Posts tagged ‘food’
Certainly, no one more than comedian Jim Gaffigan.
“I’ll have fries with my burger,” says Bob’s Big Boy. Photo by: Jennifer Cachola
The cover story of the October 19 issue of Parade magazine explores Gaffigan’s relationship with food. Quotes from his new book, Food: A Love to Story, fill the article. As a personal historian, I particularly like his family stories past and present.
“For my fifth birthday, my sister got me a package of Oscar Mayer Wieners and a six-pack of Dr. Pepper,” Gaffigan recalls. “She knew how much I loved my hot dogs.”
The youngest of six children, he tells of having supper when he was growing up: “You had to eat it before someone else ate it.”
Now with five children of his own, he makes a point of sitting down to a meal with his family. It can be an ordeal with unruly offspring. “Eating with your kids is nurturing, but it’s not relaxing.” He further explains, “There’s a lot of negotiating, the anxiety of things being spilled, kids missing their mouths. If you can get them to sit in a chair successfully, you feel you’ve achieved something.”
So, dinnertime might not be the best time to trace the family tree, relate the day’s activities, or plan a vacation. But it’s still the best time of day to come together.
© 2014 Susan Marg – All Rights Reserved
Photo by: ToniVC
As we get older we find it difficult, if not impossible, to remember our early childhood. Yet we all have a first memory. Mine is the time I tied my shoes by myself. Oh, I was so excited and proud. I raced down the steps to tell my Mom.
Here are ten quotes of early childhood recollections. They all make perfect sense, give the paths the speakers have taken and the careers they’ve had.
I spent my childhood eating. The only exercise I got was trying to twist off the cap of a jar of mayonnaise.
— Richard Simmons, fitness guru
Playing guitar was one of my childhood hobbies, and I had played a little at school and at camp. My parents would drag me out to perform for my family, like all parents do, but it was a hobby – nothing more.
— Bonnie Raitt, singer
I have a love affair with tomatoes and corn. I remember them from my childhood. I only had them in the summer. They were extraordinary.
— Alice Waters, chef
My earliest thought, long before I was in high school, was just to go away, get out of my house, get out of my city. I went to Medford High School, but even in grade school and junior high, I fantasized about leaving.
— Paul Theroux, travel writer
One of my earliest memories was me singing ‘Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin’ at the top of my voice when I was seven. I got totally carried away. My grandmother, Sarah, was in the next room. I didn’t even realize she was there. I was terribly embarrassed.
— James Taylor, singer
–My earliest memories are doing commercials and TV.
Jodie Foster, actress
I played music and sang from my earliest memories. The first pictures of me show me wandering around with a guitar that was larger than I was, and it became almost second nature to me.
— Dwight Yoakam, singer
I still love making hamburgers on the grill. I guess whenever I eat them childhood memories come up for me.
— Bobby Flay, chef
Chocolate is the first luxury. It has so many things wrapped up in it: deliciousness in the moment, childhood memories, and that grin-inducing feeling of getting a reward for being good.
— Mariska Hargitay, actress
I’m just lucky. I do have very clear memories of childhood. I find that many people don’t, but I’m just very fortunate that I have that kind of memory.
— Beverly Cleary, children’s literature author
Try and remember your earliest childhood recollections. It’s a first step to telling your life story.
© 2014 Susan Marg – All Rights Reserved
Today’s Parade magazine in the Sunday morning paper was all about “What America Eats.” It was loaded with statistics.
Fish tacos with mango salsa. We love to try something new. Photo by: jpellgen
Sometimes I was with the majority and, other times, with the minority. For example, 71% of us take supplements. That’s my husband and me. He meticulously dishes them out to take with meals. If we’re eating out, he puts them in old film canisters to take with us.
However, only 12% have a sweet after dinner. We fall in this category, too – his influence. He saves room for dessert. As much as I like sweets, his portion is almost always larger than mine.
95% said they had started diets on either a Sunday or a Monday. Nope, that’s not me. I start diets every day of the week.
11% said they don’t have anything at all at breakfast. Nope, that’s not me either. I always have a cup or two of coffee.
The Parade article doesn’t go into how we eat. We’re all too aware that we don’t often sit down as a family at dinnertime anymore. Who has the time? As Marie Rudisill notes in her memoir Ask Me Anything:
“So much has changed since I was growing up or, even later, raising a family, and not necessarily for the better. That probably sounds like an old person’s point of view, but today, young or old, it’s rush, rush, rush. Go to school. Go to the office. Go to band practice or football practice or yoga. Go to the dentist. Cut the lawn. Wash the car. Do the laundry. Study, study, study. Pay bills. Pay attention. Meet that deadline. Work, work, work. And don’t forget to do your homework. Whew! Does that sound like a good way to live to you? Who has time to peel a carrot? Dice an onion? Chop up a melon? I guess no one, since everything now comes in little plastic containers already peeled, diced and chopped.”
Even as family rituals have changed, everyone has a favorite food or oft-visited restaurant. What are yours? They can be a meaningful part of a life or family history.
© 2014 Susan Marg – All Rights Reserved
Your Biography 2 