Your Food Thread

Laurel said:

Absolutely. That's how I feel about pie. And cakes. And sandwiches. And soups. Most foods, really.

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Okay, I'll take the bait.

I grew up in the Appalachians. We ate game. My extended family also butchered livestock somebody raised or purchased from time to time, then divided up the meat for freezing at home or in a locker at an independent grocery or general store.

My neighbor had their entire yard enclosed in wire and filled with chickens.
It wasn't hard to get fresh eggs. We had a vegetable garden. Peas, beans, corn, carrots, and potatoes. Most of it was consumed fresh, except potatoes which were easy to store in the basement. The beans usually got ahead of us, so we would process and freeze some of them. We would always process and freeze corn, whether we raised it, bought it , or got surplus from relatives.

Make no mistake, the produce was rarely CA quality, but fresh is still better than anything else, with home frozen being next best.

I'm hungry. I'm going to go to the kitchen and make a sandwich from a chunk of smoked salmon and bread we got from the supermarket deli and bakery. I'll get back to you.

girlsmiley said:

Fresh, healthy and good food. The people...the whole experience of eating with your loved ones is really what drives me to be a better cook.

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This. My family was similar- my whole family can cook, and most of our cherished family memories revolve around culinary experiences. The time in Paris that I fell asleep in my croque-monsieur at the Musee D'Orsay; the time in Kentucky the doors said 'y'all come back now, y'hear? and the fried chicken was incredible...we can go on and on for hours.

I keep a food journal of just about every restaurant meal, which is a great way to look back and remember greatness. It also gives me ideas of things to make and create.

I express my love through food. Soup especially. Soup is the ultimate vehicle to express warmth, comfort, depth, and simplicity.

MakeYourWhore said:

This. My family was similar- my whole family can cook, and most of our cherished family memories revolve around culinary experiences. The time in Paris that I fell asleep in my croque-monsieur at the Musee D'Orsay; the time in Kentucky the doors said 'y'all come back now, y'hear? and the fried chicken was incredible...we can go on and on for hours.

I keep a food journal of just about every restaurant meal, which is a great way to look back and remember greatness. It also gives me ideas of things to make and create.

I express my love through food. Soup especially. Soup is the ultimate vehicle to express warmth, comfort, depth, and simplicity.

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I get grief like you wouldn't believe on Facebook (the devil's forum) for taking pictures of my food and posting the picture there. I blame the iPhone and ease of keeping my 'friends' informed of my dinner habits.

JohnnySavage said:

I get grief like you wouldn't believe on Facebook (the devil's forum) for taking pictures of my food and posting the picture there. I blame the iPhone and ease of keeping my 'friends' informed of my dinner habits.

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I mostly do that on Instagram, but there's a good reason. So they forgive me.

MakeYourWhore said:

This. My family was similar- my whole family can cook, and most of our cherished family memories revolve around culinary experiences. The time in Paris that I fell asleep in my croque-monsieur at the Musee D'Orsay; the time in Kentucky the doors said 'y'all come back now, y'hear? and the fried chicken was incredible...we can go on and on for hours.

I keep a food journal of just about every restaurant meal, which is a great way to look back and remember greatness. It also gives me ideas of things to make and create.

I express my love through food. Soup especially. Soup is the ultimate vehicle to express warmth, comfort, depth, and simplicity.

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You are right up my street. I LOVE soup.

In my estimation, the two best foods in the world have always been sandwiches and cereal. Sandwiches are like, the most efficient straight-to-mouth food delivery system that's been borne of human intellect and innovation and there is so much opportunity for texture and flavour and variety. You cannot go wrong with a sandwich.

Cereal is good because it is ice cold milk with a carby, crunchy twist. That is worthy of an offering to the gods. Sometimes I have a hard time falling asleep because I am SO excited to wake up the next morning and eat cereal for breakfast. I am actually very fond of most things you can eat with a spoon, like soup. There were probably a few weeks in university where I went weeks without using a fork.

Anyway those are the two things I'm passionate about. Everything else I like. A lot! I love trying and cooking new things and playing with flavours.

BUT, I have to say that for most of the past few years, I've really tried to adopt a food-is-fuel mentality. I stick primarily to a plant-based vegan diet and avoid processed foods. It's actually fun to work around restrictions like that when I'm cooking, and I like making delicious vegan things for skeptical friends, but I'm also very lazy and stick primarily to simple recipes and things I can make in big batches. It's hard to eat out, so I don't do it very often, but it's obviously a big social thing, and it's still fun, but annoying to have to order modified dishes and pay $20 for what is essentially a plate of leaves.

I'm usually pretty hesitant to mention that I'm vegan, because so many people either assume that it makes me obnoxious or that it's an invitation to lecture me on why or why not they think it's a more or less healthy way of eating. I've done my research on optimal nutrition and I eat this way because it makes me feel good. I would never to presume to tell anyone else how to eat. I'm also not super strict. If I go to someone's house and they've slaved over cooking, I will try what they made.

Aphroditiac said:

Yorkshire pudding

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Cooked in roast drippings. Yeah, I'm crazy. Meat is awesome.

How obnoxious of you to presume we'd think you obnoxious!

Wait.



Phelia, you eat whatever you wanna eat, darl.

Something else about food.

It's annoying how some folks think that celiac disease isn't really a real problem for some people. My poor gluten free mates. A gluten free diet is the only medically accepted treatment for celiac disease. They're not just choosing a gluten free diet for shits 'n giggles, yanno.

For the most part, I eat like a paisan. While in Genoa, I am like the old timers, picking up a loaf of bread in the morning and just munching on bread and cheese and olives all day,rather than sitting down for a meal. In the evenings, I usually go out to eat. This is the world capital of pesto, and deservedly so. But there is also much wonderful seafood, and almost every restaurant makes some kind of spectacular fish stew.

Back in Maine, I eat much the same, but I cook more. Of course, Maine is known for it's seafood as well. People from away seem to think we eat lobster every day, but most Mainers grow jaded with it long before adulthood. Lately, I have been learning to make a lot of Asian dishes, curries and the like.

But, I am a New Englander, so of course, I also like my red hot dogs and my coffee ice cream.

Oh, and whoopie pies.

girlsmiley said:

How obnoxious of you to presume we'd think you obnoxious!

Wait.



Phelia, you eat whatever you wanna eat, darl.

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I want to eat your quiche!

But yeah, most people are totally cool. Once I dated a guy who was like, ANGRY about it and would pick fights as though choosing not to eat meat meant there was something fundamentally wrong with me. BUT, he was actually just an asshole. Which I liked, because there's something fundamentally wrong with me

*bookmarked*

I'll be back to contribute when I'm done with work.

JohnnySavage said:

I get grief like you wouldn't believe on Facebook (the devil's forum) for taking pictures of my food and posting the picture there. I blame the iPhone and ease of keeping my 'friends' informed of my dinner habits.

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Sounds like me on Pinterest.



I grew up in a home where food was simply a task like showering or brushing your teeth. With the exception of Thanksgiving, meals weren't special. My mother (learned from her mother) didn't like and didn't know how to cook. Grocery shopping was a chore.

I married a man who was as far from an adventurous eater as could be. He liked four things (French toast, mac-n-cheese, grilled cheese, and General Tso's chicken) and never wanted to try anything else. For 15 years he told me I couldn't cook and I believed him.

Three years ago I got rid of him and got online. Google and the local community college taught me how to cook. I made a point of trying something new every week. Now, I'm living with a wonderful man who loves my cooking and makes the most delicious Italian dishes. I have also become the Cookie Queen. Food matters. Meals are important. Friends make the kitchen warm.

Foodgawker is my porn.

We moved to a farm. The work increased, the vegetable garden eventually went by the wayside. We ate beef and corn and pork all of the time. With potatoes, of course.
My Mom was an excellent cook. She also baked. Pies were her specialty. She can still win ribbons with them. I took up baking as a hobby, but I would never do pastry because it was too intimidating having her as the standard.

A banana custard pie in a chocolate graham cracker crust I could do. If you think you could buy anything like it outside of one place on the east coast, I'd be amazed . I also baked cookies, candies, and cakes. Baked Alaskas. I made those, too. My favorite was a brownie base, with a pistachio frozen custard.

I don't bake anymore because if it was in the house I'd eat it. The weight accumulates. My time is better spent walking 15 or 20 minute miles than standing around in a kitchen concocting irresistible desserts and snacks. Besides, being of German heritage it was basically immoral to allow food to go to waste. It had to be consumed before it could get stale or spoil. It took me decades to get over the idea that if there was starch on my plate I was obligated to eat all of it.

I need to get started on a beef stew for dinner.

Growing up my diet consisted mainly of Mexican & Tex-Mex cuisine. Everything was pretty much always fresh and made from scratch, hardly anything I ate came from a can, well with the exception of tuna and sardines. Rarely did I experienced exotic or foreign foods, which it quickly changed when I first hit my teen years.

Now that I am a mother, I have kept some of my mother cooking traits. Pretty much all of my produce comes from the farmers market, and meat from the meat store, you get the point. I still do visit the regular grocery store, don't get me wrong...

I too try to make most of my cooking from scratch and try not to use many canned items. I honestly do believe that fresh is THAT much better.

I have expanded my horizons when it comes to foreign foods, and I can say that I have eaten some weird stuff that 1)I'll definitely eat again, or 2) I want nothing to do with lol. I've taken my kids along with me (even at their young age) on such culinary adventures, its priceless to see their little faces LOL.

I don't make them eat everything that has been set in front of them, but I do expect them try it at least once. Because of that, I can proudly say that my 3yr old(the oldest) will eat just about any type of vegetable that you give her, wether is cooked or raw, and my littlest one is well following the same steps.

I don't just prepare one type of food, considering that my husband is from the South and I'm a Tejana. I'm lucky enough that no one in my family has to be in a special diet, we try to enjoy food at its fullest, and luckily for me, they all very much enjoy of what I make for them and eat all of it. I do have to say that the one picky in the family is my hubby, good thing, he can cook.

I've become a decent baker, the fact that I'm from Texas reflects on my awesome BBQ's, now that I live in the South my deep-frying skills have tremendously improved. I can follow a recipe to the T, but I honestly prefer to follow my nose and taste, and my knowledge in the use of spices and condiments.

My signature dishes: tres leches cake, the dry rub on my smoked ribs, blueberry crumble, tamales, the au jus sauce, curry beef stew, and last but not least my homemade beef jerky.

My signature meal is lasagna. Well normally I make lasagna, gnocchi, amd ravioli. Its an all day gig because everything is from scratch. Got the sauce recipe from an old Italian dude. Shits insane!

I make a mean pork chop and fried whitefish too

I love gnocchi. I use my great grandmother's recipe. I made ricotta gnudi the other day. They were excellent and much less work.

Tonight I have champagne, shallots, garlic, and some zucchette pasta. I'm trying to come up with something without having to go to the store. I'll let you know how it turns out.

My fried fish




QUOTE=MakeYourWhore;52879874]I love gnocchi. I use my great grandmother's recipe. I made ricotta gnudi the other day. They were excellent and much less work.

Tonight I have champagne, shallots, garlic, and some zucchette pasta. I'm trying to come up with something without having to go to the store. I'll let you know how it turns out.[/QUOTE]

Good luck. Tonight for me is chicken and broccoli alfrado

MakeYourWhore said:

This. My family was similar- my whole family can cook, and most of our cherished family memories revolve around culinary experiences. The time in Paris that I fell asleep in my croque-monsieur at the Musee D'Orsay; the time in Kentucky the doors said 'y'all come back now, y'hear? and the fried chicken was incredible...we can go on and on for hours.

I keep a food journal of just about every restaurant meal, which is a great way to look back and remember greatness. It also gives me ideas of things to make and create.

I express my love through food. Soup especially. Soup is the ultimate vehicle to express warmth, comfort, depth, and simplicity.

Click to expand...

A food journal! Whoa. I wish I had done that when I lived in Germany. Daganabbit.

I love making soup. I make a big batch of it every couple of weeks, can it and send it to my mom, who has dementia and is not supposed to use the cooktop anymore. I made a soup a long time ago from a recipe from the CIA's cookbook and now that is the base for every soup I make. I just modify it to accommodate whatever I have on hand.

I have my own sauce company. My pasta sauces are carried by Whole Foods. I'm going to launch a biz that helps other foodies launch their products.

JohnnySavage said:

I get grief like you wouldn't believe on Facebook (the devil's forum) for taking pictures of my food and posting the picture there. I blame the iPhone and ease of keeping my 'friends' informed of my dinner habits.

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I do that as well...and call it food pr0n. I don't get grief as much as I get different comments all the time.

MakeYourWhore said:

I love gnocchi. I use my great grandmother's recipe. I made ricotta gnudi the other day. They were excellent and much less work.

Tonight I have champagne, shallots, garlic, and some zucchette pasta. I'm trying to come up with something without having to go to the store. I'll let you know how it turns out.

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Whoa. Yummy.

Can't wait to see what you come up with.

My grandad immigrated from Lebanon and married a "white lady" (his terminology). She was a fantastic southern cook who could also make about any middle Eastern dish. It was always a huge feist at their house and I was raised on big family meals.

I have always loved to cook. I go through cycles but make about anything and everything... Some of which is much better than others.

A fantastic website is homesicktexan.com . I have no affiliation except its my fav! I have used it for many a recipe.

Finally my favorite cooking items include a Cookshak smoker, a bubba keg steel grill, a vitamix 750 and an old Cuisinart which does great prep w onions peppers and the like.

Cheers!

Pork chops

^_^ I love food and cooking! I really like to try new things so I'd eat something once or twice before saying I didn't like it.

Mainly, I cook Japanese food. Our meals consist mostly of rice and vegetables with very little meat. We used to have more seafood, but we don't spend the money on it much these days. I also make some Korean dishes and a little Chinese as well.

The most American food I make is Sloppy Joe sandwiches. My husband loves SJs so I make them mostly for him. I'm not a fan of sausage, but I make sausage and peppers just for him, too.

Facebook used to see a lot more of my food posts, but I haven't taken the time to post anything lately. I'm thinking, this year I'll really challenge myself to make some new and tasty dishes.

I love cooking!!!
My husband and I just lost some weight and are both where we want to be.
But sometimes you just have to spoil yourself.

L

I was fortunate while growing up to have a mother that was an excellent cook and willing to experiment. I also had an aunt that studied in France for two years while working on her masters degree and became more than proficient at French cuisine, especially French pastries. I also grew up in an age when your pantry was filled with staples but you went to the store daily, the butcher, the fishmonger, the green grocer, etc, for your fresh foods. Further being a service brat we traveled extensively and had foreign military personnel come over and cook from time to time. All of which my mother soaked up and applied.

My mother instilled in me a couple of basic rules when it came to food. The first being that there are only three unique food preparation styles, French, Chinese, and whatever is prepared where you happen to be at the time. The second was to try everything twice, if you still don't like it after the second time, don't eat it again. The third was that as a guest in someones house you ate what was set before you with the caveat being that if you found it overly repugnant you made polite excuses for not eating it.

I confess that I don't eat as well as I should. I really don't like cooking only for myself so I tend to take shortcuts or choose to prepare simpler dishes. On the other hand I don't rely on TV dinners, frozen pizza, etc. either.

I gravitate towards southwestern cuisine, not to the exclusion of others, just my preference.

Ishmael

Growing up in California, my diet staple was BBQ'd tri tip. At the least, several times a week. Accompanied with any of the following. Beans, torts, salad, salsa, rice, and more torts. And tri tip sandwiches. All parties, gatherings of any kind always centered around BBQing a tri tip. If we didn't eat that it was Mexican food, from scratch. Chili Coloradi, carnitas, pork verde, shredded meat burritos, enchiladas... And torts.

I've since broadened my palate, but it's still my go to food.

Aquagal said:

Growing up in California, but diet staple was BBQ'd tri tip. At the least, several times a week. Accompanied with any of the following. Beans, torts, salad, salsa, rice, and more torts. And tri tip sandwiches. All parties, gatherings of any kind always centered around BBQing a tri tip. If we didn't eat that it was Mexican food, from scratch. Chili Coloradi, carnitas, pork verde, shredded meat burritos, enchiladas... And torts.

I've since broadened my palate, but it's still my go to food.

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Yummy.