Cherry mochi cakes, recipes below
In my first book, Hog and Hominy http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14638-8/hog-and-hominy/tableOfContents, I study the global origins of soul food, the forces that shaped its development, and the distinctive cultural collaborations that occurred among Africans, Europeans, Native Americans, and Asians to create this distinctive cuisine. I drew upon a wide range of sources to examine the ways that food has been a source of community cohesion and cultural identity. For some Asian Americans, New Year’s means preparing sweet rice cakes called mochi. During the early Christian period, Indonesian and Portuguese traders traveling across the Indian Ocean introduced Asian long grain rice from South East Asia to North Africa. North African traders then carried Asian rice across the Sahara to West Africans. Soon after their arrival, West Africans began making extensive use of Asian rice long before the start of the Atlantic slave trade. For low country folks in South Carolina and Georgia, there is no New Year’s celebration without rice based dishes like hoppin’ John (see yesterday's post). Likewise, mochi cakes made from layers of sweet rice steamed and shaped into cakes and seasoned, sometimes with coconut, represents the yearly culinary high point for some Asian Americans.
Cherry gluten-free Mochi Cakes: http://foodlibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/05/cherry-mochi-cakes-cute-and-gluten-free.html
Coffee Mochi Cakes: http://weekofmenus.blogspot.com/2010/08/coffee-mochi-cake-replacing-one-vice.html
Strawberry Mochi Cakes: http://fortwoplease.blogspot.com/2010/08/strawberry-mochi-cake.html
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