Ethnicity Tag

Beauty blogger @themaryfairy recently tagged her followers with the Ethnicity Tag. As well as giving me a craving for chick peas, she also inspired me to write this quick post.  

1. What is your ethnicity? 

I'm British English. My Dad's side are all English from a long line of shoemakers and I myself was born in North Yorkshire. I used to have a Yorkshire accent but I lost it when I moved to Wales. So in the Top Trump hierarchy of accents, Welsh comes out stronger (until I moved back to England). I'm also mixed heritage as my Mum is from Uruguay and so I stem from various European roots in South America: Italian, English and French. There's family debate over whether there's any trace of mestizo in the mix. 

When I first thought of doing Erasmus, I'd originally intended to go to Spain so I could at last learn Spanish and understand the punchlines of my family's jokes as many of them speak Spanish. As it turned out, Spain wasn't available and I naively thought, 'well Italy is close enough!' even though the reality couldn't be further from the truth! 

Cinque Terre, Liguria

After I'd made my decision, my Argentinian Grandad heard this and said, 'ah! so you're going back to your roots Sarita!' and explained that way back when, my family emigrated from Italy to South America most likely when Italy became a Republic and Argentina was a newly independent nation. 

So I've done a little digging I've been here in Italy and discovered that my family name is quite uncommon and there only seems to be one cluster - in the city of Savona, Liguria (Northern Italy). I've only been to the region of Liguria once before, but it was stunning as you can see from the photo of Cinque Terre below.

2. When was the last time you visited your country? 

I was in England last year for Christmas with my family. I'd love to visit Uruguay and Argentina one day. 

3. Name one ethnic food you enjoy the most

My favourite ethnic food has got to be dulce de leche from my Mum's side of the family. It's very similar in taste and consistency to caramel and if you like the caramel filling of banoffee pie then you'll love dulce de leche! 

Photo via @foodiebride

It's also incredibly simple to whip up from scratch. You just boil it up in a pan for two hours making sure it's fully immersed (as I've been told stories of exploding tins!). Then open it up and dive in with a spoon. Theoretically it should last for weeks but in reality (and in my own experience) it's usually a matter of minutes! Here's a easy peasy recipe for those who enticed by this gooey wonder: Dulce de Leche Recipe 

Illustration via Georgina Luck 

On my British side, I'd have to go for yet another sticky substance: Marmite! The taste and even just the smell from the jar makes me feel at home. It reminds me of the times when I used to leave fairly obvious bite marks in my dad's slices of marmite-smothered toast while he was fetching his obligatory cup of tea from the kitchen! Marmite, along with melted cheddar, has the ability to make me all teary-eyed and nostalgic for old Blightly if I've been without it for too long. Thankfully, @spoonpirate has been supplying me of late and for that I couldn't be more grateful! 

4. Name one household object which best represents your culture

The humble teapot. Tea culture doesn't really exist in Italy. Italians do drink black tea and herbal tea but this usually just involves popping a bag in a mug. It's rare to see a teapot being used here and a lot of Italians don't own a kettle! Needless to say, a kettle was among the first items I bought when I arrived in Italy! 

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If you'd like to do this tag, please leave a link below so that we can read your post too! 

Click on the links below for other interesting folks who've done the Ethnicity Tag:

Amenakin: Indian

Dina Tokio: Egyptian 
Dee at Imaan & Beauty: Afghan

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Update: An extended family member wrote about some of the Christian missionaries in my family 
and I happened to find my name unexpectedly in the mix which was a nice surprise. 
An Interesting Take on Interfaith Dialogue from a Christian Perspective: The Whole Truth