It sounds like a litany every time a holiday comes around. My mom lists the number of people she will be cooking for and how many her sisters will cook for as well. I assume this is interesting for her although sometimes I've wondered if it's a competition, too. I find it a bit irritating although I couldn't tell you why.
Yesterday we spent part of the day with dearest one's family. We are over 50 people if everyone shows up. I always think of my mom at these gatherings. How she would be cooking up twice as much food as my in laws do. I have often admired how there aren't many left overs when my husband's family gets together. Food seems to be secondary to visiting. As long as there is enough to go around then all is good.
When I talk to my mom later today she will want to know what was served and all the details. I guess the difference between us is that I am not a cook and she is. I threw out my old and forgotten spice rack a few months ago and have only replaced a few since then. My mom has a cupboard that houses only spices. All 100 of them. Darn. The more I type the clearer it's becoming that I have many unresolved issues when it comes to my mom and food. Typed myself right into a corner again.
10 comments:
I'm laughing because my mom does that to..want to know every detail of who was there, and what they ate!
I don't know about your mom, but many members of my mom's and grandmom's generations love people through food. It is the thing they do well and find satisfaction in. We see this clearly when people bring food into a house of mourning, and maybe holiday meals too. But my generation lives in a different culture, and if we do take food somewhere, often it prepared for us by a store, because spending time in the kitchen is not as valued as it once was. Except when I and my cousins cook a holiday meal, then we pull out all the stops, and there are leftovers galore!
{{{{{sigh}}}}}
{Groucho Marx voice} Anyone who can stand to eat what I cook doesn't deserve my contempt--an alka-seltzer maybe.
I love to eat out with some peeps, and for want of anything in common, they talk about nothing else but the food they have eaten in the recent or distant past (or both), and where, when, who was there, but mainly the food, the food, the food!
I'd rather talk about AA--or music...but that's me!
Guess moms are all alike? No, that CAN'T be true...
Love your post, Hope.
Do the unresolved issues EVER stop? I agree with Chris...that generation put so much emphasis on food and being a 'good' cook. It sounds like you had a wonderful holiday!
"Typed myself right into a corner again."
You always manage to make me smile.
Mich
Great post. It got me thinking about my relationship to people and food. I obsess over food. My husband thinks we could serve hamburger helper as long as we had the right people. Thanks for sharing.
this made me smile!
I'm not sure I could fit food for 9 people into the microwave.
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