My multicultural Family.

 I can , in all honesty, claim to have a truly multicultural family. As well as multicultural, I think my 4 siblings and I could rival the late Elizabeth Taylor in the race to see how many divorces and  marriages we have had.

There have been 3 Australians, 1 Greek, 2 Africans, 1 Austrian, 1 Samoan, 1 Italian, 1 Dutch,1  Danish and 2 Englishmen in our past and present partners.

Our children have added a few more cultures with Melanesian, French, German, Swedish ,Norwegian, as well as more Italians, Indian Slovakian and English.

To date there have been no Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese or Americans, although I was briefly engaged to an American who was ,I think ,related to Donald Trump, possibly his twin. For this reason I decided the union would not last. And quickly ended the union. 

Catering for unexpected guests is a challenge.

This is a regular occurence when one has many different cultures incorporated into ones family.

Usually  I will prepare mega amounts of food just in case.

More likely than not one of the children, their partner or parents in law will text and ask if is ok for great aunt Sally and her cousin  twice removed, plus , their children to come over for dinner .

My own immediate family is just that. A mish mash of various  ethnicities.

I never know just how many might turn up on any given occasion.

At each family gathering I try to do at least one or two dishes that are relevant to  each group.

The Samoan contingent love Raw Fish, Taro and Paulisami as well as mega amounts of any type of meat. This lot always operate on “Island time”

This Island time is very flexible and usually ends up with them arriving at least   2 hours later than anyone else.

Not to worry though. I have this sorted after many years of waiting. I just tell them we are eating at 10am and they are sure to arrive by lunchtime.

Next there is the Indian section.  Curries and extra spicy food are a must , as well as copious amounts of rice. If the food burns my mouth when I try it, I know it will be just right for them.

Chilli so hot it burns my nostrils whilst preparing it. Heaven help me if I get an itchy eye during the process. Instant blindness.

The Aussie and English lot are more than happy to have bangers , peas and mash. With maybe a few prawns thrown on the barbie to boot.

Whip up a big pot of Spaghetti with ciabatta and olive oil on the side and we are set.

Despite the work involved, these family get togethers are great. Everyone is happy, not in the least myself. I may be exhausted from all that cooking, but I happy to have them all in the same place at the same time. Life is good.