What odd, old-timey thing did your grandparents do to their food?

[grasswire]

My grandpa always sprinkled sugar on stewed tomatoes, and salt on watermelon.

Oh, and sugar on cottage cheese.

And he always nibbled chicken bones absolutely clean. My mother, a New Englander, scoffed at that. She called that the behavior of Flatlanders. Heh.

[orleans]

1. i never met my grandfather

but my mom told me that every night, after dinner, he'd have a piece of buttered toast and sprinkle sugar on it.

[Chan790]

2. Slaughter and butcher it themselves?

Dairy farmers. Sheep and goats. Bartered with the neighbors for chickens, eggs.

[auntAgonist]

3. Grandparents and my father always sprinkle vinegar on peas.

My Mother liked sugar on her tomatoes.

[grasswire]

5. maybe sugar on tomatoes is a Canadian thing

Because my dad's family was from Ontario and Saskatchewan.

[rox63]

17. My ex was southern and he did it too

Said that sugar cuts the acid in tomatoes.

[OriginalGeek]

35. My grandpa is from Ohio

and that's how he taught me to eat tomatoes. Big fat slice, piled with sugar - none of this wimpy "sprinkling" bullshit.

My favorite breakfast when visiting as a kid was bananas cut up in a bowl of milk with a healthy pile of sugar thrown in.


Maybe that's why I have to avoid sugar now...lol...doc says I was close to diabetic and I have to keep a close watch on my blood sugar.

Quitting sugar was a hell of a lot tougher than quitting cigarettes.

[TheCruces]

188. I sprinkle tomato slices with salt

I'm from Jersey. Never heard of putting sugar on them before.

[auntAgonist]

101. We moved from Scotland to Canada and I know she did this forever LOL

Maybe a British influence thing?

[grasswire]

6. vinegar on peas is a new one to me!

Vinegar on spinach, I have seen.

[Major Nikon]

4. Salt make sweet things taste sweeter

I put salt on watermelon, too.

[progressoid]

117. Me too.

And sometimes cantaloupe too. Yummy.

[csziggy]

159. Mom likes salt on her grapefruit!

[TheCruces]

189. Salty dog cocktail

Vodka, grapefruit juice and salt.

Delicious.

[Bladian]

7. My grandpa puts salt on tomatoes and eats them like apples.

Although, I hate tomatoes. So for all I know that could be totally normal.

[Marrah_G]

24. I do that !!!!!!!!

[cherokeeprogressive]

96. Me too. n/t

[pinboy3niner]

8. My grandparents always had a quart of cow's blood in the ice box

They lived near the stockyards in Chicago (just around the block from Mayor Daley), and in those days people would drink cow's blood for iron.

[grasswire]

55. eeek!

I spose it was a godsend in the days when foods were not supplemented for nutrition.

[crunch60]

91. My Gram used to make blood soup, called Czernina.(polish) We would then take her home

Last edited Thu Apr 5, 2012, 07:55 PM - Edit history (1)

made bread, fry it in lard till it was kind of crispy, and then dunk it into the soup. yum! Good memories.

[MrsBrady]

9. I don't understand how salt on watermelon

is old-timey if it's still a common practice?

[greiner3]

10. They had enough of it to eat;

Even during the depression!

[snagglepuss]

11. My grandmother made a small pot of strong loose tea in the morning and then

use that tea thru out the day by pouring some of it into a cup then filling the cup with boiling water. It was good.

[JVS]

12. My grandparents had a similar thing with coffee.

In the morning they made a fresh pot and then after breakfast they just topped off the pot by running more water through the same grounds and filter, repeat after lunch, repeat after dinner.

[woodsprite]

13. Grape jelly on scrapple and

vinegar in beef stew/soup,
salt on cantaloupe or watermelon,
and at the end of dinner, either pear preserves on bread or a bit of butter stirred into King Syrup on bread.

I still do the grape jelly on scrapple, salt on cantaloupe (yum!) and once in awhile the King Syrup/butter mixture.

[Marrah_G]

25. I use cider vinegar in stew sometimes :)

Just a little, it gives it a little tangyness. In the fall I switch to apple cider from the farm and cut up a few apples into the stew- makes it taste fantastic.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

49. I remember diner type restaurants in the Midwest serving jelly omelets:

eggs with grape jelly folded in.

[KamaAina]

60. I've heard of syrup on scrapple, but *grape jelly*?!

Pennsylvanians put syrup on scrapple. Marylanders serve it correctly, with ketchup.

Where, pray tell, do people put grape jelly on scrapple? New Jersey? Delaware?

[woodsprite]

86. Delaware

[KamaAina]

89. I may finally be able to move on from the tollbooth jokes

[HopeHoops]

14. Same as I do - black pepper on melons, tabasco and black pepper on eggs.

[geardaddy]

62. My grandma used put black pepper on canteloupe.

[HopeHoops]

85. I still put it on all types of melons

I'm not big on salt on melons, but freshly cracked black pepper just brings out the flavor.

[geardaddy]

90. *cough*

Does your wife mind?

[HopeHoops]

121. Oh she loves the (CENSORED CENSORED), but the (CENSORED CENSORED CENSORED) is best.

[Iris]

136. black pepper on melons sounds divine!

I'm going to try that!

[davsand]

174. Eggs ALWAYS need black pepper.

Can't imagine eating them without. I eat black pepper on cantaloupe but not other melons, however.



Laura

[Tom Ripley]

192. Absolutely! No black pepper? No eggs.

[PassingFair]

15. Butter on sandwiches.

Yuck.

Fortunately, my mother eschewed this practice.

[SwissTony]

127. May I ask, what do you put on sandwiches?

I've put butter on my sandwiches all my life. Occasionally margarine, but only when there's no butter.

[PassingFair]

131. Usually mayo or mustard.

I never put butter on my sandwiches.

[treestar]

186. You reminded me

of that - couldn't think of what odd thing my grandmother did before. For a peanut butter sandwich, it was very good.

[raccoon]

16. They cooked their own food. nt

[Lucy Goosey]

18. Sugar sandwiches, vinegar on just about any vegetable.

My Grandma said that sugar sandwiches - bread + (salted) butter + white sugar - were a staple of her depression-era childhood. She loved vinegar on cabbage, carrots and even sauteed onions, too.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

48. My grandmother used to make sugar sandwiches for us as a snack

[Arugula Latte]

56. Ooh, I loved sugar sandwiches when I was a kid.

Bread, butter and sugar -- what's not to like?

[SwissTony]

128. We used to have sugar sandwiches in Scotland, early 50s.

And also bread dipped in lard.

[WolverineDG]

19. According to my mom, my grandmother couldn't kill a chicken

& eat it in the same day. She always waited a day to start processing it.

My dad would suck the marrow out of chicken bones.

[PassingFair]

20. My grandmother sucked marrow, too.

And brains from rabbit skulls.

GROSS!!!

[WolverineDG]

33. High source of protein

Dad grew up flat broke during the Depression.

[PassingFair]

34. My grandfather was not poor.

The old lady was just crazy.

Not one of my favorite people. Not that she gave a rat's ass.

She was very nice to my mother's sister and her family.

Good thing my mother's sister was a pretty good egg.

Gramma tried to leave everything to just the one daughter.
My aunt insisted on splitting everything with my mother
after the old bag died.

Of course, my mother had tried to please the old harridan
in every way possible.

Sick.

[bluedigger]

21. The only thing I can come up with is tripe.

I haven't noticed it in the store, but it is probably still available... We had it every summer out at camp with the great-aunts and uncles. I got used to it after a while.

[MiddleFingerMom]

37. Tripe is still big in Mexican food (menudo) and is an option in Vietnamese pho.

[provis99]

178. suddenly, I realize why this boy band was called Menudo...

[alphafemale]

184. lol. But isn't that Ricky Martin in the back?

He turned out pretty OK.

Still not really my favorite type of music. But he seems to be an incredible human being.

[Mopar151]

22. Eat relish ( "picalilli") on the side

Scoop the seeds out of cucumber spears. "Frost" an applesauce cake with powdered sugar, sifted through a paper "lace" placemat.

[geardaddy]

63. picalilli

Were you grandparents British?

I love picalilli on sandwiches.

[Mopar151]

67. New Hampshire Yankees

Lived across the road from the site of the Clinton/Obama "Unity" rally.

[geardaddy]

68. Cool!

I never heard of picallili until I went to the UK.

[grasswire]

74. my mother made picallili every year, and I do sometimes as well

She was a Connecticut Yankee. I only make it for nostalgic reasons -- smells so good! I usually give it all away.

[annabanana]

103. oh me me me me me me me me me

I so miss the real thing...

[LeftinOH]

23. Bowls of ice cream were served with a side of saltine crackers-

to be crumbled in the ice cream, or to use them to scoop ice cream up for a sort of ice-cream cracker "dip". I will be very surprised if *anyone* else has ever heard of this.

[Marrah_G]

26. Okay that one is really wierd.

[ScreamingMeemie]

31. My grandmother used to make us ice cream sandwiches with saltines and homemade ice cream.

There is nothing better than the saltiness of that cracker with ice cream.

[snagglepuss]

40. Be prepared to be surprised. My grandmother's sister sprinkled crushed

salted preztels on ice cream. It was actually very good.

[grasswire]

52. wow

Who knew??

That one is a real surprise.

[jmowreader]

167. It's not that big a surprise

One of the ingredients in Ben & Jerry's "Chubby Hubby" is pretzels.

[Mendocino]

99. My Dad did that.

Maybe it's an Ohio thing. He also ate lima bean sandwiches. Have you ever heard of that?

Here's a weird one, my Grandfather didn't like milk, so he put coffee on his cornflakes.

[madmom]

132. My husband's family eats radish sandwiches, bread, butter salt & radish slices.

[MrsMatt]

154. My mother did too

They are yummy!

[grasswire]

142. LIMA BEAN sandwiches??

Oy!

What did he put on them for a condiment?

[justthinking]

27. UD conversations

My understanding is that this is a political site for the discussion of democratic issues. After scanning the database for an hour, very little political conversations were found. It seems a social club for everything else.

I took a look at the republican underground and its major post seem to political. Is this the best the democratic underground has to offer.

Maybe you can send me to a democratic platform that discusses political views of the democratic party.

Thanks for any help

[uppityperson]

28. You go to the Lounge to complain about lack of political conversations?

Try here http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1251

[cyberswede]

29. You could try the Politics 2012 Group here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1251

Or any number of the smaller groups under "Topics" to the left
- Activism
- Democrats
- Environment & Energy
- Foreign Affairs & National Security
- Government & Elections
etc...

[William769]

30. You are in the Lounge area.

Why not try some of the Forums and or Groups. You might just get enlightened.

BTW welcome to DU.

[snagglepuss]

42. There are numerous political forums and thread at DU yet you click on one about

odd eating habits and then cast asparagus on us.

[treestar]

187. Duzy

[grasswire]

51. hahahahaha!

April Fools Day came and went, pal.

[nolabear]

70. Random Thoughts? Is that you?

Did you ever get that beer and travel money and many experiences?

Because you sound seriously in need of all three.

[grasswire]

81. haha!

Thanks for the reminder. I hope he landed well.

[ScreamingMeemie]

32. Noodles in milk (poor man's chowder)

I still eat this as a comfort food.

And maple syrup on cottage cheese. Kind of defeats the purpose for the dieter.

[crunch60]

93. I had that last night. We called it Milk macroni, with pepper, salt and butter.

Grew up with that dish, it was our comfort food in the 50's, still is mine today.

[MorningGlow]

36. Salt on watermelon, salt on salad, salt in beer

Hardboiled egg in the middle of meatloaf (which was covered with tomato sauce ). And they poured milky coffee on their cereal instead of milk.

[MiddleFingerMom]

41. Hardboiled egg in the middle of meatloaf. I used to cook that for kids - called it a dinoturd.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.

[MorningGlow]

61. Good name for it

Oh, that baleful yellow eye staring at me! I always ate around it.

[GoCubsGo]

105. That looks like the meatloaf version of Scotch eggs.

[GoCubsGo]

106. Crushed graham crackers with coffee and milk.

Or, as my dad would call it, "graham cracker mush". It's a great sub for breakfast cereal. He'll also spread margarine between two graham crackers and dunk them in his coffee.

His mom would mix ground beef with ketchup and mustard, spread a thin layer of it on slices of white bread, and broil it in the toaster oven. We had that for lunch often when I was a kid.

[grasswire]

151. more originals!

What was the ground beef toast called, do you remember?

[GoCubsGo]

153. I don't really recall.

I think it was just "hamburger sandwiches". We ate them open-faced. They were really good.

[AnneD]

38. My Grandparents would....

put salt on watermelon, sugar on tomatoes, take the day's dried cornbread and crumble it into a glass of 'sweet milk' and have it before going to bed. It is a good substitute for cereal and a small amount of sugar gives it even more flavor. They would also have cane syrup and butter mixed on their biscuits. The 'to die for' dinner was fried green tomatoes, fried okra, red ripe tomatoes (with gravy), ice cold cantaloupe (with cream gravy) biscuits and gravy. Meat was a luxury because selling the animals for meat bought hard to come by cash.

[warrior1]

39. My mother

would butter our bread with five pieces of butter. One in each corner and one in the middle. It was something religious.

She also would break up corn bread in a glass and add buttermilk. She chewed on ice all the time.

I miss her.

[snagglepuss]

43. Fry bread in bacon fat then slather it with marmalade.

[grasswire]

54. that sounds delicious

wow. Was it homemade marmalade?

[snagglepuss]

82. Store bought marmalade but definitely yum.

[pinboy3niner]

133. I do that with grilled cheese sandwiches

Fry the sandwiches in bacon drippings instead of butter. But I like to add cayenne and black pepper to the drippings first, and include green chiles in the sandwiches. YUM!

[Tom Ripley]

44. Put pan gravy on cantaloupe (my dad still does that)

[grasswire]

57. that's two posts about gravy on cantaloupe

So it can't be just a quirk. What geographical area produced this novelty?

[Tom Ripley]

58. The Piedmont area of the Carolinas

[1monster]

45. My grandmother always put fruit pieces in jello... bleh...

[Arugula Latte]

100. Oh yeah. Putting all sorts of weird crap in Jello was the thing for awhile.

For example:




In that last pic. at least they didn't put the shrimp IN it, they just put it ON it.

[JVS]

118. It's a post-war borrowing from European high cuisine, made easy by the proliferation of good fridges

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspic

[Arugula Latte]

135. It's funny how high-brow can become low-brow very quickly.

Americans have a knack for taking "gourmet" food and dumbing it down.

[Tom Ripley]

193. Mine would put shredded carrots in Jello.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

46. Cream and bread for dessert

My father, who was fairly old when we kids were born, used to take slices of bread, pour heavy cream over them, and sprinkle the combination with sugar. I've never tried it myself.

People of my grandparents' generation actually enjoyed drinking buttermilk, a substance that makes me gag.

The older members of the German side of the family used to eat goose fat (Gänseschmalz) sandwiches. That's another thing I never tried.

[grasswire]

53. oh yeah buttermilk as a beverage was big

There was even a buttermilk bar (that was the name of it) in our town, where customers would belly up for a big glass of the stuff. My mom loved it.

[hunter]

78. I used to make it from government surplus powdered milk.

Cheap, and much better tasting than the powdered milk and tap water which was pretty much undrinkable.

I'd keep jars of my homemade buttermilk on top of the water heater. (Maybe that wouldn't work so well on modern, better insulated water heaters.) I sometimes made yogurt too, but that was fussier.

Traditionally buttermilk was a way of keeping milk without refrigeration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buttermilk

[Populist_Prole]

47. Banana with mayonnaise

I'm told my Sicilian born late grandfather ( passed before I was born ) liked to eat a banana by putting mayo on it after each bite.

Well in this case the apple fell light years from the tree because, while I like ( very ripe ) bananas, I detest the sight, smell and taste of mayonnaise. All that aside, I still can't think of a weirder food combo.

[1monster]

50. This was a popular item in the a la carte lunch line when I was in high school:

a banana sliced lengthwise and coated with a mixture of mayonnaise and milk, served on a bed of lettuce with a cherry on top.

It sounds strange, but if memory serves me right, it was delicious.

[KamaAina]

64. Good for you!

Both mayo and mustard should be declared weapons of mass destruction.

Your grandpa should have been tried for crimes against fruit.

[Little Star]

113. Banana sammich= banana+mayo+white bread=yum

[csziggy]

161. Add peanut butter = DOUBLE yum!

[geardaddy]

59. My grandma always sprinkled wheat germ on cereal.

[Little Star]

114. +1 I love it

[geardaddy]

65. My g/f's dad said he ate lard sandwiches or molasses sandwiches as a kid

during the depression. He conned a richer kid out of his summer sausage sandwich by making yummy noises while eating his molasses sandwich. The kid traded his summer sausage sandwiches for a week for her dad's molasses sandwiches.

[Brickbat]

75. Husband's grandmother loved lard sandwiches.

She's barely 5 feet tall and 90 pounds. Lard sandwiches!

[geardaddy]

79. Yep, is it a MN thing?

g/f's dad grew up near New Ulm.

[Brickbat]

83. She was western WI. Just farm country, the Depression and a culture's taste, I suspect.

[SwissTony]

129. In another post in this thread, I said we used to have sandwiches dipped in melted lard.

Seemed OK at the time.

[Brother Buzz]

66. My grandpa loved SUPER ripe bananas

He loved them so ripe he would open one end and squeeze out the liquid, like a tube of toothpaste, into a bowl to eat. He told me everyone did it back in the days.

[hunter]

69. They cooked everything with bacon fat.

They used bacon fat like I use olive oil.

If the old can of bacon fat in the icebox was getting low, it was time to fry some more bacon.

Yes, they had electric refrigerators, but they still called it the "icebox."

Eggs and pancakes fried in bacon fat strongly reminds me of my grandparents.

[nolabear]

71. Salted peanuts in Coca-Cola.

I learned that as a kid. First it fizzes all over the place and then it's just fabulous.

[Bertha Venation]

107. My mom (born in 41) put peanuts in Pepsi

Pepsi - yuck - dunno what was wrong with that woman.

[Iris]

137. The best!

[bikebloke]

72. Shake milk before pouring from the carton or bottle.

A pre-homogenized habit. We all did it in grade school, picked up from the elders. And I still do it now.

[RebelOne]

73. My grandmother would eat clams or oysters while

they were still alive. I could see the shells opening and closing. I was only a little kid. I guess that is why I will only eat clams or oysters dead and fried.

[TheCruces]

190. That's not weird at all...

It's the best way to eat them. Certainly, not old-timey at all.

[Brickbat]

76. Family lore holds that my great-grandfather loved baked beans on chocolate cake.

[MountainMama]

77. Oh wow!

Supposedly my great-grandfather liked chicken gravy on his chocolate cake.

My grand-dad will occasionally put cheese on his apple pie. I tried it; it's not bad, but not my preferred method, which is to just cut a piece of pie and eat!

My dad likes to put milk on apple pie and (wild) raspberry pie. I don't like milk and I think that's gross, but he's always done it. He also salts his watermelon and I've done it too.

My mom just likes to take a tomato out of the garden, slice it, and eat it on a piece of bread with some salt. She calls it a tomato sandwich. Bleah.

[Bertha Venation]

110. tomato sandwiches

Heaven on earth in the summer, and best of all when the tomatoes are out of our yard. I wish you could enjoy this delicacy, Mountain Mama.

[woodsprite]

119. When our tomatoes are done for the season

We've been know to make a run across the DE
Memorial Bridge to stock up on NJ tomatoes.

As for the tomato sandwiches, I prefer mine on toast
with a bit of Miracle Whip, a bit of salt and 3-4 dashes
of pepper.

My Aunt Ivy was a cook for the duPont family and would
fix us watercress/butter sandwiches and cucumber/mayo
sandwiches when I was growing up. I still eat cucumber
sandwiches when I get a chance, and my daughter loves them
now too.

[SwissTony]

130. I'm amazed to find this is somehow unusual somewhere in the world

I've been eating tomato sandwiches for as long as I can remember. Not just tomato but tomato and cheese; ham and cheese; ham, cheese and tomato; ham, cheese, lettuce and tomato. And you can add beetroot, too.

[grasswire]

80. at some point we have to wonder if senility sets in vis a vis food!

That's quite a concoction.

Brits eat baked beans on toast. My grandma ate them side by side with cottage cheese.

[Frosty1]

109. My grandfather ate Limburger cheese on chocolate cake!

Yuck!

[SwissTony]

84. My grandparents used to eat open sandwiches with a knife and fork

Years later, I learnt to do thesame in Holland. I love uitsmijters!!!

And of course, porridge with salt - Scotland!!!! - still the only way to eat porridge.

[Steerpike]

87. This is what my Grandma used to cook with

[HopeHoops]

88. My dad's mother made that silly glazed SPAM with the cloves, pineapple ring and cherry.

[laundry_queen]

92. Chocolate macaroni

My grandmother grew up during the depression and was very creative with food. Because they were poor farmers, she always had a huge garden and grew her own, as well as picking berries constantly and canning them. Generally dessert was wild blueberries or raspberries with brown sugar and evaporated milk, or some kind of cake cooked with the same berries (or rhubarb). But my mom says that my grandmother insisted there HAD to be dessert every night, so every once in awhile, if there was no fruit available, say in the middle of winter, and my grandmother hadn't baked a cake or anything, she would make chocolate macaroni. The noodles were cheap, and once they were cooked, you just add butter, sugar, cocoa power and a splash of milk. My mom made it for us a couple of times and as kids we LOVED it, but I tried it a few years ago and now, not so much.

We also used to eat (homemade, garden grown) canned tomatoes and dip homemade bread in the juices. Or pick rhubarb and dip it in sugar and chew away. Or green onions dipped in salt were good too.

My dad does the chicken bone thing too. I remember as a kid getting in trouble for 'wasting' the cartilage. His side of the family also eats boiled wheat berries (in the cooking liquid with honey). It's a cultural thing for them so my parents also did it. All of my friends used to look at us like we were crazy when we'd eat boiled wheat.

[grasswire]

94. chocolate macaroni could start a new trend.

Maybe like a sort of kugel -- a noodle pudding.

Green onions dipped in salt? I remember celery stalks sprinkled with salt.

I also remember family members eating raw onion sandwiches.

[woodsprite]

120. Green pepper strips dipped in salt are good too.

I think I was heading into middle school before I realized
sweet peppers could also be any shade between red and green.

[rug]

95. Apple wedges on a plate with a pile of sugar to dip them in.

[cherokeeprogressive]

97. My Grandma mixed crumbled cornbread in a tall glass of buttermilk.

My Grandpa though, he ate the Mother of All Snacks...

California Girl Sardines on Saltine crackers.

[Arugula Latte]

98. It was more what my grandma called things. Butter or margarine was "oleo."

And, yes, the frig was "the icebox."

She called a few things by their Bohemian/Czech name, too, which I couldn't spell to save my life.

[davsand]

175. Yep, my mom still calls margarine "Oleo."

She still has a little light blue glazed pitcher that she used to put milk in for the breakfast table. It's got an orange ring about halfway up and it is rust from the high iron content in the water where she used to live. That milk pitcher would sit in the springhouse in an artesian well back before they had an icebox!




Laura

[Arugula Latte]

183. Very cool!

Life sure has changed. I wonder what we do now that will seem amazingly quaint in 50 years.

[auntAgonist]

102. It wasn't until we moved to Canada

that I saw anyone put maple syrup on french toast.

My Grandma used to make french toast for me when I was a child and she'd put ketchup on it and salt and pepper. I still eat it that way.

Pancakes get maple syrup but only the real stuff.



aA

[grasswire]

115. I used to eat french toast with salt...

...but then I decided that a drizzle of honey was even better.

[woodsprite]

104. My dad said they ate jello on sandwiches as jelly

Baked bean and onion sandwiches
Wiener spread (make ham salad, but substitute ground up hot dogs for the ham. Mix with
Mustard and chopped pickles)
Lebanon bologna and ice cream (I always thought he did it to gross
us out)

[applegrove]

108. One of my grandmothers used to bake us cookies. They were bran cookies with raisins. We loved

them, especially fresh out of the oven. But our friends were not always so keen on such healthy food.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

111. Grandma boiled everything to death. Including bitter greens.

She was from Mississippi. I wouldn't eat that crap.

I didn't know about broccoli until I was grown. then I found out it was good.

We had huge arguments at the dinner table. Some of it was just not liking crap, some of it was food allergies I didn't know about yet that I had.

i didn't have a problem with food, she did. Just knew I was gonna starve to death.

I didn't have Chinese food until I was a junior in college and dating a guy whose family owned a restaurant. I did not have Japanese food till I went to a Benihana in the mid 1980s when I was about 27 or so.

[Bertha Venation]

112. My grandma and coffee

My grandma always served coffee in cups & saucers. She would tip some coffee out of the cup and into the saucer, then bring the saucer to her mouth, blow on the coffee and slurp it up.

I miss my grandma.

[grasswire]

141. my father's favorite beverage was alka seltzer

...or so it seemed.

[Lars39]

166. My grandpa would do that, too. :-)

[grasswire]

116. I find this thread fascinating!

The Great American Melting Pot!

[many a good man]

122. Wilted lettuce

Heat up some leftover bacon fat then throw in some lettuce. Take it out when warm and wilted. Yum!

[grasswire]

123. oh my FIL loved wilted lettuce salad

Good one!

[VenusRising]

157. This was one of my favorites as a kid.

My grandmother didn't make it often, but when she did....MINE!!!

YUM!

[Graybeard]

124. Hard-boiled egg on spinach.

Bowl of cooked spinach was always put on the table with a sliced hard-boiled egg on top. We always laughed (among ourselves) because no matter if it were a bowl for four people or enough spinach for ten there was just one sliced egg on top.

[Beaverhausen]

125. I love this thread!! The thing I remember most about my grandparents are the cocktails

lots of cocktails. Mostly martinis.

My mom used did the mayo on bananas, or banana-peanut butter-mayo sandwich on white bread.

She also made peanut butter- bacon-ketchup sandwiches but these were on toast.

[grasswire]

140. oh now you're making this up.

peanut butter, bacon and ketchup on toast????????

[kaitcat]

126. Sorghum syrup and butter on a plate, white bread, not toasted.

She'd mix a bit of it up, put it on the bread, take a bite, mix up some more. It was a cute ritual she did.

[ellaydubya]

134. Red Beans & Cornbread

Mashed together with fresh onion, black pepper, and Tabasco. Sometimes he would have to add some "bean liquor" (liquid from the beans) to make it the right consistency. It is the only way I will eat them because it is SO GOOD!!!

[Iris]

138. Eating an onion like an apple.

And onion sandwiches.

[many a good man]

143. With or without American cheese?

My Grandpa turned me on to raw onion sandwiches with a slice of American cheese and topped with a few shakes of black pepper. I still make one every few years when feeling nostalgic!

[Iris]

147. I think he would have loved the American cheese

but I don't think he ever thought of that!

[Scuba]

139. Homemade bread, homemade butter, slice of cheddar and a big slice of Bermuda onion....

.... many of the items on this thread are familiar to me. My ancestors ate salt and pepper on cantaloupe and grandma made everything with lard.


But ketchup on French Toast??

[mithnanthy]

145. My childhood Pancakes...

...were topped with Dark Kero Syrup, cold butter patties, then I smeared them together and made a 'butter syrup', in circle. Next I poured ketchup on the side of the plate. After cutting the pancakes into bit-sized squares, I would "dip' each piece into the ketchup. I still eat them that way, every time.... and at 65..they're still yummy!

[Duer 157099]

148. I can imagine ketchup on french toast

I like scrambled egg sandwiches on toast with ketchup. So French toast with ketchup is basically that.

[JitterbugPerfume]

144. my mom at cornbread crumbled up in buttermilk

[Amerigo Vespucci]

146. They ate it without complaining

Hey, it was the first thing that came to mind in response to your question. My grandparents on my mom and dad's side lived tough, tough lives, and they just took care of business and made the best of what they had.

[grasswire]

149. that's the truth

The alternative to odd food was no food, for way too many Americans.

"Choices" would not arrive for many many people. Too many still have poor nutrition -- and way too many children go hungry.

[Meiko]

150. Raw hamburger sandwiches with onions

EWWWW!

[grasswire]

152. no no.......that was beef tartar!

[mrmpa]

155. There would be a duck in the basement....then

mom took us for a walk, and we'd have duck soup and roasted duck for dinner. Grandma lived in the city, in a home with a shared wall with the house next door.

When I stayed for the weekend, I remember her frying pork chops for my uncle that were so overdone, she fried them for over an hour, but she grew up with pork having to be cooked beyond repair because of the fear of trich..........(something). When I have fresh breakfast sausage, I still cook it in water before frying it.

[Tallulah]

156. my grandfather had unusual cravings

mayonaise on lima beans and navy beans

peanut butter and sugar sandwiches

french toast with chocolate syrup

sauerkraut with boiled eggs

[grasswire]

160. where was your grandpa from?

....and did he live through the depression?

[VenusRising]

158. My grandma always served homemade apple pie with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese.

After she died, it was the one thing everyone said they remembered and loved about visiting her.

I miss her so much! I learned to cook and bake from her. She was amazing in the kitchen.

[csziggy]

162. Mom does that! Especially with hot apple pie.

She also likes to take a slice of sharp cheddar and uses it to stir her coffee until the cheddar melts.

[VenusRising]

172. Never heard of the coffee thing.

I think I'll leave that one to the more experienced.

[grasswire]

179. another quirky, quirky tidbit

Does the cheese melt into the coffee, then? Or does she eat the cheese with her fingers?

[csziggy]

181. The cheese sort of melts but doesn't dissolve into the coffee

So she ends up with this orange sludge at the bottom of the cup that is cheesy coffee flavored. I've tried it and it's OK, though it makes the coffee pretty salty.

[eridani]

164. An apple pie without the cheese--

--is like a kiss without a squeeze. Old family saying,

[VenusRising]

171. That's cute.

I'll have to tell my dad that one the next time I talk to him.

[eppur_se_muova]

169. Is that a New England or NY/PA thing?

I never heard of that until I had spent several years among Yankees.

[VenusRising]

170. Must be a New England thing.

We have a lot of family around New Hampshire.

[eppur_se_muova]

163. My mom likes green onions dipped in vinegar, and pickled pig's feet.

Her dad always put black pepper on watermelon.

[madinmaryland]

165. Huh? I put salt on watermelon, and I am far from a grandparent!!

[jmowreader]

168. Disobeyed all contemporary food safety guidelines to the point my mom wouldn't let us eat there

One of my grandmothers would leave things that SHOULD have been refrigerated, like dairy products and foods with mayo in them, on the counter for DAYS. And then eat them.

The other one fed her Pekingese dog--there is a reason these dogs are not popular--chicken meat. The process by which she made this was to boil a chicken, stick it on the counter in a glass pan, leave it there to cool overnight, debone the chicken, put the dog's portion in the fridge then cook with the rest of it.

The second one's mom got arrested either three or nine times, depending on which relative you ask, for bootlegging during Prohibition.

[grasswire]

180. colorful!

was this in the south?

[jmowreader]

182. Not quite

One of them lived in New Plymouth, Idaho.

The other lived in Seattle.

[Doremus]

173. Grandfather used to put a tablespoon of brewer's yeast in his morning OJ

To us little kids that was like, UGH! He also used to eat boiled okra which we all thought looked like spit on the fork, lol. He also put crumbled up corned bread in a glass, sprinkled with sugar and covered with buttermilk. Another UGH from us, lol.

Once in awhile we kids used to put sugar on a piece of buttered bread. At the time it tasted okay but now I shudder at the thought.

[TheCruces]

191. My grandparents did that with the brewer's yeast, too

They also put it on the dog's daily can of Alpo. I remember being freaked out about them putting "dog vitamins" in their juice.

[ornotna]

176. They ate it

Uphill.
Both directions.

[provis99]

177. my granny put cream in her beef stew.

I remember her making a can of beef stew for me and her once; she put cream in hers, and passed the cream to me. I waved it off, and she looked SHOCKED!

she would put cream in everything; put it in her milk, her mashed potatoes, her tuna fish salad sandwiches, her broccoli.

Still alive too, at 93, despite her god-awful unhealthy diet.

[AsahinaKimi]

185. my Korean Grandmother liked

to sprinkle a little tabasco sauce on her home made Kimchi .. as though it was not hot enough!