Ginger: Culture of Food

Sporty's last post reminded me of a topic that I've wanted to blog about for a while: the "culture of food" that we grew up with...

As a kid, holidays were definitely about food. Even now, a decade later, I can still recite the litany of dishes that would magically appear on Aunty's Christmas table. This meal was the backbone of our family's annual celebration.

On the other side of the family tree, Sabbaths were mini-versions of the big holidays. Sabbath lunch was often an extended family affair, complete with specialty dishes. It didn't matter who was hosting. Good food -and a lot of it -was a given.

Being able to cook even gave you a special "in" as an in-law; legends could easily develop around your special drink or dish. The real cooks, however, were the "mamas" and "aunties" who held court over many a table.

In retrospect, their true gift was bringing the family together week after week + year after year. For the 1st and 2nd generation immigrants among us, Scary is the keeper of this tradition. For obvious reasons, this "passing of the torch" is great.

But wait. Let's talk about the diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol that also run rampant in our family. AND, most of those folks started out as active skinnies. By comparison, many of us have a head start on poor health.

So what do we do with this dual legacy of breaking bread and chronic disease? Are there ways to preserve one without the other? The generation behind us is already picking up our "culture of food" norms. For their sake -and ours- we have to try.