Though while I'm at school, my roommates cook a large variety of foods, what I would consider to be New-Age Fusion type foods - tofu, tempeh, cheese-free cheesecakes, vegetarian quiches - but at home, the majority of our food is Italian. Tomato sauces, garlic, basil, parsley, oregano, olive oil and balsamic vinegar are found in the majority of our meals. Desserts or holiday cookies are cream based or almond flavored. Thanks to my dad's Italian heritage, mom makes biscotti or fresh bread on Sunday mornings if she's in the right mood.
But it wasn't always that way for my mom. Her family is English and Irish, mostly, and her dinners growing up were more of a meat and potatoes type of cuisine, with Tuna-Noodle casserole during lent - a sin to my father's Italian taste buds. But through her interaction with his family's culture, her cooking repertoire and tastes expanded. She now gives her own secret recipe of pasta sauce with a brick of parmesan cheese as Christmas presents. The food my mother chooses to make now, what she has focused on perfecting over the past few decades of her life, is indicative of what she interacted with and where she settled down. Italian cooking was her expanding her own horizons.
But now, decades later as I'm becoming more conscious of the food I eat and what I learn how to cook, our world has expanded as have our food repertoires. When it's my turn to make dinner and I start off with Middle Eastern Tabouli, my family didn't exactly know what to make of it. (recipe found here: http://www.food.com/recipe/tabbouli-tabouli-tabbouleh-salad-parsley-salad-197922) Or if I tell my mom about the great soup my roommate made, she has never used half of the ingredients because it's a traditionally Korean dish. She lacks confidence in her use of curry. Clearly, the breadth of our cultural interactions have increased over time, as have our recipes.
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