Home Cooking

Here's the prompt:
In Bich Nguyen's memoir, food is used to "make visible" the "invisible" cultural practices that define us as "American." Reflecting back on your own childhood, think of an example when a particular food (or foods) served to include or exclude you from a group of which you wanted to be a part. Describe the food, the situation, and how it made you feel.

I honestly can't remember any time in my childhood when I was excluded or included from some group because of food. It is possible it happened and I didn't realize it, I was a rather dense child, always with my nose in a book. However, I do remember how a certain food set me apart from other kids.
Before Christmas break, during elementary school, most of the kids would give the teacher a small gift, I guess to show our appreciation for being taught. Well, since my mother and I make chocolate candies around the holidays, I would always take the teacher a small "sampler" of the things we had made.
It always made me very proud that I could give my teacher something that I had made myself. Also, I loved that the teachers liked my present, they knew what it was because I have 3 older siblings who went through the school before me and my mom did the same thing for all of them. My sense of pride and accomplishment was increased because I knew that the teacher liked my present.