Oh yeah. Some familiar items on this list. Also, I note how many of these items are likely a result not (just) of poverty, but also your grandmother's own culinary culture. Canned vegetables because flash freezing was the modern way of preserving the harvest. White bread because Wonderbread really was all the rage. TV Dinners because microwaves promised so much.
It does make me wonder what food we'll be eating in 40 years that seems like the thing now but might be seen as poverty food then. Will sous-vide smack of antiquarianism? Will aioli be seen as poor man's condiments? Will bacon be the new old fashioned meat? I suspect we'll see things like Bisquick and Jello go that way first.
But I do have some find memories of 'old' or 'poor' foods from my own grandparent's house. Ovaltine. Marshmallow Fluff (which has had a resurgence, like oatmeal). Shredded Wheat. Klondike Bars. We had our share of boiled dinner, gravy from a mix, store-brand vanilla, and white bread too.
I think some of it is the culinary culture of the mid-century, definitely. Although I will note that my grandmother did not have a microwave! So we would eat TV dinners heated up in the oven, which took approximately foreeeeeever to a young girl, meaning about thirty minutes ;)
I will be sad to see jello go, have to say. I still quite enjoy it, and it can be made sugar-free!
Shredded Wheat was my grandmother's cereal of choice. I've never been a huge fan...
Breaded chicken cutlets (think Wienerschnitzel, but chicken rather than veal). They're popular in Israel. I'd eat fries on the side in Israel, but in Singapore this changed to white rice. Pita bread, which to my recollection was invariably white and not whole wheat; sandwiches could be with either kind. Fresh, raw, unpeeled vegetables - bell peppers and olives, and when I lived in Israel also cucumbers (in Singapore the cucumbers aren't as good). My love affair with arugula only began later, in grad school - at the time I didn't really eat leafy vegetables. A lot of cottage cheese, which is a staple food in Israel since the commonly available sliced cheese is shitty gouda and is what poor people eat when they can't afford meat
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It's so interesting to hear about the food culture of folks who grew up internationally -- sounds like what you were eating was still a bit healthier, even your junk food. Odd about the cheese -- gouda would have been considered fancy for my grandmother's income level. (Really, anything not processed).
I actually never had Indian food until I went to college! Perhaps this is why I've never tired of it. Still don't think there's any place to get that cuisine in my home town.
Yeah, I hear you about the pride thing. My grandmother and aunt were vehement on not being on public assistance (food stamps and welfare), while my mom very much wanted them to get the benefits they were entitled to. I only remember the giant block of government cheese being in her house once. I have the feeling that was one instance when my mother may have triumphed.
That side of my family is a big ol' mix of cultures -- some Irish, some German, some Mohawk -- but I didn't really see any regionalism to the food choices, except maybe the boiled dinner.
I apparently missed out on tuna noodle casserole as a kid! I think my grandmother didn't like tuna? Because I don't remember it ever being in her house. My mother made tuna sandwiches and put it in her macaroni salad, but I don't think I ever had it at my grandmother's.
A lot more local fruit -- oranges, grapefruit, mango -- since this was Florida and people grew those things locally. I've always hated citrus (beyond lemon and lime) as an adult. I remember frozen fish sticks and Hebrew Nationals from when I was very little
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Huh, that's interesting about the salad and leafy greens. I can't remember there ever being those in my grandmother's house growing up, and very rarely at home. It has not, however, instilled an interest in them as an adult ;) I think in part that's because I'm a supertaster, and so most raw vegetables are unbearably bitter to me, though -- but I suspect the same is true of my mother, and possibly my grandmother as well.
I definitely did not know about things like rice milk or almond milk until I got to college! I remember in the Vassar cafeteria occasionally drinking rice milk for the novelty of it. This may have been where I learned that I actually really enjoyed most vegetarian foods despite not being a vegetarian ;)
So obviously, we had a kosher kitchen, and a lot of the foods I grew up with were the kosher version, and the stuff I ate on Shabbat and holidays include some of the Jewish (Ashkenazic) staples. When I became a vegetarian around age 10, my mother picked up a few new recipes
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Okay, this is going to sound terrible, but I don't think I ever knew you were vegetarian as well as keeping kosher :( Half the time when I'm around you, you just aren't eating at all!
Wow, I had no idea it was so hard to get kosher Chinese food. I think I assumed most Chinese food was, but that probably depends how strict you are about kashrut. Knowing your family, I'm guessing you mean down to the level of dishes.
Huh, I didn't know quinoa was kosher for Passover. I would have thought it was one of those cheaty Sephardic kosher-for-Passover thing at best ;)
I made potato kugel once for a seder at my UU church, and decided that it was one of the best foods ever. Along with chocolate-covered matzoh...
A question we all wondered at Shadows this weekend: is hippopotamus kosher? How about snake ;)
Opinions vary on quinoa, but the Orthodox Union considers it kosher for Passover. It's not like with how various 100% Ashkenazi Reform Jews follow Sephardi kosher-for-Passover rules because otherwise it gets hard to get protein if you're vegan.
Snake is not kosher; reptiles are never kosher. Hippos... my superficial reading was that they should be kosher, since they're cud-chewing pseudoruminants and are artiodactyls, but apparently actual rabbis consider them treif (link).
Why would that be terrible? I don't think I've ever been to a location that offered kosher meat with you before, so I don't think you would have ever seen me turn it down
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It does make me wonder what food we'll be eating in 40 years that seems like the thing now but might be seen as poverty food then. Will sous-vide smack of antiquarianism? Will aioli be seen as poor man's condiments? Will bacon be the new old fashioned meat? I suspect we'll see things like Bisquick and Jello go that way first.
But I do have some find memories of 'old' or 'poor' foods from my own grandparent's house. Ovaltine. Marshmallow Fluff (which has had a resurgence, like oatmeal). Shredded Wheat. Klondike Bars. We had our share of boiled dinner, gravy from a mix, store-brand vanilla, and white bread too.
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I will be sad to see jello go, have to say. I still quite enjoy it, and it can be made sugar-free!
Shredded Wheat was my grandmother's cereal of choice. I've never been a huge fan...
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I actually never had Indian food until I went to college! Perhaps this is why I've never tired of it. Still don't think there's any place to get that cuisine in my home town.
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That side of my family is a big ol' mix of cultures -- some Irish, some German, some Mohawk -- but I didn't really see any regionalism to the food choices, except maybe the boiled dinner.
I apparently missed out on tuna noodle casserole as a kid! I think my grandmother didn't like tuna? Because I don't remember it ever being in her house. My mother made tuna sandwiches and put it in her macaroni salad, but I don't think I ever had it at my grandmother's.
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I definitely did not know about things like rice milk or almond milk until I got to college! I remember in the Vassar cafeteria occasionally drinking rice milk for the novelty of it. This may have been where I learned that I actually really enjoyed most vegetarian foods despite not being a vegetarian ;)
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Wow, I had no idea it was so hard to get kosher Chinese food. I think I assumed most Chinese food was, but that probably depends how strict you are about kashrut. Knowing your family, I'm guessing you mean down to the level of dishes.
Huh, I didn't know quinoa was kosher for Passover. I would have thought it was one of those cheaty Sephardic kosher-for-Passover thing at best ;)
I made potato kugel once for a seder at my UU church, and decided that it was one of the best foods ever. Along with chocolate-covered matzoh...
A question we all wondered at Shadows this weekend: is hippopotamus kosher? How about snake ;)
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Snake is not kosher; reptiles are never kosher. Hippos... my superficial reading was that they should be kosher, since they're cud-chewing pseudoruminants and are artiodactyls, but apparently actual rabbis consider them treif (link).
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