The film “What’s Cooking?” follows four families, who happen to be neighbors, from different ethnic and racial backgrounds in LA as they each prepare a thanksgiving meal. In the film, there is the Latino family (The Avila’s), the Black family (The William’s), the Asian family (The Nguyen’s), and the Jewish family (The Seelig’s).
The film deals with tradition in two ways, there are the traditions that everyone in America follows, and then the smaller traditions typical for the different races and ethnic groups. The broader tradition is that of Thanksgiving, which all the families celebrate. There is also the broad tradition of having the women of the house prepare each meal, as seen in every family as the mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters gather in the kitchen to cook. Then the smaller traditions take form in different beliefs held within the family, for example the daughter of the Seelig family is meant to be completely obedient and carry the “family honor”, which is something she doesn’t do in the film.
Multiculturalism and Ethnic identity are presented in the film through the different dinners served in each household, alongside the music that plays as we switch from house to house. Each family cooks the traditional turkey to go at the center of their thanksgiving meal before adding their own cultural foods to the feasts. For example, the Nguyen family adds spring rolls to their dinner, the Willams family adds macaroni and cheese, the Seelig family has polentas, and the Avila family adds tamales. The different foods added to the dinner alongside the traditional turkey represent their different ethnic backgrounds but also the multiculturalism there is in America. The music in the movie adds to this because there is the same song playing in the movie but as the households switch there are other types of music being added to emphasize the different ethnic backgrounds. An example of this is when the Willams family is the one being focused on, there is jazz being added to the music. Multiculturalism also represents itself through dating in the movie. In the Nguyen and Avila families, the children date outside of their race, showing a mixing of different cultures. Jimmy, the eldest son of the Nguyen family dates the daughter of the Avila family, and the daughter of the Avila family dates a white boy.
Tradition, Multiculturalism, and Ethnic Identity are all presented through the Thanksgiving meals that have been prepared. We see tradition through the celebration and through the turkey, ethnic identity through very distant “non-traditional” thanksgiving foods, and multiculturalism through the mixing of those two things together.
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