Kathy Weldin
kweldin@Udel.edu

There isn't much record of the heritage of my family. My father's side of the family came from Italy. More specifically, my grandmother's mother was born in Italy and came to the United States near the end of the century. Obviously, I never met her, but I heard many stories about her from my grandmother. My grandmother told me that she loved to cook. She also said that she never used a cookbook because "real Italians don't need to look at a book to cook." She was evidently a very traditional woman. The man was the head of the household and the woman raised the kids in her family. My grandmother adopted all of her traditional Italian ways. When she came of age to get her driver's license in the United States, she was not allowed because many Italian women didn't need to know how to drive. Just like her mother, my grandmother also inherited her cooking style. I remember doing a class project on Italy where I had to bring an Italian dish into class to share. I asked my grandmother for help making some type of Italian bread. She gave me the recipe from her head and it turned out perfectly. This was a common thing in her kitchen.

My mother's side of the family originated from England. At the time they arrived, education was beginning to become really popular in England. My family has very strict views when it comes to education which I have now learned was due to England's strict educational policies at the time my ancestors came over to the United States.