Things Consumed

 

Family Dinner Traditions: My Dad! From the continuing interview series Unlike Mom Used to Make, Continued. Part VII.

Last spring I began interviewing friends and relatives about what their families ate for dinner as a child, to learn which food traditions people follow, and which they choose simply to remember fondly. So far I've posted:
-Part 1: Me and Steven
-Part II: Reggie
-Part III: Larry
-Part IV: Rosemary
-Part V: Andra
-Part VI: My Mom.

I am working on my grandmother's interview by mail even now, teasing various details out of her gradually, though she has tried to escape my interrogation techniques several times, which is easy to do by mail (aside from the appearance of my persistent questions on every card and letter I send to her). I'll write about that when I have a few more answers compiled. In the meantime, let's look at what my Dad ate.

Dad's family dinners. My father was the 5th and final child in his family, and he grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. My grandmother had moved north from the South, which had influenced her cooking: there were certain "soul food" elements in her family traditions which I think of as being more Southern than specifically African-American, though both cultural influences were present. Cleveland is also very much in the "Midwest," which has its own cooking traditions. Overall, I'd say this combination resulted in an "All-American" menu of food, which my father described as "normal" more than regional.

My father remembers eating these items for dinner:

Meats
-meatloaf with mashed potatoes
-chicken (breasts only)
-hamburgers
-bacon
-pork chops (rarely)
-hot dogs

Vegetables & Fruits
-greens (with bacon, for flavor)
-veggies grown by Aunt Norma. Aunt Norma had a very productive garden, and would provide bushel baskets of fresh produce, including:
--corn
--spinach
--turnips
--cabbage
--carrots
--green beans
--lettuce
-black eyed peas (with chunks of meat, or simmered with ham hocks)
-mashed potatoes
-plums and grapes from the plum tree and grape arbor in their home garden

Casseroles and combinations
-macaroni and cheese (made with cream, cheddar, and macaroni)
-scalloped potatoes
-toasted cheese sandwiches
-deviled eggs

Baked Goods and desserts
-cakes, including carrot cake
-pies, including lemon meringue, apple, pecan, and peach cobbler
-jellies
-golden bars (sort of like a brownie, but not based on chocolate. I'll get the recipe for these from my mother, and post it in a later entry)
-biscuits
-corn bread
-other homemade breads.

Dad also remembers drinking Seal Test Milk.

Things Dad Didn't Eat. As we were working through Dad's list, he also came up with items that he specifically did not eat. There were a few reasons for this. Partly, my father was a fussy eater, but there were a few other factors. One interesting factor, which I had never heard mentioned before I interviewed him: a few of my father's older siblings told him that he would be haunted by the spirits of any animal he ate, and would also taunt him with the discarded legs of chickens. He didn't take well to this. Perhaps this is why, growing up, my father preferred meat dishes that were somewhat removed from the animal: he liked chicken breasts only, and never parts on the bone; he didn't like ribs or other meat that retained a direct resemblance to its original anatomical location; etc.

Items on my father's did-not-eat list include:
-fish. This is primarily because my grandmother was allergic to fish. (This means that my eldest uncle shouldn't have been quite so surprised when my cousin turned out to be similarly, severely allergic.) Dad says that Grandpa would sometimes catch red snapper, and would have to prepare it himself.
-ham
-steak
-pot roast
-ribs
-chitlins, a.k.a. pig intestines. My father once walked into the kitchen, and was repulsed by what he considered to be a very bathroom-related smell. When advised what was cooking, he swore never to eat those.

What he eats now. My father's diet in recent years has been influenced by Atkins and the fact that he cooks for himself now, but the basic dishes listed before - meats and veggie side dishes - are still reasonably close to what he eats now. My 2004 inventory of his cupboards and refrigerator doesn't produce a very clear list of entrees, but I know he tries to eat light meals, including sandwiches, eggs and toast, pasta, and chicken with broccoli. While my Mother is quick to point out the double pepperoni pizzas that she brings over to his house when they rent a good movie, that's not quite as indicative of his diet as it was back before his bypass surgery in the early 1990s, when fast food was a regular feature of his week. Living out where strawberries are grown, I know he also eats fresh, local fruit that is available from the stands a short drive from his home. I know he likes broccoli.

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I have more notes from my mother, which I'll provide shortly.

Labels: family dinners, traditions

posted by Arlene (Beth)11:14 PM

Wednesday, April 11, 2007