Your childhood meals

[ChemGal]

Both my parents are good cooks, my mom is better than my dad although his cooking has improved. We would BBQ year round, even when it was in the -20s. My dad tended to do the grilling most of the time, but my mom would do it too. I think a fair bit of what we had was typical, tacos - sometimes with the kits, when we were older we did burritos & taco salads more often, fajitas when we were a bit older, pasta, burgers, we would have rotisserie chicken sometimes but we were mostly white meat eaters so it was more often chicken breasts, steak, roast beef (I didn't like but the yorkshire puddings made that worthwhile), we complained about fish and my mom had issues with it (she keeps being told it's not an allergy but some of her symptoms mimic one) so that wasn't common, although fish sticks were something I would eat when I was fairly young. We had salads with meals most often - used to be iceberg lettuce and eventually lettuce options improved, tomatoes, cucumber, spinach, carrots, celery. Sometimes some strawberries would get thrown in.

My mom was really big on us eating a fair amount of veggies (often not a problem) plus we had to eat so much meat (moreso of an issue with both my sister and I). I am still fairly meat-picky. I felt like vegetable options weren't super great though with how they tended to be prepared in general, not so much my mom's fault, just how they were done in the 80s & 90s. Corn was always boiled, not BBQed, even though we tended to eat it on hot days, makes no sense to me. Most veggies if cooked were boiled, few things were roasted. Late 90s my parents started BBQing some veggies. As I got older I often just requested a portion be left raw, I was happier eating raw carrots than boiled carrots. Broccoli with cheese sauce was the big exception. Sauteed peppers, mushrooms & zucchini was a favourite of my parents, out of that I would only eat the peppers. I wonder if I need to give zucchini more of a chance, I don't think I would ever love it, but that mushy sauteed mix where it would take on the flavour of the mushrooms meant it never stood a chance for me liking it then.

Within the last year I asked my mom about pork, I hated porkchops as a kid and it's not a nice cut of meat. Other than bacon and ham (which I don't like either) we didn't have it outside of whatever came in Chinese food. Chemguy and I have started eating it in the last few years, apparently the cuts we get just weren't available when I was younger.

M&Ms was something that was common for a while. I know my Mom tried to balance out the salt though, she finds she swells with too much sodium. A common meal when we needed to eat fast but at home due to activities was chicken strips/nuggets and carrot and celery sticks.

 

[ninj]

It's so interesting reading everyone's posts. I just remembered the creamed salmon on toast with peas. I enjoyed that. My mother made one soup recipe (beef barley) and only one kind of tossed salad -- iceberg lettuce, tomato, cucumber and celery with bottled Kraft French dressing.
The only seasonings besides salt and pepper were bay leaves and oxo cubes.
Despite the traditional meals, we didn't always sit together for supper or necessarily eat at the same time. When we did, it was usually at the kitchen table. The dining room was reserved for holidays and guests. I always wondered about that.

 

[Pinga]

My parents were quite poor for a while when they had younger kids. (they went from doing ok with a house, to not doing well at all...and that really threw the family for a loop)

My mom would talk about cooking rabbit, and other items that dad could catch for dinner.
That was before my time, but, i feel it probably altered how our parents fed us and the value of food.

For us, our food, like my clothes were almost always homemade.
I thought it was such a treat to have bought cookies...oh when "dad's" came in with those little packages, you knew things were good.

Mom was given grocery money. and yes, "given" was the correct word. more re family dynamics.
She would make that money go so far, and try to squirrel some away for other treats for us (or for her)

We always ate at the kitchen table, @ninjafaery ry (you know that kitchen well). There were often 6 of us including gramma, and a highchair in the early days. No idea why we wouldn't fit into the dining room, but, we didn't.

 

[Mendalla]

When we did, it was usually at the kitchen table. The dining room was reserved for holidays and guests. I always wondered about that.

We always ate at the kitchen table, @ninjafaery

Thirded. Kitchen table for regular meals, dining room for special occasions or larger groups (kitchen table was basically big enough for the family and maybe one more, dining room table could be expanded to handle about 9 or 10).

 

[ninj]

My parents were quite poor for a while when they had younger kids. (they went from doing ok with a house, to not doing well at all...and that really threw the family for a loop)

My mom would talk about cooking rabbit, and other items that dad could catch for dinner.
That was before my time, but, i feel it probably altered how our parents fed us and the value of food.

For us, our food, like my clothes were almost always homemade.
I thought it was such a treat to have bought cookies...oh when "dad's" came in with those little packages, you knew things were good.

Mom was given grocery money. and yes, "given" was the correct word. more re family dynamics.
She would make that money go so far, and try to squirrel some away for other treats for us (or for her)

We always ate at the kitchen table, @ninjafaery ry (you know that kitchen well). There were often 6 of us including gramma, and a highchair in the early days. No idea why we wouldn't fit into the dining room, but, we didn't.

@Pinga I guess the person on the end would need to be careful not to fall down the stairs to the basement!

 

[Mendalla]

@Pinga I guess the person on the end would need to be careful not to fall down the stairs to the basement!

 

[Lastpointe]

We always ate together in the kitchen. But Sunday was in the dining room with good China and fancy table cloths

it was quite formal. My dad would carve whatever roast it was. And then the plates would be passed down the table to my mom and she would add vegetables and potatoes. And then a child would add gravy. As we all got older we took on the vegetables too if there were several dishes. Then the plate would be passed to whoever it was My dad served himself last but we all waited for all the plates to be passed and for my mom to take the first bite. It was a very big deal if you picked up your fork before mom. Same with desert. She ate first

i thought everyone ate like this, as my aunts all did and I never had Sunday dinner at a friends house

my sister in law told me not long ago that she was so intimidated by how formal dinner was

once we were eating it was loud and chatty but the serving was very formal

 

[KayTheCurler]

The only take-out meal available in my childhood area was, of course, fish and chips. We got it rarely. Occasionally dad would bring buy a feast of seafood on a Sunday morning when leaving the pub. Crab, cockles, winkles and shrimp, but i don't remember being offered lobster, jellied eels, oysters or mussels.

 

[Pinga]

Wow, that is quite different.

Dad would have been called to carve the meat prior to the dishes coming out.
Mom would call us to the table and put the dishes with food out on the table, and say "start serving". It was really important to Mom that food was on the plate fast so that it was hot.
Bowls would start going around, and would stack up if someone wasn't sitting, often Mom.
Pickles would start in the middle, so someone without a bowl would grab the condiments, and start to move them around.
If something was too big to pass, it would be in the middle or by Mom, if something like lasagna, and she would serve it. often there were two of those dishes, one at each end, and two older folks would serve.

You were advised not to start eating until everyone was sitting.

I can't imagine having someone dish out my food to me after i hit 3 or so.

 

[Pinga]

ps. no alcohol was served at any meal.

I remember it being very unusual to have wine with dinner, even at special events. I think that my sister-in-law was able to introduce wine a couple of times, but, it wasn't something that was done.

had to do with my father's father again. One too many meals destroyed by alcohol.

 

[Carolla]

it was quite formal. My dad would carve whatever roast it was. And then the plates would be passed down the table to my mom and she would add vegetables and potatoes. And then a child would add gravy. As we all got older we took on the vegetables too if there were several dishes. Then the plate would be passed to whoever it was My dad served himself last but we all waited for all the plates to be passed and for my mom to take the first bite. It was a very big deal if you picked up your fork before mom. Same with desert. She ate first

This was my house too. And a long time spent in conversation - good thing we had very comfortable dining room chairs. We didn't have a tble in the kitchen, so we always ate in the dining area - the kitchen had a peninsula with an open area facing the dining room, so it didn't seem like a separate room. When my Italian husband first came for a dinner - it was SO WEIRD to him! When I went to his family's dinner - it was SO WEIRD to me! It seemed like a free-for-all! His mom would often not even yet be at the table when people were digging into their food. No talking - just eating. Then dispersing. No lingering at the table.

 

[Carolla]

In the 60s there was no 'ethnic' food or seasonings in our repertoire. Pasta was only spaghetti or macaroni - and often KD. Never ate rice. Pizza was not ordered, but sometimes made from the Chef-Boy-R-Dee box - mix for the crust, a little tin of sauce to spread, add cheese & bake on your cookie sheet. Soup was usually Cambell's or occasionally Liptons chicken noodle. Now that I'm so used to eating from foods around the world it seems like such a limited palate. I have noticed tho that travelling across Canada today certainly has differences in availability of many world foods and flavours.

 

[Mendalla]

ps. no alcohol was served at any meal.

I think there was sometimes wine for the adults at event meals but not commonly. When my generation hit 19, that changed. For just about any family get together, there was usually a 2-4 or two and some wine. That's not to say we didn't have booze in the house. Mom's brother lived with us until I was 10 or so and worked for Seagram's in Waterloo so there was usually some Crown Royal or other Seagram's product in his stash.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

It's so interesting reading everyone's posts. I just remembered the creamed salmon on toast with peas. I enjoyed that. My mother made one soup recipe (beef barley) and only one kind of tossed salad -- iceberg lettuce, tomato, cucumber and celery with bottled Kraft French dressing.
The only seasonings besides salt and pepper were bay leaves and oxo cubes.
Despite the traditional meals, we didn't always sit together for supper or necessarily eat at the same time. When we did, it was usually at the kitchen table. The dining room was reserved for holidays and guests. I always wondered about that.

When I was really young, maybe 4, I remember my mom making the same thing with tuna. She probably picked that up from my grandma - or her grandma. I was a heavy consumer of Sesame Street in those days, and going to kindergarten - so I had just learned that fish swim in a "school". I was mortified when I found out I was eating fish, because it used to go to school with its friends. I felt that was so sad and unfair. I actually cried. And my mom told me I was being silly and made me eat it. I was an early vegan candidate. And I haven't liked tuna my whole life. But, I also liked roast beef. I learned not to think about the fact that it used to be a live animal.

 

[BetteTheRed]

Pizza was not ordered, but sometimes made from the Chef-Boy-R-Dee box - mix for the crust, a little tin of sauce to spread, add cheese & bake on your cookie sheet.

I had forgotten about that momentarily. In our house, the toppings were sliced hot dogs and tinned mushroom slices. I was unimpressed with "pizza".

 

[Pinga]

hotdogs on pizza?

ok, my dad used to eat cold hotdogs out of the fridge as a "quick snack". That now grosses me out.

 

[Mendalla]

hotdogs on pizza?

Probably cheaper than pepperoni or similar. Not to my taste. Too bland. If I wasn't putting pepperoni on, my second choice would some kind of sausage or ham. And, of course, bacon.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

In the 60s there was no 'ethnic' food or seasonings in our repertoire. Pasta was only spaghetti or macaroni - and often KD. Never ate rice. Pizza was not ordered, but sometimes made from the Chef-Boy-R-Dee box - mix for the crust, a little tin of sauce to spread, add cheese & bake on your cookie sheet. Soup was usually Cambell's or occasionally Liptons chicken noodle. Now that I'm so used to eating from foods around the world it seems like such a limited palate. I have noticed tho that travelling across Canada today certainly has differences in availability of many world foods and flavours.

In the 70s and 80s that really changed. Here, the earliest "ethnic" foods were short order Chinese food, pizzerias. There was one restaurant - I remember when it was new and I used to remember its name but have forgotten (I'm going to ask around if anyone remembers) - where they spun the dough with their hands, threw it in the air and caught it - they wore those hats like the Swedish Chef from the Muppets - and you could watch them through a window. I didn't like the pizza but I liked watching them. My mom made homemade pizza on a cookie sheet, with tea biscuit dough - I hated it. The tomato sauce was gross back then, and she put canned mushrooms on it. It was only once the Greek-pizza-pasta places came to town that I liked the pizza. And pizza isn't even Greek. Or maybe it's Roman and Greek - different variations. Like the eternal question of whether Chinese or Italians invented noodles. Then, a Mexican restaurant came to town and that was it. I was sold. Colourful, fun, and lots of melted cheese.

 

[Mendalla]

And pizza isn't even Greek

It is definitely Italian (in fact, there are regional variations all over Italy with Neapolitan supposedly being the best) but I've seen and had "Greek Pizza" with toppings like Feta and olives. Not my favorite. I love Greek food in general but those are two greek ingredients I am meh on at best.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

It is definitely Italian (in fact, there are regional variations all over Italy with Neapolitan supposedly being the best) but I've seen and had "Greek Pizza" with toppings like Feta and olives. Not my favorite. I love Greek food in general but those are two greek ingredients I am meh on at best.

Now I like traditional Italian pizza and "fusion food" pizza, Greek pizza, and just about any pizza except McCain frozen pizza (Dr. Oetker's is pretty good in a pinch). I grew into it. But my early choices weren't the greatest. In the 80s my step mom would buy individual pizza "shells" and toppings, and my step siblings and I would make our own. That was okay. Except we had it too often.