Deep Roots Nourish Diners At New Haven Museum

Though it was ostensibly a neutral event space in the pristine white walls of the New Haven Museum, a dinner gathering entitled ​“Deep Roots,” held on Saturday evening, felt very much like a conglomeration of several family dining rooms.

Each table was carefully laid out not only with a program, but with a series of name tags and markers to make the attendees more comfortable with each other, creating new conversations across new, round tables. It was a meal for the entire New Haven family.

The dinner came about thanks to Intro to Public Humanities, a class taught by Ryan Andre Brasseaux, a professor of American Studies at Yale. The 10 students in the class decided to focus on the restaurant as a center of community. The motif of roots was chosen for the idea of each community center becoming the roots of a neighborhood, the way for the people in it to get to know each other. And the institutions chosen had deep roots.

First up were the newest rooted individuals, the food makers of Sanctuary Kitchen, a CitySeed-operated initiative to give employment opportunities to refugees and an opportunity for refugees to carry their own culinary roots with them. Mona Asweid, a recent refugee from Damascus, was first projected on a large screen as she was interviewed mid-preparation of a delicious dish, and then was brought on stage as the attendees feasted on her cooking. The grounding of each interview and screening with the food produced by each institution made it not only palatable, but the most direct transmission of the ideas and discussions at place. Mona, through a translator, spoke at length of her love of the American desire to try new things, which in turn inspired her to prepare dishes traditionally with meat to instead be vegetarian and vegan.

The next institution was Fair Haven standard Cositas Deliciosas, known best in the neighborhood for its wonderful fruit concoctions. Miguel Xicohtencatl, his wife Cecelia, and their children Justin and Michelle answered questions, speaking to pride in the community of Fair Haven — ​“It makes me proud to see people on the street eating things I made for them,” Miguel said — and excitement to bring their products to new people as well. Attendees feasted on fruit prepared not only with yogurt, but also in the Mexican style, with a variety of spicy toppings to highlight the sweet-savory divide.

The story of Sandra Pittman, of Sandra’s Next Generation in the Hill, brought murmurs from the crowd. She grew up watching her mother prepare full meals for six children, every meal of the day. She started off selling her own dinners out of her mother’s dining room, then moved to a restaurant. She closed down that restaurant to retire, only to have people come to her door crying because they missed the neighborhood institution:

As the longest running food establishment of those presented, Sandra’s had the most recognition, and the most family: both children and grandchildren watched her be honored for doing what she loves best. The joy was infectious; the fried chicken doubly so.

Watching waves of facial expressions with every course, one might think that everyone had become family. Tables of strangers lingered at the end of the event as friends, munching thoughtfully on pastries from Wooster Square stalwart Lucibello’s, Toddlers ran around each other, giggling. Business owners looked on the remains of their food devoured by attendees and smiled. Everyone left with a full belly and a glossy, weighty booklet that highlighted not only the food (and its recipes!), but the people that made it beaming across the page. The roots branched out a little wider, and a bit deeper, after that evening’s meal.

Listen to an interview with Brasseaux about Deep Roots on WNHH’s ​“Kitchen Sync” by clicking below.