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Don't take Valley food diversity for granted

Published online on Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2009

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"Are we still talking about food, or are we talking about history?"

Herb Jamero looked at me intently as he asked the question. The 76-year-old man was telling me about his father, who left the Philippines and answered America's call for farmworkers in 1918.

"Aren't they the same thing?" I replied. "For if your parents hadn't come to Livingston and started a farm labor camp, you might not have learned to cook in its kitchen. And we wouldn't be eating your food today."

This sense of migration was a recurring theme at Tamejavi, Saturday's festival that highlighted the cultures, politics and economic struggles of the central San Joaquin Valley's immigrants.

I had come for the food -- from Jamero's adobo (Filipino pork stew) and lumpia (egg rolls) to Joojeh kebabs (Persian chicken kebabs) and Mexican pumpkin empanadas. Paired with the music and dance performances, it would have been a fun, lazy day.

But I'd also brought my reporter's notebook, which always invites deeper discussions. All too soon, the food was no longer, well, food. Instead, these dishes captured a small part of a lost homeland.

You could taste it in the Oaxacan nieve, handmade, sorbet-like ice cream. The delicious walnut flavor was a way for me to cool off on a hot day; but for many Oaxacans, making nieve is an important skill to pass from one generation to the next.

Another Oaxacan booth sold Zapotec tlayudas, thin, handmade corn tortillas. At Tamejavi, they were topped with bean purée, queso fresco, cabbage and spiced, grilled beef.

Nearby signs explained the significance of corn in Oaxaca. This Mexican state is home to a variety of indigenous peoples with different languages, including the Triqui, Mixtec and Zapotecs.

They grow corn as a staple, but the crop's low market value makes it impossible for many to maintain the farms: "Here we find a great concentration of people from Oaxaca who have not forgotten that corn is part of their daily lives -- and that they have had to abandon their lands with no other choice but to cross the border."

Once immigrants arrive, they experience a new set of struggles, says Chukou Thao, executive director of the Hmong American Farmers Association.

For example, he recalls one meeting where officials tried to distribute Chinese-language brochures to Hmong farmers. He also described farmers who had trouble with crop insurance claims, because the values of their specialty vegetables aren't tracked as well as commodity crops.

"We need to have a culture where there's equity at the table and representation," he says.

These were some serious issues to consider while watching folks line up for Southeast Asian food at Tamejavi.

But I'm glad Tamejavi raised them. All too often, we choose dinner based solely on our craving for tacos, kebabs or adobo. It's worth remembering that the diversity of American food is hard won: It's the result of much work and tough adjustments to a new country.