Mike Parker: Passing down the recipes a generational transfer
I went to Ohio to visit my mother – the first time I have been able to make this trip in about a year. While talking, my mom asked me if I thought any of my kids would be interested in her recipes.
Cooking may be a lost art in many places in this country, but cooking in the extended Parker family still commands respect. Rachel and her husband Joe are both avid enthusiasts of the kitchen arts, as are Pam and Michael, Sara, and Lydia. Mom got out her organizer, and we started looking through the recipes.
Now, let me make it clear: This batch of recipes does not represent her total collection. What she shared forms only the tip of her culinary iceberg of recipes. I knew my children would be overjoyed to get some of their grandmother’s recipes.
My mother is of German descent. I remember her meticulously making cabbage rolls by rolling the stuffings up in the cabbage leaves. While they cooked, a fragrance filled the air that made my mouth water. Mom always made extra so she could freeze a few to have ready for Dad anytime he craved a cabbage roll.
I ended up with two “cabbage roll” recipes. One is called “Lazy Cabbage Rolls,” and the other is called “Cabbage Casserole” – a variation on the cabbage roll theme without all the rolling.
One of the recipes that caught my attention is the “Pepsi Pot Roast.” One of my favorite ways to cook is using a crock pot, a slow cooker. One of my favorite foods is pot roast. Hence, the combination has particular appeal to me. I plan to pick up a 2½-pound roast shortly and try this recipe that is so simple that even a novice like me can prepare it. I may even give her slow cooker pulled pork a try.
When the urge for veggies strikes, I copied recipes for two corn dishes and a zucchini casserole. I also grabbed and copied the recipe for a southern staple – chicken and rice.
Of course, no meal is complete without dessert – and I have several recipes for after-dinner delights. Fruit lovers can try Mom’s delicious fruit salad or her blackberry cobbler. She also has a recipe for grape salad. For those who have a sweet tooth, her recipes include one for chocolate cake and another for rice pudding.
In copying these recipes, I sought to do more than have recipes my children and I could try. Food is a genuine part of folk culture, and how every family cooks represents certain traits peculiar to that family.
Food also represents more than physical nutrition. Family meals are a way of meeting and connecting consistently – sharing time, love, and culture. Our penchant for fast food and meals in restaurants seems to be diminishing the tradition of enjoying a nutritious meal in a wholesome family setting.
We live so fast that we tend to see the tradition of food preparation as too time-consuming – a process requiring more energy than we are willing to give. Yet, when most adults my age think back to their childhoods and teens, what stands out often revolves around the food we ate – and the mother or grandmother who prepared those delights.
My daughter Rachel has called her grandma to get a recipe for a food she enjoyed at her grandmother’s home. My nephew John Henry had his grandma talk him through preparing fried pork chops and gravy.
While you still have the time and recipes, make copies and pass them down to your children and grandchildren. Better yet: share the experience of preparing, cooking, and eating the foods together as a form of family bonding.
If you are a member of the younger generation, initiate the process by asking your parents or grandparents for recipes and for instructions in preparing them.
In the end, your heart will be as satisfied as your tummy.
Mike Parker is a columnist for the Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.
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