HW 4 - Your Families' Foodways

When I spoke to various people in my family about their foodways, I decided to focus on dinner, since this is generally the main meal of the day, where the whole family would be together, and the food choices and traditions would be most apparent.

So, first, my dad's family.

When my dad and his sisters were in high school, girls were required to take home ec., where they learned to cook (Boys took shop. This seems idiotic to me- growing up, every family I knew had both parents cooking, always.). My grandmother was a nurse, so she was pretty aware of eating healthily, and made all meals at home. There also wasn't a lot of "ethnic" food (Not even a pizza place. They had to make it from that pillsbury dough used to make rolls), fast food, or takeout ("It wasn't our style", says my aunt).

So, a typical dinner would be a salad at the beginning of the meal (My dad said his dad did this in some French tradition that his parents had taken up: "His family called it "exhibition salad" because it was done as a performance, the dressing being added and the salad being tossed while the family was gathered around the table," my dad said) followed by the main course, usually meat (chicken, roast beef, pork chops). They always had milk to drink with dinner, powdered milk (It was cheaper). They didn't have dessert, but there was a bowl of fruit in the table for snacks.

My mother's family was very different, and the thing I mean when I saw this is that they seemed to enjoy the actual food and meal more - it wasn't all about health. A lot of this seeems to have to do with cultural values, as they were Italian and lived in a neighborhood where pretty much everyone else was as well. So the food that my mom ate was pretty much what her parents and grandparents had eaten (her grandparents also cooked and ate dinner with her family once or twice a week, so this would explain the continuity), and everyone sat around and talked ("Argued") more. So, having eaten with my grandparents throughout my whole life, this is pretty much how it goes:

Snacks -  Small things people eat when they're wating for the table to be set, if they have the luxury of not having to set it.

Drinks (There's always water, and then something in addition - milk, juice, or soda, but only coke or root beer. There's also wine, and the kind depends on what's being eaten- white wine for chicken and "light" foods, red wine for steak or beef- "heavier" foods.).

Anything With Tomato Sauce- Usually meat and whatever food is eaten on the side, or pasta with homemade sauce. However, this isn't really the "main course", since there's so much else.

Salad - Pretty self-explanatory. This is apparently eaten slowly to help digest the other food before dessert, so come that time, you won't be stuffed. Also, it cleans your teeth.

Fruit - Same thing, and did I mention that this is all on different plates?

Dessert- Something chocolate (The best part).
  
After-dinner drinks-  Decaf coffee.

Note: This meal takes a minimum of two hours to complete, and a minimum of four on Sundays, possibly five if it's an election year.

 So, after having to sit through all that her whole life, it makes sense that my mom wouldn't want to put a lot of unnecessary effort into cooking. There's also the fact that in New York city, people mainly want speed and convinience, no matter what they're eating (and there's a lot to choose from), so there isn't really time. So, when I'm at home for dinner, we sometimes eat the same things she would have, or some less time-consuming version thereof. I think most of the differences between the way I eat and my parents and grandparents did are simply because of the place I live - I feel like if I didn't live in the city, I would probably eat the same things they do, almost the same way they do.