Foods can speak volumes about us

Foods and the way we eat them may say a lot about us. Lately they’ve been screaming a lot about me from just above my belt.

 Some recipes, concoctions and combinations are specific to extended families and maybe even certain areas. You know what I’m talking about. Every family has a few delicacies they were raised enjoying that tend to raise eyebrows if not turn stomachs of others.

I thought a lot of these odd food cravings were specific to just my immediate family but then I’ve found out that cousins know and enjoy the same pleasures.

A few of those things that may be specific to my family include:

• Catsup on our eggs — Fried or scrambled they’re best covered in catsup. The combination is also colorful on the plate.

• Cornbread and sweet milk — For those who don’t know any better, sweet milk is just regular whole milk as opposed to buttermilk. Cornbread and sweet milk is prepared using leftover cornbread that is crumbled into a glass. Mayonnaise — a tablespoon or two — is added, milk is poured over the cornbread and then you salt and pepper to taste. Mix it up and it’s like a country milkshake.

• Peanut butter and syrup —   It’s an all-purpose snack. It can be eaten as a dessert. You can have it on your morning toast or it can satisfy a midnight craving. I like smooth peanut butter best, usually with light corn syrup though maple syrup works in a pinch. Smooth it out by adding a little bit of butter or margarine.

• White bread in chocolate pudding — We did this back when real homemade chocolate pudding was a favorite dessert. Usually the heel slices off of a loaf of bread were used. No one in the family would eat those pieces otherwise — not even with lots of peanut butter and syrup.

• Salty peanuts in your Dr Pepper — I think this one is a little more widespread throughout the south. Not sure what the attraction was, salty and sweet together I guess.

• Salt and pepper on cantaloupe — Lots of people will salt it but I get funny looks when I reach for the pepper shaker.

• Eating the heart out of a watermelon — We always got accused of wasting a lot of watermelon but granddad grew some great ones and we always had more than we could eat. We would slice one in half and put a half on each end of the table and everyone would gather around. We passed the salt shaker around as we cut little circles in the heart of the melon with a spoon. Eat around the seeds and throw the rind to the hogs.

If you came on a ripe melon in the field it could be devoured with just a pocketknife and a salt shaker.

The strangest thing I came across from my wife’s family was a wintertime treat involving hot Dr Pepper and popcorn. I just couldn’t drink my Dr Pepper hot. My wife can’t stand the thought of peanut butter and syrup either.

As I look down the list I can’t find a thing on it that hasn’t been deemed bad for me. I’m on the straight and narrow with lots of fruits and veggies these days but my cravings are still a little strange.

Karl Terry is managing editor at the Portales News-Tribune. Contact him at 356-4481, ext. 33 or e-mail:
karl_terry@
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