Svacina Project

For the last 15 years, it seems I've thought about food on a daily basis (besides eating it), but not like most food bloggers do. I did have a period in my life (first marriage, 20s, stint as a vegetarian) when finding the next delicious recipe was what it was all about... a new flavor combination to explore, new technique to master, friends to impress, family to convince that being a vegetarian wouldn't kill me. But in 1994, an opportunity redirected my focus, or rather broadened my idea of what was relevant about food's place in my life. Those previous reasons were still important, but overlayed upon them were family, history, ethnicity, culture, geography. In '94, I was working for a nonprofit arts organization called Texas Folklife Resources (TFR) in Austin as their Administrative Assistant. I had, 2 years earlier, gotten a BFA in Painting, but that was, of course, useless. Our director at TFR was approached by the Smithsonian Institution, looking for Texas Czechs t

After 3 failed attempts at teaching a class called Recipes for Family History through UT Informal Classes (hardly anyone signed up) and one of those conversations where the universe works through someone unexpected to kick your butt out of feeling-sorry-for-yourself lethargy, I’m going to put my class syllabus to the test with my own family background and blog about it. (Thanks Addie! See Addie's post about our discussion.) With laptop, camera, notepad, years of stuff collected about my family and Czech food in Texas, and probably an active toddler with a strangle hold on my pants leg and a super-smart tween keeping me straight, I’m going to basically do what I’ve told myself for years I want to do. And that's to interview relatives and other Texas-Czech community members about food memories, test recipes in Texas-Czech cookbooks, “apprentice” with my parents to learn how to do everything from can beets to barbecue a brisket, attend kolache festivals, and record anything and e