My family came from those sloping porches and various small backwoods points in between, including the town of Nigton, Texas, where generations of my family had been first slaves, then sharecroppers, and finally educators. From them I had learned about food as the physical and emotional sustenance that carried people across the terrain of hard-lived lives.
-- Tembi Locke (Bread and Brine)

Importance: This quote connects the concepts of family, cultural history, and food. This quote makes clear the importance of food in Tembi's personal life and in her cultural and family history as a symbol of emotional support and sustenance. Food plays much the same role in Saro's Sicilian family and cultural history. Thus, this quote demonstrates how the two families are similar, despite their cultural difference. They are attached to their roots and their sense of history, and they turn to food as a symbol of love and emotional connectedness as well as a form...