Cultural Stew Pot a Recipe for Trouble

Re “The House That Used to Be in Mexico,” Opinion, Jan. 11: Perhaps Felix Gutierrez should look upon history more as a field than a tunnel. By focusing his attention on the plight of one culture, he belittles the very point he is trying to make. His prototype for America, a stew pot instead of a melting pot, can be blamed for the collapse and overthrow of his fondly remembered Californios. During the years leading up to the Bear Flag Revolution and then conquest by the United States, “Alta California” was divided and weakened by an influx of persons wanting to maintain their customs and cultures. Many Californios fought one another during this time because of the great differences in ideology.

Latinos are not the only group to have blended into American life. There are people from cultures all over the world who have learned to live in America with others of different languages, religions and ideologies. It is fairly arrogant to suggest that these millions of Americans need to learn lessons of assimilation from Latinos. It sounds like the stew you want should come from your kitchen.

Casey Porter

Rancho Palos Verdes

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In my mind’s eye, the recipe for the “stew” that Gutierrez writes about in his twisted version of the American melting pot consists of boiling separate plastic pouches of varying ingredients in plain water. This recipe goes on to call for the dish to be served directly from the pot, with each cooking bag to be sampled one at a time, only using the bland water broth for cleansing the palate before moving on to ingredients locked within other cooking bags. No thank you. I’ve never been a fan of Balkan stew. I’ll continue to rely on the much tastier American version, which doesn’t call for any plastic bags and lets the melting pot do the job it is intended to do.

Leonard A. Penzo

Chino Hills