Reflections on Home Cooking: From My Upbringing to Healthy Choices

I grew up in a household with typical American fare like hot dogs, hamburgers, spaghetti, pot roast, and tuna casserole, which I still dread to this day. Occasionally, we had take-out pizza from Chicago or White Castle hamburgers, which, I must say, were quite awesome.

The Volcano Dishes

One of the most unusual dishes my mother would make was the volcano. She would build a structure with mashed potatoes and hide cut-up pieces of fish fingers (flamingo sticks) as the lava rocks. The lava would be crafted from spaghetti or beans. It sounds more like a culinary experiment than a meal, but hey, it was a fun cooking activity for the kids!

Not Always Tasty, But Something to Eat

My diet was not always a delight. My mother was a kind and loving person, but her cooking skills left a lot to be desired. Meat was always overcooked with the flavor of partially burned cardboard, and vegetables were cooked to a point where they transformed into a slimy mess. And don’t even get me started on the calves' liver, which she insisted on serving once a week, claiming it was a wonder food and essential for health.

After graduating from college and being on my own, I made it a priority to learn to cook well. Today, I have a good command of home cooking and excel in baking, particularly desserts. While learning to cook has its benefits, it's not without downsides. Learning to cook has made it harder for me to maintain a healthy weight, and for a few years, I struggled with overweight. However, I have managed to lose all but the last ten pounds and am working on that to reach my goal by my next birthday in September.

Everything on the Plate

One of the most important lessons my mother taught me was to eat everything on the plate. I've come to realize that this habit is crucial to appreciating the food we have. I thank my mother for instilling in me the importance of respecting food and never leaving any leftovers.

Understanding Rationing and Traditional Cooking

I grew up in the 1950s when rationing was still in effect, but I was too young to truly understand its impact. My parents had a pub, and my mother cooked all our meals. Our diet included liver, kidneys, tripe, onions, rabbit, and occasionally game such as pheasants, brought in exchange for beer. Everything was fresh and freshly cooked. Even as a child, I helped my mother with tasks like shelling peas, washing carrots, and preparing meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Our breakfast was usually a cooked meal with bacon or sausage, eggs, tomatoes, and cereals were a rarity. Pizza was something I first learned about in a Superman comic, and I had to imagine what it could possibly be. Convenience food was an alien concept in our household back then. Cornflakes were not a part of our regular diet until much later in life.

Each meal deserved respect, and every bite was savored. My mother's lessons in the kitchen have stayed with me, and my love for home cooking continues to this day. Here's to never taking food for granted and enjoying every meal, no matter how ordinary it may seem.