Post by eyeofthestorm on Jun 3, 2024 6:09:21 GMT -6
I was re-reading the thread about foods that each of us "just can't" make ourselves eat, and it got me to thinking.
Many years ago, I was listening to an elder neighbor talk about his childhood. He grew up in the throes of the depression, which matters because of what he said later.
He was telling me about how his mother used to serve him and his siblings stewed tomatoes that she home canned over stale bread for breakfast. He said that was all there was to it - no eggs, no nothing added. Just heated those tomatoes straight from the jar and poured them over the stale bread. He went on about how he loved that - it was one of his favorite things to eat. He'd recently asked his wife to make it for him, and while he was thoroughly enjoying the meal... he said it dawned on him that the only reason his mother served that, and served it so often, was because she had nothing else to serve them. That was what they had, and she served it... and her kids grew up loving it.
I never saw my grandfather eat anything for breakfast except for black coffee. I asked him once what breakfast he liked. He said he didn't eat breakfast (then), but when he was a kid, he loved stale bread in a cup with coffee poured over it. I think it's worth considering that he was the next-to-youngest of eight children. He was born in Italy a few years before WWI. After the war, his dad immigrated to the U.S. to build a new life, and sent for his family a few years later. My great-grandmother packed all those kids up and took them on a ship across the Atlantic in 1918... I can't help but think that coffee-over-stale-bread was a meal of necessity, even if he did love it.
I thought of this because someone (Michelle?) said they didn't like pea soup. I love pea soup... and navy bean soup, too... but the way my mom made it. She worked overnights and would leverage long cooking soups on the stove or later, in a slow cooker. She'd cook that soup until it was as thick as paste (think kindergarten paste)... and that's how I learned to eat it. I would never prepare it that way now because I doubt anyone in my family would eat it... but I bet I'd still eat it and enjoy it.
So... what about you? Is there something from your childhood (or any other phase of life) that you ate because that's all there was... but you (still) just love it?
Many years ago, I was listening to an elder neighbor talk about his childhood. He grew up in the throes of the depression, which matters because of what he said later.
He was telling me about how his mother used to serve him and his siblings stewed tomatoes that she home canned over stale bread for breakfast. He said that was all there was to it - no eggs, no nothing added. Just heated those tomatoes straight from the jar and poured them over the stale bread. He went on about how he loved that - it was one of his favorite things to eat. He'd recently asked his wife to make it for him, and while he was thoroughly enjoying the meal... he said it dawned on him that the only reason his mother served that, and served it so often, was because she had nothing else to serve them. That was what they had, and she served it... and her kids grew up loving it.
I never saw my grandfather eat anything for breakfast except for black coffee. I asked him once what breakfast he liked. He said he didn't eat breakfast (then), but when he was a kid, he loved stale bread in a cup with coffee poured over it. I think it's worth considering that he was the next-to-youngest of eight children. He was born in Italy a few years before WWI. After the war, his dad immigrated to the U.S. to build a new life, and sent for his family a few years later. My great-grandmother packed all those kids up and took them on a ship across the Atlantic in 1918... I can't help but think that coffee-over-stale-bread was a meal of necessity, even if he did love it.
I thought of this because someone (Michelle?) said they didn't like pea soup. I love pea soup... and navy bean soup, too... but the way my mom made it. She worked overnights and would leverage long cooking soups on the stove or later, in a slow cooker. She'd cook that soup until it was as thick as paste (think kindergarten paste)... and that's how I learned to eat it. I would never prepare it that way now because I doubt anyone in my family would eat it... but I bet I'd still eat it and enjoy it.
So... what about you? Is there something from your childhood (or any other phase of life) that you ate because that's all there was... but you (still) just love it?