Apr 17 2009
Food We’ve Inherited
We are definitely defined by the food we have inherited. Think back to your childhood food loves and hates – and your current ones – and see how they relate. For example, growing up we had pancakes every Sunday morning. I have probably 15 years of pancakes under my belt, about 800 stacks, probably 2400 shortcakes as my Dad calls them. That’s a lot of pancakes. One Sunday when I was a teenager the pancakes did not sit too well – just the excuse I needed - and I have not eaten a pancake since. Thank goodness that is one fattening thing I don’t have to worry about.
When I was a kid, I always knew when we were doing well financially – because we had potato chips in the house. To this day, potato chips make me feel secure. That is a bad thing as potato chips ARE fattening!
On nights when my Dad worked (he owned Bonanza restaurants), we always had hamburgers (we had sleeves of Bonanza burgers in the freezer). I always want a burger when my husband is out of town.
Growing up, when we were sick was the only time we were allowed to drink Coke. I don’t know if this dates back to the time when Coke actually was medicinal – maybe my mother inherited this from HER mother. Now, whenever I don’t feel good, I crave a Coke (regular, not the diet stuff) over crushed ice. And this is regular medicine for my little boy, although he is allowed to drink soft drinks frequently.
And the foods I inherited from my grandmothers make me nostalgic with warm memories of them. Whenever just us kids went to stay with my Grandmommy, she would whip up a pound cake, from scratch, right before we went to bed. There is nothing, NOTHING, better than warm pound cake, right from the oven, with a pat of real butter melting over it, washed down with a glass of milk.
And speaking of butter, my Gramdmommy, who was a wonderful cook, had the philosophy that if one stick of butter makes it good, two makes it even better. She cooked Southern and Buttery, and to this day, I use only REAL butter, and always include just a little more than the recipe calls for. And when I actually made my little boy a from-scratch pound cake last year (my first ever, probably), I know my Grandmommy was smiling on us.
From my other grandmother, Mom, I inherited a tad healthier habits. When I stayed with her in the summers, every night at 5 she would pull out her homemade Chex mix for us to enjoy with her cocktail. This was before Chex mix was cool, or packaged commercially. And she always had homemade croutons for snacks or salads. I remember cooking up big pans of both with her, and eating the snacks warm from the top. I learned to snack from Mom, and now I am the Snack
Queen. To this day, my pantry always has interesting, new snacks to try, and my freezer is filled with old bread that becomes croutons.
But perhaps the BEST inherited food I got from my Mom was my love of Grape Nuts cereal. Now this was 40 years ago, before anyone was interested in eating healthy, or had heard of fiber or whole grain. We had those crunchy, tasty Grape Nuts for breakfast every morning, and I love Grape Nuts to this day. My little boy loves them too; he nicknamed them “Crunchy” when he was 3 and that is how we call them today. I thank my Mom every time I eat my good-for-you bowl of Crunchy.
So here’s to the all the good food memories we’ve inherited!
