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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& #39;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& #39;t know how common this was at that time, but it was every day for us. It wasn& #39;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& #39;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& #39;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& #39;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& #39;t read about food then), and watching food shows helped to cultivate my taste. 13/x
