Food and Making the Unfamiliar Familiar: In both pieces, the narrators are confused by new environments and find familiarity in food they share with loved ones. With Persimmons, the narrator finds themselves in many different, new situations - in class that has different expectations than what they expected, with their father, who is going blind - and the common thread that links them all are the presence of persimmons, which bring memories of their mother. In América, the unfamiliar is just the entirety of America itself, and again, comfort and familiarity are found in the food they know as they learn to adapt to this new environment.