Bratwurst and egg rolls: cultural cooking sessions spark connection at Norristown library

July 22, 2025

By Lucy Corrie-Tannen (intern, Haverford College)

On Wednesday afternoons at the Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library, a group of middle and high school students gathered around mixing bowls and recipes, chatting as they cooked together.

It may not have been a typical scene for a library, but as the teens shared food each week, they took a personal and creative approach to the humanities as they created a community together. In their hands, something as small as a bratwurst or an egg roll became a bridge between them, connecting families, history and cultures.

One student, Arianna Vu, even got to bring a family member with her to share their traditions.

“My most favorite session was when we did Vietnamese food because my grandma and I got to teach everyone how to roll the egg rolls and made Chè rice pudding dessert,” she said. “Also, I made a Year of the Snake Powerpoint and got to share that presentation I made. I really loved sharing about my culture.”

*Arianna Vu, middle, alongside her father and grandmother after giving a presentation on the Year of the Snake to fellow teens. Photo by Greg Irvin.*

These cooking sessions were run by the library’s Teen Advisory Board and supported by PA Humanities’ Youth-Led Humanities program. The program encourages youth to take the lead, allowing them to create welcoming and enriching spaces through the humanities. In this case, their collective desire to explore culture and family history through food led to an innovative, hands-on approach to the humanities. The teens followed recipes to learn about other cultures, shaping a program they aptly dubbed “Culture Through Cooking.” Students in these culture and cooking workshops became “consultants” for each session, responsible for sharing family recipes or ones they found through library research. They drew attention to food’s centrality to culture, as well as its ability to forge intercultural connections.

“My most favorite session was when we did Vietnamese food because my grandma and I got to teach everyone how to roll the egg rolls and made Chè rice pudding dessert. … I really loved sharing about my culture.”
Teen Advisory Board member and Youth-Led Humanities participant Arianna Vu

Throughout the year, Teen Advisory Board members met regularly to share food, stories, and cultures. In one session, they learned about Lunar New Year traditions in Vietnam as they made egg rolls. They made soul food in another, enjoyed dumplings while making Chinese crafts, and even discovered that two of their members had family from the same town in Mexico. They wrapped up their year in June by baking classic treats from the United States.

Harbyn Leinbach, a middle schooler from the area, originally joined the group to explore his interest in cooking but was also able to share about his own family’s heritage.

“I’m Pennsylvania Dutch,” he explained. “We made bratwurst, pretzels, and potato salad… and shared about pork and sauerkraut that we have on New Year’s with my family.”

It was Leinbach’s favorite session, he said, though he also enjoyed the egg rolls and wants to try making them at home this summer.

Harbyn Leinbach (left) works on his mixing skills. Photo by Greg Irvin.

Jeanne Cove is the head of teen and adult programming and outreach at the library and oversees the Teen Advisory Board, which is in its first year. Cove hopes the library can continue the program next year, though sustained funding has been in question after PA Humanities lost more than half of its federal support in April.

For Cove, this important funding allowed her to not only support the cooking series, but also think more broadly about future teen programming. For instance, after watching the teens share stories of family and culture while cooking, she began encouraging them to explore oral history more deeply. One Wednesday, Cove handed out blank notebooks to each of the teens and suggested that they interview their family members.

“We talked about family history and how stories from the past are part of who you are now,” she said.

It’s not just their family’s past that is intertwined with the dishes the Teen Advisory Board makes, but their own identities they express and the connections they forge each week.

For Vu, the community built between the teens was one of the most meaningful aspects of the program.

“The thing I probably remember the most is working together, all of us, because we got to find new strategies to work together,” she said. “And I made new friends.”