Christmas

Thursday, June 4, 2015

TBT -- Childhood Foods

When my little grandies are here, I have to keep in mind what they like to eat, and the list isn’t that long. When both of them were younger, they ate everything. Then, little by little, they became quite picky about what they wanted. I still have a long enough list to keep them satisfied, but after awhile the list changes. It reminds me of my own younger days when I only liked certain things.

For one, I had a mom who loved to cook – lucky me, but I didn’t always like what she made. My parents never forced me to eat or stay at the table until I finished a meal.    They believed that if I was hungry enough, I’d eat, and they believed I was developing a discriminating palate! I was much older when the latter occurred, but it’s nice to remember how my parents thought. I continued the practice with my own kids, and now I see my little guys being raised the same way.

My breakfasts during the school year were always bowls of cereal, sometimes with fruit. I tried to get some of those no-no cereals – Frosted Flakes, Sugar Pops, Sugar Crisps, etc. – but my mom usually stuck to Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, and Cheerios. On Sundays, we always had fried eggs with bacon, sausage, or scrapple. (Yes, I do like scrapple, despite its bad rep.) My Dad would get rolls, donuts, and pastries from the bakery. It was a true feast! I do remember having poached, scrambled, and soft-boiled eggs, so maybe that was a weekday treat.

My lunches nearly always consisted of the banal PB&J. I went through a stage of only liking strawberry jelly, then another where I only ate grape. Sometimes, we had hot dogs, and I also developed a liking for bologna and liverwurst. Both meats had to be on “squishy” white bread with schmears of mayo. Later in childhood, I discovered that tuna salad was also yummy. 

Dinners were a bit more of a battle. I didn’t like a lot of meats; I always wanted chicken. My mother told me the story of the five-year-old me going to visit my uncle and family in Michigan. They served prime rib for dinner, and I refused to eat it. “I only eat chicken.” To which my uncle replied, “Oh, you’ll love this. It’s chicken on the hoof.” That’s when I learned to like beef. In the vegetable line, I only ate corn on the cob and fresh string beans. My mother would serve other veggies, but I never ate them. Thank heaven that attitude changed because now I love veggies. 

Unfortunately, I also loved junk food – cookies, pretzels, chips, popcorn, and those awful orangey things. My mom limited both the availability and quantity, but my addiction was already in place. It must not have been all that harmful, though because I was rarely sick. 

Nowadays, I eat a variety of foods in all groups, and I still crave junk at times. So, my childhood wasn’t a true indication of my later choices. It’s the reason I give little concern to the preferences of my grandies. They’ll grow just fine.

Peace,
Muff

7 comments:

  1. i'm with you muff, my kids ate what they liked, were never forced to eat anything and they grew up just fine!!

    i am a "foodie", not as much one for sweets!!!

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    1. I know people who say they were forced to finish meals, and now they have terrible diets!

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  2. I wish I could adopt that attitude towards my grandkid's eating habits, nut no,,,they drive me absolutely crazy.

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    1. My daughter actually made me a list of likes and dislikes!! The kids eat what they want, and they're still healthy.

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  3. Now that my diet is so restricted (e.g. gluten and dairy free) I can only look back with longing and also amusement at whatever persnicketiness (sp?) I had as a kid. I don't remember anymore what I didn't like, only what I liked, which was ice cream cones!

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    1. It must drive you crazy not to be able to eat ice cream cones, if they were your favorite. I'm very lucky -- I pretty much eat whatever I like.

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  4. We always have to clean our plates...sometimes I puked if it was something I didn't like...still cannot eat cottage cheese. There were starving kids in China and who knows where...so we had to clean our plates...one time I said "Give them this horrible slop." Got a mouth full of soap:(

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