in a position to create a number of the greatest recipes that we now have in each tradition on this planet got here out of necessity. It wasn’t the Michelin star service and it wasn’t any recipe from Escoffier. It got here out of struggles from communities or individuals who have had a historical past of hardship. You possibly can have a look at jerk itself, that we now have individuals who rejected a system. And out of that, they created sustenance. That wasn’t simply sustenance, however one thing that has grow to be a legacy. And once more, if it wasn’t for that freedom, we wouldn’t have jerk at this time.

Daniel: How a lot of the historical past of jerk do you suppose most individuals are conscious of, Vaughn?

Grey: Oh, I believe, say, 98 % of it individuals don’t know. I imply, additionally Jamaicans. The concept of understanding the place our meals comes from wasn’t imparted on many people due to the benefit of supermarkets and eating places. However in the case of jerk, most individuals know concerning the Maroons, however they don’t know concerning the Taino facet. And with out the Taino facet, there wouldn’t be jerk. These are our indigenous individuals of the Caribbean. So it’s essential to know, once more, that there have been two cultures that met within the mountain ranges of Jamaica, that and not using a shared language and with out seeing the opposite ever earlier than, united over the understanding [that] there was a typical enemy down the hill and bonded over freedom via meals.

Daniel: Are there ways in which this meals jerk is misunderstood outdoors of Jamaica?

Grey: That’s a complete different episode, Ari. And the reply is a powerful sure. There are such a lot of cooks and eating places and types that wish to capitalize on Jamaican jerk. There are individuals who imagine that they’ve had jerk and till they arrive to Jamaica, whether or not they have it on a resort or they’ve it from a neighborhood restaurant. And I like seeing this. I like simply standing there and taking a look at individuals. And once they chew into it, they’ve this Damascene conversion. They’re like, “Properly, what are they serving me?” So, so many individuals simply suppose that jerk is simply spiciness. Infamously, we all know Jamie Oliver and his punchy jerk rice that was microwaveable. Yech.

Daniel: Blasphemy.

Grey: Yeah, precisely. And we had Campbell’s soup, that they had a jerk soup. I’m like, “No, you possibly can’t jerk soup. What’s going on?” So, so many individuals simply throw the title on it to promote the merchandise.

Daniel: Since jerk has grow to be a part of on a regular basis delicacies, has that modified its function in the course of the holidays?

Grey: No. There’s all the time house on the desk for jerk. You possibly can have it on daily basis and nonetheless not tire of it. As a result of, particularly in the event you go to your favourite restaurant or your favourite jerk middle, it’s simply the ability and the labor intensiveness that go into making “actual” with air quotes, “actual,” Jamaican jerk that you just actually can respect it. So over the vacations, you’ll take these additional steps. You received’t simply do a fast marinade. You’ll go away it within the fridge for 2 days, otherwise you’ll both make your individual marinade or purchase one of many good manufacturers that we now have right here. And also you’ll take your time to make it the sluggish roast course of of constructing it. So it’s all the time particular on the holidays, regardless that it’s one thing you possibly can have on daily basis.

Daniel: Vaughn, why do you suppose meals is such a robust approach of connecting in the course of the holidays with each other, but additionally via time?

Grey: You possibly can have a look at meals as a household tree, as a result of every particular person at that desk will keep in mind that dish being performed by another person who’s gone earlier than. No matter no matter we’re going via in our lives, for these few hours, we will simply join via that reminiscence. And on the holidays, as a result of we spend extra time and more money, regardless that they is probably not additional actually, however we go the additional mile to have that celebration. I believe we try this as a result of we owe it to our ancestors who might not have had a lot to have fun. We now have, and we owe it to them for the work that they put in to point out that we not solely honor them, however we’re holding onto these traditions, and that we’re working to move these down.

Daniel: Vaughn, this has been such a pleasure. Thanks for speaking to me and sharing this wealthy historical past of jerk with me.

Grey: Thanks on your time, Ari. I actually respect it.

Daniel: To learn Vaughn Stafford Grey’s article on Jamaican jerk and Elisa Hough’s piece, together with the recipe for her household’s Filipino torta, go to smithsonianmag.com. We’ll put a hyperlink in our present notes.

On the following episode of “There’s Extra to That,” we’ll observe a narrative from the mid-1800s about a young person in Maryland who efficiently escaped slavery. His handwritten emancipation narrative was not too long ago found on somebody’s porch in Rhode Island.

If you happen to like this present, please take into account leaving us a ranking and evaluation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. “There’s Extra to That” is a manufacturing of Smithsonian journal and PRX productions.

From the journal, our staff is me, Debra Rosenberg and Brian Wolly. From PRX, our staff is Ali Budner, Cleo Levin, Genevieve Sponsler, Sandra Lopez-Monsalve and Edwin Ochoa. The chief producer of PRX Productions is Jocelyn Gonzalez.

Our episode paintings is by Emily Lankiewicz. Truth-checking by Stephanie Abramson. I’m Ari Daniel. Thanks for listening.

Daniel: Do your cousins carry something to this meal, or are you making every little thing?

Grey: They bring about themselves. This has been going from the daybreak of time, nevertheless it’s wonderful.

So one 12 months we requested them to carry mashed potatoes. And my aunt introduced—and they’re going to hate that I’m sharing this—a field of Idaho Spuds.

Daniel: Raw?

Grey: Simply the field of Idaho Spuds. I’m serving dinner and I’m wanting on the field, taking a look at her, wanting on the field, taking a look at her, and I’m like, “What is that this? This isn’t even potatoes.” And he or she stated, “Properly, you simply add sizzling water and it turns into mashed potatoes.” I’m like, “No, no, no. It’s not simply add sizzling water.” However I’m a gracious host. I zhuzhed it up. And that was the final time we requested them to carry one thing.