Do you think the meals we cook today are different to years ago?

[SherryDAmore]

I agree that it is our biggest failure in our community. We have two grocery stores; a Piggly-Wiggly and a Wal-Mart. Drive for a half hour west and Dubuque has some more, but not really much different. Our little community does have a farmers' market, but it rarely has anything I don't grow in my (very small, very limited) garden.

Since the grocery stores are part of larger chains, there is almost no local produce available. Even when local stuff is great, it is hard to find it. I can "do" my own tomatoes and lettuce. But it seems strange to buy asparagus from some other country when I know it is grown locally (I can occasionally find a friend of a friend and buy some locally)and during the season. SOme years I can get morels, some not. But, in fact, our local farmers' market is more geared to those who do canning & preserves. Nothing wrong with that.

I definitely do NOT believe in ONLY buying "locally in-season". Nice fantasy, if you never want to eat lettuce, tomato, etc, in the winter above the frost line. But when it is good, and it is near-by, why can't it be in the local stores?

Now that I've been here ten years, I have a source for lots of this stuff, and I'm happy for it. But ten years?

This why I love Wegman's: They buy from local farmers, and post what farms they are buying from. Because we have two huge Universities here, one, Ivy league, we have people from all over the world, so we do have some imported veggies and other international food (thank heaven, it's the only place I can find vegemite and marmite) but they have as much as possible from local sources.

 

[Claire]

You are so right. I really do know that to some degree. But it is still frustrating to know that something is great, fresh, and near-by, and I cannot buy it. Luckily, after ten years of living here, rather than trying my farmers' market, I'm beginning to have a few friends who will let me know when they have something I might want. AND, I might add, they give excess produce to our local food bank. It is just frustrating sometimes to see flavorless tomatoes in the store during those months when gardens are bursting with them. I really DO understand that the store can't quit buying tomatoes from South America for a month out of the year. And, unlike some who are so young they don't know anything else, being able to buy iceberg lettuce in February was a huge boon (when I was a child), and now, being able to buy bags of baby greens year 'round? Yippee!

 

[Oldvine]

My grandma never would have cooked tongue so no suggestion on that. But there are some things that I cook that are, if not the same, very much like Grandma's. Her potato soup with bratwurst is a Christmas eve favorite and we do little to change it.

 

[Claire]

Oh, tongue. Beef tongue was a favorite of ours when I was a kid. Mom boiled it, then peeled and sliced. The broth it was boiled in was turned into horseradish gravy. Our friends would turn green, and not with envy, but really, it was delicious. If I could get it, my husband wouldn't eat it (and he isn't fussy) but we all, even my fussy-eating sister, loved it.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Oh, tongue. Beef tongue was a favorite of ours when I was a kid. Mom boiled it, then peeled and sliced. The broth it was boiled in was turned into horseradish gravy. Our friends would turn green, and not with envy, but really, it was delicious. If I could get it, my husband wouldn't eat it (and he isn't fussy) but we all, even my fussy-eating sister, loved it.

My mom cooked beef tongue with pickling spices and it was served hot in gravy similar to sauerbraten and cold sliced for sandwiches. We were never allowed to tell people what it was until after the dishes were done!

 

[CWS4322]

My paternal great-grandparents had a cook. As a result, my grandmother and her sisters did not grew up knowing how to cook (and none of them were accomplished cooks). Consequently, my father did not learn how to cook. It is only recently that his brother has. My mom grew up in a household where her mother was a marvelous cook. My mother hated to cook, but would make most meals from scratch, just not very creative. From the time I was 12 until I was 18, we ate restaurant food--my folks owned a restaurant and we either went there and ate, or my mother brought food home. We could "order" what we wanted. If it hadn't been for my grandma, I probably would not have developed an interest in cooking. When I was working 100 hours/week, I didn't cook from scratch very often. Now that I have more time, I enjoy it. I also enjoy knowing what is in the food I eat. Do we eat differently--oh yeah. Fewer meals with sauces/gravies, mashed potatoes are not part of the weekly menu, and desserts do not show up often. But, I do cook from scratch 99.9% of the time.