Mexican Grocery Store in Pelican Rapids, MN
They came for security; they came for freedom; they came for jobs. The work was hard and dirty and dangerous, but the wages were relatively good for people who had been struggling to survive in zones of war and grinding poverty and over-crowded refugee camps. So, over the decades, waves of immigrants have found their way to Pelican Rapids to work in the local turkey processing plant.
Food played a big part in our visit to Pelican Rapids the weekend of July 13-15, 2012, just as it has in nearly all of the efforts of the Pelican community to welcome and include
the immigrants. No sooner had we arrived in town than a taco stand food truck parked on the main street captured our attention. Following the outdoor naturalization ceremony for 23 new U.S. citizens, we made a beeline to the taco truck for lunch. We were not disappointed.
After lunch, we were guided on a walk around town by Joanie Ellison, one of the
founding leaders of the Pelican Rapids Multicultural Committee. Joanie took us to visit two of the three local businesses owned by immigrants – a Mexican food market, where we bought Mexican sodas, sweet breads and an enormous papaya for breakfast; then on to the Somali ‘halal’ meat market, where the owner served us steaming cups of sweet tea with milk. He told us that the large room adjoining the Somali market housed Pelican’s only mosque.
Pelican Rapids Festival
On Saturday morning, we returned to Pelican’s city park to attend the town’s annual summer festival. The park was filled with antique cars and people from the many ethnic communities that have settled in Pelican. Flags of each of their nations of origin adorned the bridge spanning the Pelican River. The air in the park was heavy with the smoke and savory aroma of 80 turkeys being barbecued on a huge brick grill, faithfully tended since 4:30 that morning by members of the Pelican Rotary Club. As we munched turkey sandwiches, we learned more from Johanna Christianson and Sally Williams, also leaders of the Pelican Rapids Multicultural Committee. Sally proudly shared with us one of the most recent products of the committee, a cookbook entitled “Many Cultures, One
Community: A book of stories and recipes.”
“Food is memory,” I quote from the Introduction to the cookbook. Yes, food is memory, food is politics, food is substance and spirit of the One that welcomes and nourishes and connects us – immigrants all – in the One Body. This we experienced in multiple and
profound ways in Pelican Rapids.
– Don Christensen