The Department of Radiology Diversity and Inclusion Council held a cultural sharing session on November 19th. This session allowed the faculty and trainees an opportunity to come together before the holidays (via zoom) and spend some time sharing special moments in their lives, and just smile and laugh a bit together! All faculty and residents were invited to share anything they would like about their family culture, heritage, or tradition.
(An additional session for the residents was provided on November 24th, during their noon conference hour for those who were unable to attend the November 19th session.
I come from an Italian family - although at this point, we are several generations removed. My maternal great-grandparents immigrated from Italy and brought with them the rich cooking from their regions. They landed, separately, in Ellis Island in the 1930s. My maternal grandmother specifically, grew up in a tight knit neighborhood within NYC among Italian-American immigrants. From this neighborhood and her own at-home upbringing as an Italian immigrant, my grandmother learned to cook! My grandmother brought our family the feast of the seven fishes. This feast is to be enjoyed on Christmas eve, usually late at night as you are supposed to fast for the day (which I no longer partake in . . . I really love to eat). Fish is the meal of choice for this holiday, as meat was never allowed on holidays. Although my grandparents are no longer with us, every year on Christmas Eve, the maternal side of my family comes together and we cook a stew of Seven Fishes to share with whatever friends and family can be present! The dish is quite literally exactly as it sounds, you cook seven different fishes into a red sauce. You don't have to eat all seven fishes in one single dish, so long as you enjoy all seven in something at some point throughout the meal! Traditionally my family has always enjoyed it as a single stew. While there are a specific 7 fishes suggested to enjoy, my family (as I'm sure many others have as well) over the years has become less restrictive to only eating those seven and has instead expanded to including whatever seven we feel like eating!! This year of course will likely look a little different (seven fishes via zoom??) - but I still plan to cook it up and enjoy my seven fishes even hundreds of miles apart!!
Lunar New Year with Dr. Carina Yang
Diwali with Dr. Kirti Kulkarni
Sharing family stories can help change someone’s perspective when they come to realize that they also share a similar mindset and background. By sharing, the session participants helped create a more open and culturally aware society. This session was a warm, open, and inviting space – were all family members were welcome.
Following the live cultural sharing session, to celebrate the holidays as a team, members of our department were invited to submit cultural tastes and traditions for sharing with one another. After a particularly difficult year, where we all spent a lot of the time moving (physically) apart from one another, we hoped this invitation and experience would bring us all a bit closer! Submissions were compiled into a single document to be enjoyed here.
Sharing family stories can help change someone’s perspective when they come to realize that they also share a similar mindset and background. By sharing, the session participants helped create a more open and culturally aware society. This session was a warm, open, and inviting space – were all family members were welcome.
