Over twenty years ago, First Experience Communications, my marketing communications firm, grew out of my own exploration about destination, and the unique stories and the shared purpose of immigrants coming to America. They came at great risk and uncertainty, arriving at Ellis Island with few personal items. In fact, my company’s name came from the research and oral histories I conducted with surviving immigrants (including my own family). When I asked them to tell me about their journey to this country, they often began with the words “my first experience…"
This fascination continues today as the relationship with our clients, peers, and friends takes us to new places and experiences. Each one has a unique history and growth path. We are excited to discover fresh opportunities, while making new connections and forging lasting relationships along the way.
To celebrate all of our individual creativity, as well as our common family experiences, the past two years, my firm has produced a family heritage recipe book for the December holiday season. Last year, staff provided family recipes along with a short history of the meaning of the recipe to their lives. As part of our holiday celebration, each staff prepared their special recipe for an open house at the office. The response we got from our clients, peers, community and others was overwhelming. People were curious about the stories that we shared and the ethnic diversity this event demonstrated. So this year for the holiday season, we created a 2nd Edition Heritage recipe book that featured our clients’ special dishes. This too, was a success. In fact, several people who received the recipe booklet sent me their recipe or brought their dish in to our open house!
I believe there are different ways for all of us to connect and family-related food experiences have special meaning in our lives. So I invite you to submit a favorite recipe, photo, and anecdotal information related to your family heritage recipe. Then, with your permission, I will post it on my blog and our website. To get a flavor of how the recipes were presented go to the following web addresses and download the 2005 and 2006 versions. If you want to know more about my background please visit our web site.
Travel and Eat Well.
Ira W. Yellen