I have ordered a book--Kitchen Memories by Anne Snape Parsons and Alexandra Greeley. I can not wait for it to arrive. When I read the commentary, I knew I would love it.
Memories of grandmother's cooking are warm, inviting, sustaining and comforting, but most people have not taken the time to preserve their family's favorite recipes. As a result, many treasured recipes are lost to the fast-food generation 'overtaken by pizza delivery, eating out and convenience foods. Kitchen Memories aims to slow that trend down with a lovingly compiled collection of 120 family recipes from 25 countries' handed down from one generation to the next and gathered from families and cooks. The authors, leaders in the Slow Food movement, have interviewed hundreds of people who have shared their most precious recipes, the ones they want to pass on to their children and grandchildren. The process of talking about family recipes triggered many happy memories for the book's contributors, and as such, each recipe includes detailed homespun cooking tips and sidebars rich with personal stories of family and food. Twenty-five countries are featured including the U.S. and some of its distinctive regional and ethnic cuisines.
Pages at the end of the book are provided for cooks to preserve their own favorite recipes, thoughts, tips, photos, and memories. The authors have tested all 120 recipes. A helpful glossary and appendix offering a brief sketch of each culture are included. Insatiably curious about traditions and cultures, food and travel writer Anne Parsons is a native of Scotland and has traveled extensively around the globe. During her trips, she spends most of her time with local people, eats regional foods and visits their places of worship. She is currently writing a medieval mystery novel with the spice trade as its focus. Ms. Parsons lives in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina where she is a leader of the Slow Food Convivium of East North Carolina.
What a way to make a living, huh. :)
I have many food memories...my Nannie's biscuits cook in an iron skillet, my grandmother's coconut pie, the reason everyone calls my mom, "Pud", the legendary birthday cake that my dad made for my grandmother, my diatribes on Sweet Tea in Mississippi, Pistachio Salad, and so on...
What food memories will my children have? Oh dear. I hesitate to think about that too much. I have to do better on those.
What food memories do you carry with you?
1 comment:
Had to share - my mom has[d] a big family [nine sisters] so a few years ago [okay, more like 20] I pulled together our own family recipes and printed up a little book [much like the church cookbooks of the time] - on the bottom of each page we put little family stories that are a part of our family lore - funny things and sweet ones as well. Our grandmother had passed when the book came together, but someone had her handwritten recipes that we included, and I think we had more than ten recipes for Mama M's tea cakes! This book is sooo very special to each of now that we've only three "sisters" left. i say - go for it - gather those recipes and stories up and enjoy!
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