By Eliza Barclay and Jessica Pupovac, NPR

Around Thanksgiving, the Race Card Project brought us the story of a woman who grew up in a Filipino family but desperately wanted to be anything but Filipino. When Melanie Vanderlipe Ramil was a child, she shied away from her family’s traditional meals, including the rice that’s a staple in Filipino cooking.

But recently, she’s become committed to keeping those food traditions alive.

Ramil’s story got us thinking about people who cherish special dishes — specifically, holiday dishes — that have been passed down through generations as a tribute to their heritage and ancestors.

One person who wrote in was Mary Young in Bowling Green, Ky. She had just decided to start making her Norwegian grandmother’s Christmas cookies again. They’re called krumkake (pronounced krim-caca), and they look like small waffle cones.

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