Adiba Nelson visits the O'odham Ladies // Tucson Meet Yourself 2022

Описание: They Fried It, I tried It – Cultural Soul Food at Tucson Meet Yourself

By Adiba Nelson

Then, because the good folks here at Borderlore care nothing about my favorite pair of jeans I just got back into, I headed on over to the home of Alice Juan, one of the eight members of O’Odham Ladies Fry Bread (booth #26) to take in the experience that is,o f making fry bread. And friends, let me tell you – it was just that – an experience.

This fry bread was not just fry bread. It was sitting around the table with my Nana and all my tias, laughing and joking about family stories, and then reliving those moments with Alice, her cousins Lorinda and Veronica (who are sisters), her granddaughter Jessica, and the 94-year- old matriarch of the family, Miss Lolita. It was my mom teaching me how to make Puerto Rican arepas when I was just five or six years old, and Jessica sharing with me that she has taught her now eight-year-old daughter how to carry on the family tradition of making fry bread. It was
tasting the beans and chili straight from the pot and recalling how my nana Nana would chase us out of the kitchen as we tried to sneak spoonful after spoonful of sancocho. Again, I tell you, this isn’t just fry bread. This is food that you eat and do a little dance when the heat hits the back of your tongue, food that you know will always make you feel better when the world is falling
down around you, food that is the equivalent of curling up in your grandma’s lap, even as a grown adult, and letting her tell you story after story that you’ve heard a million times before, and you’ll gladly hear a million times again because they’re stories filled with love and laughter and heart. This fry bread is soul food. And if you got a little emotional reading this, welcome to
the club.

I got a little emotional eating it.

I was blessed enough to have the incredible Eryka Dellenbach with me to capture this tasting extravaganza on film, and I think even Eryka will tell you: – these ladies, and their food, are something we’ll not soon forget. Take in the videos, experience the food at the festival, and appreciate the rich cultures and deep soul that makes up the whole of Tucson.

Song: "Sweet Birdie Cumbia" by Gertie N the T.O. Boyz

Video by Eryka Dellenbach