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Thread. In the spirit of great food writers, I have been reflecting on my food history. Now, at 45, I cook a lot, experiment with new dishes, throw ingredients together, use plenty of spices and herbs. 1/x
It wasn't always that way. I grew up in Alabama in the 70s and 80s, and meals usually consisted of opening a can of something (Niblets corn, green beans, Van Kamp pork & beans, Beanie Weenies, Chef Boyardee ravioli, etc.) and microwaving it. 2/x
I don't know how common this was at that time, but it was every day for us. It wasn't because of money; we could have afforded anything at the grocery store. 3/x
My mom was an excellent cook, but she only used recipes, which she followed TO. THE. LETTER. She never experimented, at least not until I was an adult and Food Network shows encouraged the audience to adjust quantities of ingredients to their taste. 4/x
We had a cabinet full of seasonings that were 10+ years old and still 80% or more full. Seasonings are supposed to be USED in like one year! Use them properly and you'll run out of them. 5/x
A fancy dinner was always and only: steaks on the grill with a little bit of salt, baked potatoes with butter and sour cream, and salad, which was always called *tossed salad* and only had iceberg lettuce, peeled cucumbers, and carrots. Dressing was something creamy. 6/x
My dad sometimes made ribs on the grill in addition to steaks. He would put only salt on them and then wonder why they weren't nearly as good as steaks and ribs from restaurants. 7/x
There was a lot of boiling of vegetables too. Mom did make delicious fried okra (just okra with a coating of corn meal, now I put seasonings in the corn meal) and fried squash with onion, again just dredged in corn meal. 8/x
My dad made a beef stew in the pressure cooker sometimes: stew beef, canned tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onion. These were actually fresh vegetables. He sometimes made potato soup too: peeled and diced potatoes, chopped onion, water, butter, and salt. 9/x
Mom made a dish called Texas Hash: ground beef, rice, canned tomatoes, chopped onion, chopped bell pepper. I loved it as well as the beef stew and potato soup. Mom made fudge at Christmas, again following the recipe meticulously. People LOVED it. 10/x
In college I expanded my palate dramatically, in graduate school more still. I wasn't a picky eater as a kid. Mom had a clever way of making a big show of enjoying whatever she was eating and making me want to try it too, making me think it was my idea. 11/x
I ate cottage cheese, boiled rutabagas, Harvard beets (recipe!), stuffed celery -- stuffing was cream cheese and Spanish olives. 12/x
Eating in different restaurants -- Thai, Indian, Ethiopian, etc., reading about food (I should interject that all through my childhood, Mom subscribed to Bon Appétit, but I didn't read about food then), and watching food shows helped to cultivate my taste. 13/x
That's about it really, just a snapshot of one person's very white foodways from the 70s/80s. So concludes my food memoir. 14/14
