A while back my Grandma Anderson’s Danish Dumplings brought my brother Val, his family, and mine together after too many years. We used to work with each other, and we were close growing up. Then we weren’t. I made mistakes, caused some deep hurts, and I never really said the words I’m sorry. So I said the words.
Then on a Saturday, I put dumplings where the words should have been a long time ago. Then we opened up to each which led to us making and sharing dumplings with our kids in my home. We shared a tradition, made a memory, and made a video to cement the memory for all of us.
As a little back story, Chicken soup with dumplings is is the most enduring and beloved recipe in my family, and what we most looked forward to at Grandma’s house. She made them every time we went for Sunday dinner and we would have been crestfallen otherwise. It occurs to me that there is beauty in traditions that repeat again and again. These unique patterns become glue to bond family culture.
The video above shows our families making new new memories with an old recipe. Click here if you’d like to to download a PDF of the Danish Dumpling recipe.
You can’t see my brother, Val, in the video because he is behind the camera, although you hear voice about getting messy. It’s a perfect example of his personality.
This is what FamilySearch meant by challenging people to post family recipes and the accompanying stories. We encourage you to do the same!
By the way, below is a related video with FamilySearch CEO, Steve Rockwood, talking with us in the Media Hub. He explains that FamilySearch focused on food at the RootsTech conference because food universally brings people together and evokes rich memories. It was a tool to get people to ask more specific questions, leads to richer answers. Food is a perfect catalyst to preserve family stories, the heart of genealogy.
Related article: Story endings – the transformative power of story
Rhonda Lauritzen is the founder and an author at Evalogue.Life – Tell Your Story. Rhonda lives to hear and write about people’s lives. She believes that when you tell your story, it changes the ending., She and her husband Milan restored an 1890 Victorian in Ogden. She especially enjoys unplugging in nature. Check out her books: How to Storyboard, and Every Essential Element. Most recently she was the writing coach of bestselling author, Rob A. Gentile, who wrote Quarks of Light, A Near-Death Experience: What I Saw That Opened My Heart.
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