Cultural Contact Zone

Deanna Pizzi

Because most of my extended family is Italian we have always had certain customs and rituals, especially on holidays such as Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving. At times, some people are a little thrown off by this because it is something they are not used to. I remember last year for Thanksgiving I brought my roommate Katie to our family dinner. Ever since I was born, we always attended Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt’s house, on my dad’s side of the family. And every year all of the same people would be there and to this day we have always sat in specific seats. I don’t think that Katie felt out of place but I could tell that she was somewhat amused by my Italian family. This was probably because of my grand pop. He always talks and talks about stories and lessons and usually after a while my grand mom will tell him to shut-up and leave everyone alone in Italian.

Our Thanksgiving dinner is probably the same as most other American families. We always have turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and many other typical Thanksgiving foods. But always on holidays, after dinner, some of the family gathers in the kitchen to take shots of Grappa. My uncle got this bottle from distant family members that live in Italy. I’m not sure what it is actually considered but all I know is it tastes worse than rubbing alcohol. I usually only take one while my uncle and cousins usually take two or three. In the end I think Katie had a good time but was probably just feeling a little out of her usual cultural contact zone.

Another instance happened this year at Christmas day dinner, which now occurs at our family house down the shore with my mom’s side of the family. Even though this side of the family is Italian too, they are much more different than my dad’s side of the family. While my dad’s side of the family is somewhat conservative and quieter, my mom’s side of the family is much more loud and obnoxious. This year my cousin Mark brought his friend to dinner who is African American. At first he was a little surprised at how loud my family actually is. He was also a little surprised at what kind of food we ate. Every Christmas my Aunts always make a special soup that everyone loves. I don’t eat soup so I am usually the odd member of the family. And they also put out fynoik (which looks somewhat like celery but tastes like licorice) and oil. Just like Katie, he seemed a little out of his usual cultural contact zone but soon fell into place.

There are many instances where someone could feel out of their contact zone such as the examples about. But one cultural contact zone that always occurs to me and many other Italians is very specific. In my family we always had pasta for dinner on Sundays. But at this dinner we eat pasta and gravy while many other families eat pasta and sauce. Technically it is the same thing but Italians always call it gravy, not sauce. When I usually get into this debate with other people they say “well what do you put on your mashed potatoes” and I usually answer with the word gravy (even though I do not eat the gravy that you put on mashed potatoes.) But after my reply the person on the other end believes they have won the fight. And in a way they did. But to me, it is something that my culture, as far as I know, has always done. So every time someone brings up the word sauce when referring to eating pasta I just roll my eyes and the debate begins once again.