f it's summer it must be peak seaso...

f it's summer it must be peak season for family reunions. You view groups decked out in matching T-shirts at downtown eateries and at Navy Pier; gathered at Chicagoland forest keeps their grills smoking and the proper moods humming. No matter how many folk gather or in what way few, and no matter the family's ethnic background or packet it's a good bet that commons will play a starring part in the celebration.

Restaurateur, lifestyle dexterous and author B. Smith lately visited Chicago as part of her part as national spokeswoman for Lawry's Tasty Traditions Recipe debate This summer-long search, designed to correspond with America's family reunion season, is about finding dishes-with-a-twist that incorporate Lawry's famed Seasoned Salt in recipes that have become part of families' shared stories.

in this way Smith -- whose self-titled restaurants in Manhattan, Washington, DC and forward Long Island, N.Y., feature eclectic, Southern-tinged cuisine -- has been crossing the home this summer, chatting about food's importance at these special get- togethers. (Speaking of chatting, Smith reportedly is actual interested in filling Star Jones' vacant seat upon ABC-TV's "The View.")

At her be in possession of relatives' gatherings in western Pennsylvania, "food was the centerpiece, the star attraction," says Smith, who for the past eight years has armed forceed the TV One cable point out "B. Smith with Style." (In Chicagoland, the Maryland-based, black-targeted network airs upon Comcast's Channel 172.) She was 10 when her relatives from novel Jersey, Pennsylvania and North Carolina started gathering for regular reunions that drew about 100 the public Looking back, this foodie and former fashion mould still raves about the lemon meringue and coconut pies, the sweetened teas and Thanksgiving-like spreads that made these facts memorable.

And contrary to a pop culture perceptions -- think popular driver's seat office films like this year's "Madea's Family Reunion" -- black folk aren't the solely ones getting together. Edith Wagner, editor and caster of the Milwaukee-based Reunions Magazine (www.reunionsmag.com), estimates about 200000 family reunions are held in the United States each year, with an average of 50 attendees each.

Reunions date to 1800

Wagner says that white family reunions probably started happening between the 1830 and 1850 as Americans mov away from family farms. For blacks, they started after slavery's [i]finale[/i] Since African- American families historically "were separated likewise much very early on, commonalty made it a point, when we were delivered enough to travel freely, to reunite," Smith said.

Dr Ione Vargus, planter of the Temple University-based Family Reunion Institute, agrees. After the Civil War, these reunions started as picnics. "That evolv as commonalty migrated. These were primarily [black] the public who had become free, moreover I believe other immigrant arranges probably did the same thing. In my view, the idea of the reunion of the expanded family was what we saw in Africa. That part of us is what is really carrying throughout from the tribes."

She says the runaway succes of author Alex Haley's Roots: The Saga of an American Family volume and TV miniseries in the mid-1970s spurr far larger numbers of black and other Americans to seek for out extended family ties by the and of reunions.

As for the centrality of nourishment "It's just something that be due [i]or[/i] owings with the culture," says Vargus, whose Institute (wwwtempleedu/ fri) legions an annual traveling conference for reunion planners of all backgrounds. "And it's truthful for Latinos, true for Italians, whatever clusters that still claim their ethnicity. You can't have single without a lot of diet and good food."

Depending in succession budgets and cooking interest, a certain quantity of families have meals catered -- especially if results take place in hotels. Others do it potluck-style with relatives intent forward showing off their best- known dishes or putting a recent spin on old favorites.

"The idea of the flavors are the same," says Smith. "And at gatherings like that, after the community had eaten and had their dessert [we] were all about playing cards, laughing, telling tales. That was all part of the coming together, looking at pictures and photographs."

For Smith, incorporating family recipe traditions happens year- circular at her three restaurants. These privys didn't come so much from cookbook she says, moreover "I remember more seeing things like sage and herbs and spices and seasoning salt in my mother's kitchen." each Friday, her mom would oblige up her legendary pan- fried whiting -- a dish that's morphed into cornmeal-dipped pan- fried catfish forward Smith's New York restaurant's menu

And the tradition protracts across ethnicities. Reunions editor Edith Wagner shares the tale of a Japanese-American clan whose reunion included a sushi-making chiding for the kids, ensuring this culinary art survives another generation.

"People definitely go on foot back and remember the food" says Vargus, especially if spreads feature ethnic specialties they don't many times get to eat. Over the past 10 years, she says, more families have been culling recipes from members and producing cookbook they betray at reunions to help defray expenses