I was eating a couple of cream crackers this morning and started wondering about corn crackers...have you tried making them? Anyway, corn crackers got me thinking about the phrase "cracking corn". Well...that rekindled a memory of my dad...when we were born (my sister and I) he gave up smoking. To help distract himself from his cravings, he bought a bluegrass banjo and was fond of Burl Ives songs, many of which are etched in my memory. He used to play "Jimmy crack corn" when we were kids in the 70s, blissfully ignorant of its origins. Apparently, corn cracking also refers to chit-chatting as much as the process of actually grinding corn. That, in turn, led me to Navajo and Cherokee corn grinding songs on youtube. I'm sure food preparation songs are global and Ireland has it's fair share too (see Dúlamán for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-fWGE_zJBU) but it's amazing how much you can learn about a culture through food and language and how lack of context can be precarious. For example, I never in a million years would associate a term like "corn cracker" with a derogatory meaning towards less well off folks. Food for thought...
What a lovely article, Catherine! Makes me kind of home sick for somewhere I've never been...
Awww thanks so much for your kind comments!
I was eating a couple of cream crackers this morning and started wondering about corn crackers...have you tried making them? Anyway, corn crackers got me thinking about the phrase "cracking corn". Well...that rekindled a memory of my dad...when we were born (my sister and I) he gave up smoking. To help distract himself from his cravings, he bought a bluegrass banjo and was fond of Burl Ives songs, many of which are etched in my memory. He used to play "Jimmy crack corn" when we were kids in the 70s, blissfully ignorant of its origins. Apparently, corn cracking also refers to chit-chatting as much as the process of actually grinding corn. That, in turn, led me to Navajo and Cherokee corn grinding songs on youtube. I'm sure food preparation songs are global and Ireland has it's fair share too (see Dúlamán for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-fWGE_zJBU) but it's amazing how much you can learn about a culture through food and language and how lack of context can be precarious. For example, I never in a million years would associate a term like "corn cracker" with a derogatory meaning towards less well off folks. Food for thought...
where is Catherine?