How did you have your main meal growing up?

[Cheryl J]

The "Tyranny...." thread got me to thinking....what was the 'dinner hour' like when you were growing up? (Or supper....or tea...)

I'll start.... When I was growing up, as far back as I can remember, my dad got home from work at 5 and we had dinner in the dining room at 6 sharp. We all sat together. No phone calls were accepted, and definitely no TV. My brother and I had to ask to be excused from the table when we were done, and take our plates with us to the kitchen.

I remember going to friend's houses occasionally, who were allowed to have dinner on TV trays casually in front of the TV and allowed to take phone calls. I thought that was so strange until I got older. I think I was 10 years old before I ever had a take out pizza.

What were your early years like, regarding your main family meal?

 

[LPBeier]

Up until I was 12, we ate dinner much like you, Cheryl, except it was around the kitchen table. The dining room was only for special occasions and company.

When my Dad bought a pharmacy when I was 12, he was working 9am-9pm Monday to Saturday and 12-5 on Sundays. Sunday we had our meal at 6 when he came home and it was always a traditional "Sunday Supper" - a beef or pork roast with all the trimmings, in the summer steak or chicken on the BBQ. During the week my Mom and I ate when we felt like it at the kitchen table and we took a hot dinner to my Dad. When I got my license at 16 I would drive it down to him. My Grandfather dame to live with us when I was 14 and he would eat in his room so I would eat with him while my Mom was working at the store until 6pm. I was in charge of making suppers then.

My Mom got rid of the dining room table and on big family dinners we would just sit in the living room with trays.

We also had to ask to be excused and that is something TB and I still do as we were both brought up that way. We are trying to teach the kids that and it seems to be working.

This is a good thread topic, Cheryl!

 

[buckytom]

we always, ALWAYS had to be home, washed up, and in a clean shirt and shorts or pants (no tank tops, no rips or holes in anything) and at the table by 6 pm.
you know, i never realized this before but we sat in order of age: my mom and dad on the ends, then myself (the youngest) on mom's right, and increasing in age as we went around counter clockwise.

so long, fair well, auf wiedersehen goodbye! lol.


next, we also ALWAYS began our meal by saying grace first.

there was no amount of misbehaviour tolerated at dinner, and when we were done eating we would ask to be excused.

i'm happy to note that i have been able to get my wife and boy to say grace before every dinner (even when eating out, which, with the exception of very few places, gets odd to dirty looks from nearby diners). enjoy your meal on your way to hell, ya heathen bastard....

jus'sayin'..

ok, and my boy also asks to be excused from the table.

when reminded (as was the case in my childhood), we'd bring our plates to the kitchen sink. same as today. (i need to be reminded less now)

i wouldn't have wanted it any other way, and LOVE the fact that i've been blessed with a family of my own to carry on our tradition.

 

[LPBeier]

Bucky, we say grace at home and at restaurants as well. Both our families were like that and we have carried it on.

There was another very strict rule when I was growing up. If you didn't like something (for me it was pork chops before shake and bake) you had to have 5 bites of it and my Mom cut the bites. For my sister it was peas and Mom determined that 5 was a bite so she had to eat 25 peas!

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Like LP, we ate weekday meals in the kitchen, Sundays and holidays in the dining room. As an only child in a house with four adults, I had no choice but to act "grown up". Dad delivered bread, and unlike most office workers, he wasn't always home at the same time. Most nights he'd be home by 6:00, but Mom knew if it was getting past 6:30 it was OK to feed the rest of us. My aunt, great aunt and I would eat, but Mom usually waited until Dad got home. Unless it was winter. Some of those nights went really late and he wouldn't be home until after 8:00. Even then, she'd always sit with him and have a little something so he didn't feel like he was eating alone.

I was responsible for getting the plates from the table to the sink counter. NEVER stack dirty plates one on top the other, my Mom would say. She was responsible for rinsing and washing (I dried) and she hated rinsing the top AND bottom of plates. We had a very small kitchen counter with appliances and a bread box taking up most flat surfaces...

We passed serving plates counter-clockwise with the meat in front of Dad. Seconds could be have after everyone had plates of firsts, and if you reached for seconds you had to call out "does anyone else want some of this?" like a circus barker! There was always more than enough because Mom cooked for her family of five like she was feeding a military troop!

...i'm happy to note that i have been able to get my wife and boy to say grace before every dinner (even when eating out, which, with the exception of very few places, gets odd to dirty looks from nearby diners). enjoy your meal on your way to hell, ya heathen bastard...

You might be interested in dining out at a North Carolina diner: N.C. restaurant gives a meal discount to praying diners - The Washington Post

 

[buckytom]

who's picture is on an ancient roman coin ?

 

[buckytom]

i should add that the worshington post screwed the pooch by reporting on it.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Blame the person who first posted it to Facebook. Once it's out into the interwebs.....

 

[buckytom]

yeah, i guess. i like the fact that the proprietors offer the discount to those who they think are genuine. not as a gimmick.

 

[biscotto]

We had dinner around 6pm, at our big kitchen table. My dad worked night shifts and would leave for work at 9:30, so he usually prepared dinner. He grilled a lot so we usually had meat, vegetables and a potato. Once my older brothers moved out, we didn't eat together so much. Usually I ate with my mom when she got home from work or we went out to dinner together.

My father died when I was 16, from then on my mom and I ate dinner together every night whenever she got home from work at the kitchen table. On sundays, my brothers and their families would come to dinner and we'd eat at the dining room table.

My FI and I eat together every night now at the kitchen table. We eat between 8-9pm usually, he's from Southern Italy and we tend to eat meals later in general. We cook together almost every night.

 

[Addie]

We always ate at the kitchen table. It was one of those ones with the metal top. My mother served us from the stove. She would fix my father's plate first. There was always enough for seconds. The food was kept hot on the back of the wood burning stove. My sister and I cleaned up after supper. My mother put away the leftover food. We would do the dishes, sweep the floor and wipe off the table. We just had to be done my 7 p.m. That is when all our radio shows started. No TV in those days. In the summer I would rush to go out to finish the day playing with my friends.

When school started the days started to get shorter and cooler. So I stayed in to listen to the radio. During this time my mother would be making a snack for us. Usually cocoa and toast.

 

[bakechef]

We ate at the kitchen table, we didn't have a formal dining room. The only time that a TV would be on is if there was some breaking news or a big storm coming our way, otherwise it was off.

We'd eat and then my mom would take any leftovers and pack them up. Everyone brought their dishes to the sink where my older siblings would wash and dry them. As soon as I got tall enough, I helped with the washing and drying.

 

[CWS4322]

Until I was 7, my brothers and I were served "kids menu" at 6:00 p.m. in the kitchen. Bedtime was 7:30. Our parents ate whatever was on the adult menu in the dining room after we went to bed. In the middle of first grade, we moved to a small town. My parents owned the local newspaper and worked together. They'd be home by about 5. We all ate together then at the dining room table. I was responsible for washing the dishes. When we moved again when I was in sixth grade, mealtimes changed. Our parents had bought a restaurant, so my dad was usually at work in the evenings. My mom would bring home meals from the restaurant and eat with us at the dining room table. After then sold the restaurant, we reverted back to eating at 6:00 p.m. as a family. Sundays were usually the big meal of the week--roast beef.

 

[Addie]

We ate at the kitchen table, we didn't have a formal dining room. The only time that a TV would be on is if there was some breaking news or a big storm coming our way, otherwise it was off.

We'd eat and then my mom would take any leftovers and pack them up. Everyone brought their dishes to the sink where my older siblings would wash and dry them. As soon as I got tall enough, I helped with the washing and drying.

And we still keep the TV on for those winter storms. When my kids were small it was my radio in the kitchen to hear the "no school" announcements. Otherwise we watched Don Kent on Channel 4 for all our storm news.

 

[Aunt Bea]

When I was little the main meal was around noon in my Grandmother's kitchen at the farm.

When I was 10 or 11 my Mother remarried and we moved into a small village. My parents both worked so my Sister and I fixed dinner and took care of the house. Dinner was on the table at 5 o'clock, in the dining room, TV in the off position.

In my late teens Mother purchased a set of TV trays using her green stamps and we began to eat some of our meals in front of the TV, sort of like going to a drive-in movie, it's been downhill since then!

 

[Addie]

Bill Crosby once pointed out that the downfall of the family dinner was the TV trays. He was so right.

 

[Rocklobster]

My father was a grumpy alcoholic and my mother worked shift work. She planned the meals well, and when she had to work, somebody either made them or they just needed warming up. We usually tried to eat at the same time at the table, whoever was there. We all started jobs as early as we could so you never know who was going to be home. I ate as fast as I could and got the hell out of there. Which is why I joined every extracurricular activity, sport and artistic endeavor I could. Reason to not be home. In some ways, it wasn't a bad thing....fond memories...

 

[PrincessFiona60]

We ate dinner st the table, Mom cooked dinner until she started working. We girls then took turns cooking dinner and we still sat at the table. We asked to be excused. Depending in Dad's mood, we would be somber or silly. Dad's mood changed with the News that he watched, kids were not allowed to watch, we sat with our backs to the TV.

 

[Addie]

My father was a grumpy alcoholic and my mother worked shift work. She planned the meals well, and when she had to work, somebody either made them or they just needed warming up. We usually tried to eat at the same time at the table, whoever was there. We all started jobs as early as we could so you never know who was going to be home. I ate as fast as I could and got the hell out of there. Which is why I joined every extracurricular activity, sport and artistic endeavor I could. Reason to not be home. In some ways, it wasn't a bad thing....fond memories...

No it wasn't. It gave you memories of your mother working to put food on the table. And it gave you the opportunity to expand your world beyond your home.

 

[Andy M.]

Dad owned a little store front restaurant when I was single digits old. I don't recall if he was home for dinner. After he sold the restaurant, we had dinner together every night at the kitchen table. Mom cooked. The TV was in the other room so that was not an issue. I always considered mom's cooking the best of her and her sisters and she didn't like cooking.

When I was married with children, we ate dinner at the table when I got home from work. If I was working late, I ate alone when I got home.

SO and I share one meal a day at the kitchen counter, dinner. The table directly behind us gets used when there is more than the two of us.