6 |^ May 2019
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EXTRAS
What’s for dinner? It’s the perennial question we get asked (or ask
ourselves) every day. In our latest BH&G Food Factor study, the answer
was, “Whatever my family will eat.” Accordingly, many of you have
developed a rotating cast of guaranteed hits: baked or grilled chicken (more
than double any other food item in our study), spaghetti, tacos, meat loaf,
burgers, pizza. There aren’t really any surprises on the list. And I agree:
Don’t mess with success, right? Then again, don’t we sometimes get a little
bored? (If so, see our “Dinner in America” story, page 82.)
My mom’s favorite dishes included chicken and dumplings, beef stew,
steak fingers (ask a Texan), and pot roast. During the summer, Saturdays
were always special because my parents invited guests over for a barbecue
and homemade ice cream, but weeknights we mostly ate from a roster
of tried-and-trues. Mom read magazines like this one, I think, partly as an
escape from the demands of running a household of six but also for new
recipe ideas. Unfortunately, not all of them were crowd-pleasers.
One specific meal stands out in my memory. My mom had clipped a
recipe for creamed salmon on waffles that had caught her eye. My siblings
and I made a huge fuss, poking at our food, laughing, and making all sorts
of peevish comments. To our shock, my mom burst into tears and left the
table. Then, to our horror, my dad glared at each
of us before ordering us to apologize. We felt
like the worst people in the world. Never again
did we insult what came out of that kitchen.
For a young me, that was a turning point
in how I saw my mother. Like most kids, I didn’t
think about my mom’s ego or her creativity
much, if at all. In retrospect, I see how she must
have struggled with the relentless task of figuring out what to make for
dinner. She has been gone for nearly two decades now, and I keep several
dozen of her handwritten recipes in an old stationery box. Some are
scribbled on piano recital programs, others in the margins of church
attendance cards or bank deposit slips. Clearly, she was always striving to
find new flavors and dishes to serve us.
But by the time I was in high school and my brothers
and sister were off at college, Mom was cooking less.
I had become interested in cooking and began making
dinner for my parents on a semiregular basis. Mom
seemed to love the break. But one thing she never did
was complain about what I served, even when it got a
little experimental. Unlike her bratty kids, she was too
good a person to do that.STEPHEN ORR,
Editor in Chief
instagram @steporr
twitter @orrsteporrfamilyMEALS
More than 54 percent of American households
report eating dinner at home six to seven
nights a week; another 30 percent report eating
at home five days a week. BH&G FOOD FACTOR 2018