Family recipes are passed down through generations, and the film “Grandma’s Hands” centers on six Southern Maryland residents who treasure those recipes.
On November 13, Historic Sotterley held a screening and panel discussion with the film’s stars, as well as writer, executive producer, director, and narrator Craig Sewell, at the museum in Hollywood.
“This was a passion project for me,” Sewell explained. “Kitchens are magical places, whether commercial or residential, because they are the hub of activity. Smiles, tears, stories, and aromas all happen there. Kitchens are places where people get together.”
The Southern Maryland National Heritage Area filmed the 58-minute film, which was funded by a Maryland Heritage Areas Authority grant.
“Ask someone about their grandmother, and the story will almost certainly end up in the kitchen. And once there, the real story begins,” Sewell said in the film’s opening. “Our lives change, but food remains constant.
Food is incredibly powerful. It nourishes our bodies, excites our tastes, is infused and marinated in emotion, and gives us a strong connection to our past. For generations, our grandmother’s hands have created memories, upheld traditions, and blessed us with the knowledge of who we are.
The film stars six people who recreate their grandmother’s recipes: Teandre Thompson of Lexington Park (bread pudding), Mary Louise Booth Webb of Waldorf (crackling bread), Tiffany Barber of Newburg (tomato sauce with meatballs), Franklin A. Robinson of Benedict (chili sauce), LaWann Stribling of Greenbelt (macaroni and cheese), and Kayla Griffith of Lothian (sweet potato pancakes).
Thompson stated that her grandmother, Theresa Young, would make “a masterpiece dessert using a few ingredients and her hands.” She did not use measuring cups or spoons; she simply did it by sight. “I am not that daring yet.”
The 98-year-old Webb, who prepared the dish in her grandmother’s farm kitchen near Zekiah Swamp, explained that it was created to use every part of the pig.
Robinson, who lives at Serenity Farm, explained that his grandmother would make the sauce at the end of the tobacco harvest.
“For me these recipes are a way of keeping all of these people I’ve known alive,” Robinson admitted. “Every time I open the cookbook, I think of my grandmother at her wood stove and my other grandmother, who lived on another farm. It’s about remembering and honoring them.
Barber, who lives on Grace Haven Farm, said her grandmother would take Wonder Bread, slather it with sauce, and top it with Parmesan.
“My grandmother’s recipes were the center of my childhood,” Barber, who still uses her grandmother’s cast iron skillet, says in the film. “And it’s something I carry forward with my kids.”
Barber explained that dinner in her two-table dining room, which is necessary for eight children and five grandchildren, “became that place where you learned to express yourself, having conversations about what matters to you and those connections.” Dinner is important, as are meals. “It’s the connection you make over that meal.”
Griffith, who lives on the family farm, said her grandmother Lillian would make pancakes with chocolate chips, whipped cream, sprinkles, “the whole nine yards”
“She could not sit down for more than a minute or two,” she told me. “She would get up and make sure that everyone had something on their plate. To the majority of us, she would say, ‘You don’t have enough,’ but [to my grandfather], ‘Earl, you’re eating too much.’”
The film screening last month marked the season finale of Historic Sotterley’s Common Ground series.
“Throughout the peninsula that is Southern Maryland, people have gathered, cooked for centuries,” Sewell says in the film’s opening minutes. “The recipes are messengers from which we came. “Food and recipes can divide a family, a region, or even a culture.”
On Sunday, November 24, the film’s hour-long version premiered on mpt.org, pbs.org, and the PBS app.
For more information on the film, visit destinationsouthernmaryland.com/discover/grandmas-hands.