33 Greatest Foods/Food Exposure Growing Up & Eating Traditions (Long Post)

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In a message dated 2/13/2007 12:53:12 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, arcure (AT) ptdprolog (DOT) net writes: I was just wondering what kind of food exposure others had growing up.....did your parents offer a wide variety of foods or was mealtime more a routine thing and restricted? It's interesting to see how our diets are shaped by what we ate as kids and how hard it can be to push past the past.sluggy I have enjoyed reading everyone's response to Sluggy's question. My own diet is still somewhat influenced by the types of foods I ate. The biggest obstacle for me to overcome is that it is not necessary to build a meal around meat being the main dish. I lived with my father's parents the first

14 years of my life, but saw my other grandparents regularly as well as my father and my mother/stepdad. Cooking from scratch was the mainstay with all my grandparents, where as my mother would serve frozen vegis, although they were not 'typical' vegis like corn and peas, but usually Asian or Italian inspired. I think it was a new line Birds Eye put out in the early 70s. Rarely did we go out to eat with our grandparents, as my grandmothers enjoyed cooking (and were fantastic cooks), but we did eat out with my mother and stepfather....and like Cyndi, we were exposed to a variety of foods from other cultures. My father is what I call a 'creative' cook. He can open up a cupboard and fridge and dream up a meal, including 'unique' recipes, just by looking at what he had on hand. My father would use canned foods only in recipes for casseroles, but these past few years he cooks exclusively with fresh vegis or home canned goods neighbors give

him. In the home where I spent my childhood, breakfast was NOT an option. During cold weather (and Northern California does have cold weather!) we had hot breakfasts, and during warmer weather we had cereal w/milk as well as fruit. We almost always took our lunches to school and my sister and I envied our friends who's lunch boxes contained chips, Twinkies (and other processed baked treats), bologna & Kraft 'cheese' sandwiches on white bread and 'fruit' punch in little plastic bottles. It wasn't until I was in junior high where I appreciated the homemade whole grain breads with fresh vegis dressing up turkey or chicken sandwiches (carved from a bird my grandmother had cooked). We did have tuna sandwiches sometimes as well as sliced pork loin and cow's tongue. There was always fruit and either carrot sticks or celery sticks w/peanut butter, and a homemade cookie. I can't believe I wanted a

Ho-Ho more than a homemade oatmeal raisin cookie! On rainy days our grandmother also packed a thermos of homemade soup. Wow, we ate like princesses now that I think of it! Dinner was planned around a main dish made of meat, and always included one green vegi and one vegi of another color, a starch (corn and squash were considered vegis) which was usually potatoes prepared in various ways but sometimes it was hominy, beans or legumes (black eyed peas were a favorite of my Oklahoma raised grandfather) or a rice dish. Fruit was also served, sometimes cooked, and there was always dessert, sometimes a fruit cobbler or pie, or sometimes gingerbread or homemade cookies. When strawberries were in season we made our own shortbread and spongecake for them and during watermelon and peach season we feasted on these fruits whenever we wanted. At my mother's we always had a meat main dish,

served with a garden salad, frozen vegis and white rice. My stepfather is Japanese American and we had rice with every dinner. Dessert was usually something from the local bakery or some elegant frozen concoction my mother made from one of her Italian relatives' recipes. When my mother and stepfather entertained, then the main dish was something Italian, Japanese or along the lines of rack of lamb, with many side dishes. This is the one time my mother made everything from scratch and she was great about having my sister and I help. By the time we were 10 and 12, we knew how to cook a variety of side dishes and knew WHEN to cook things so everything came out on time, which is probably the greatest cooking skill I learned at home. I know the amount of fruit we consumed added a lot of sugar to our diet, but we were spared the sugary cereals and processed foods our friends ate. Most of the fruits and vegis came

from local family farms (I grew up in the Sacramento Delta) or our neighbors yards, and my grandmother's kitchen was one of the 'canning' kitchens in town where women in the community would come together and can for each other's families. When there was a surplus or bumper crop, we used our church's huge kitchen and the excess was given to what was them termed 'needy families', usually the families of the hard working people who picked the crops!!!! Because most of my grandparents grew up on farms and lived in rural communities, the cooking was typical of farm meals. My mother was a bit more 'sophisticated' and worldly and her dinner party menus reflected this. My dad, a true individual, took the best of scratch, what he considers the best of his culinary discoveries from traveling the world, and his own unique way of combining foods together....sometimes a wonderful surprise, sometimes only a dish he appreciates! One real positive influence from my childhood eating experiences was that every meal we ate at home, my sister and I would take something from the cupboard or pantry and put it in a box set aside to be delivered to families in need. The rare times we ate out, or the more frequent time with our mother and stepfather, my sister and I were encouraged to practice our math skills and figure out what 10% of the dining bill was. When we got home that amount was placed in an envelope and right before Thanksgiving the contents of the envelope were donated to an organization that provided food for people locally and around the world, usually some group sponsored by our church. xoxoxo Noëlle . "Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and thewinds long to play with your hair." - Kahlil Gibran

 

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Your story was enjoyable too. You have had a great and healthy childhood...

 

Barbara

 

 

I have enjoyed reading everyone's response to Sluggy's question. My own diet is still somewhat influenced by the types of foods I ate. The biggest obstacle for me to overcome is that it is not necessary to build a meal around meat being the main dish.

 

xoxoxo Noëlle