Belonging without blending
Growing up Italian-Indian made cultural appreciation complex.
Culture is often described as something you belong to. However, for many people, particularly those who are mixed race, culture is something that you navigate.
Culture occurs when people in a location and a community share specific traditions, food and holidays. But I have the case of being mixed race—half-Italian and half-Indian—and live in Toronto, also widely considered as one of the world’s most diverse cities. As a result of this, I don’t follow one single culture in a straight line but see different aspects of Italian and Indian culture correspond with each other in my life.
The traditional idea of culture tends to assume clarity including a single language, a single history, and a single set of customs. However, that definition leaves little room for people whose identities exist between cultures. People with a single racial background are likely used to having repeated exposure to a single set of customs throughout their life. The traditional model of viewing culture can become limited in who it accurately reflects, as well as unrealistic. In my case as a mixed race person, there is no one culture that follows conforms in terms of food and traditions. Instead I find them corresponding or blending at times; I’ll have Italian food some days, Indian food other days, or often mix the two together which isn’t necessarily part of any formal tradition.
Canada and the United States also have two different expressions when it comes to describing their diverse populations: the U.S. refers to itself as a melting pot, and Canada, a mosaic. This idea of a mosaic allows pieces to remain distinct, while the melting pot suggests that there is a certain blending of cultural aspects which naturally disappear. For someone like me who exists between cultures, the idea of a mosaic feels more accurate of a representation. It does not require people to have to merge into one identity in order to belong, but acknowledging how different ones can exist simultaneously.
Some of my earliest memories of dissecting what culture truly is from elementary school during the yearly Multicultural Day. On these days, students would bring in their traditional clothing and food from their respective cultures and be encouraged to represent their backgrounds with pride. To address my dual backgrounds, I remember bringing in both a crunchy Indian snack food called Namak para and an Italian desert recipe. These events were undoubtedly exciting with the solid intention of encouraging a space for celebrating cultural pride. At the same time, it revealed how easy it is for culture to be reduced to a single dish, outfit or performance and presented as something fixed and easy to explain. For myself, it reinforced the idea that everyone has one specific culture and I just happened to have two. Now, I’m fully aware that culture extends far beyond what can be displayed in a classroom. It exists in daily routines, family dynamics, and in the blending of traditions that cannot always be categorized.
While my experience as a mixed-race individual makes finding cultural appreciation more complex, it is not unique to me. In multicultural cities, like Toronto, many people are influenced by the cultures that surround them. One just needs to walk through downtown Toronto to find restaurants of all types, mixing identities and cultures. Even those identifying with a single cultural background are shaped by more than one set of values and traditions. In this way, we can all be considered mosaics that are made up of overlapping influences that keep evolving over time.
I’ve learned from having two very different racial identities that cultural appreciation isn’t about choosing one identity over another. Instead, it’s about learning to live in the spaces where cultures meet and living in a multicultural society that has reinforced this. By embracing complexity we can move closer to being a society that values belonging without blending.
