Food Tweet Confessions

Here's a tweet of my breakfast on 8 June 2014 courtesy of @findmypast & @scgsgenealogy

My name is Gena and I tweet pictures of my food.

Yes, I know that seems like a waste of time for many. I hear the jokes and disparaging remarks about people who take photos of their meals.

And I totally get it. Yep, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, any social media website has the potential to be a catalyst for vital information.

But they are also a place for recording our day-to-day lives. While many are bemoaning the fact that letter writing is dead and that abbreviated texting language has replaced real human interaction, social media does provide us with a forum to record our life experiences. And as you may know by now, I'm a big advocate for recording our family's food history.

My hope is that when I'm long gone my future family will stumble upon my tweets of meals I shared with family and friends on travels and at home for special occasions. I hope that provides a glimpse of my life and my family history. Recording my personal food history allows future generations to see events I took part in, places I visited, place me in a particular time and place, get an idea of what foods were accessible, and what recipes I ate that reflect time, ethnic roots, and place. Food history is a vital part of learning more about family history.

Yes, I tweet photos of my food. Just as I wish I had more photos and letters and diaries detailing my ancestor's lives, I also wish I had photos of my ancestors  and the food they ate and enjoyed.

Thanksgiving on a cruise ship is pretty wonderful!

(c) 2013 (both photos) Gena Philibert-Ortega

This Thanksgiving consider taking photos of your food. Make that a part of your family history. If you want to see my tweets I'm @genaortega.

Happy Thanksgiving!