What is a Third Culture Cook?

When I was thinking about starting a cooking blog and wondering what to call it the name “Third Culture Cook” came into my head. This title is a play on words that conveys an important part of my identity. You see, I'm a Third Culture Kid or TCK. 

Sociologist Ruth Useem was the first to create and define this term. After conducting research, Useem wrote that she and her team began to use "third culture" as "a generic term to cover the styles of life created, shared, and learned by persons who are in the process of relating their societies, or sections thereof, to each other. The term 'Third Culture Kids'or TCKs was coined to refer to the children who accompany their parents into another society." 

My father had a thirty year career as a Foreign Service Officer. As a result, I spent my childhood moving every two or three years. I lived in Guinea, Mexico, Alabama (super exotic, I know), Honduras, and Brazil. Because of all of this moving around, I got to have many experiences at a young age that most people don't get to have until they reach adulthood, if at all. I swam with dolphins in Roatan, Honduras when I was in middle school and visited the Cristo Redentor statue in Rio when I was in high school.

While I'm very appreciative of this unique life, I also have  struggled with issues of identity as an adult. When I returned to the US for college, I had a hard time relating to my peers. I went to a small liberal arts college where most of the other students shared an upper middle class New England background. On the other hand, I often didn't know how to answer the simple question, "Where are you from?"

I found that giving a one word answer denied the richness of my experience and yet, I also felt that responding with a list of all the places that I lived gave way more information than other people wanted. I felt out of place and like I didn't fit. 

So, what does any of this have to do with this cooking blog? I've been getting into cooking recently. I’ve always loved food but I thought that cooking was some mythical challenging thing that you had to be very talented to do. I also told myself that it took too long and required too much planning.

Now, I'm starting to see cooking as a creative endeavor that can allow me to get in touch with my past. I can recreate the multiple tastes of my childhood while also learning enough to experiment with new flavors. I’m not an experienced cook (yet) and I'm learning to enjoy the process. To me, being a Third Culture Cook means being open to new possibilities and experiences and incorporating them into my food. I look forward to sharing my creations with a broader audience!