[Issue #69] 🍗 Eat a Whole Family (Saga)
Delicious sagas with food in the title
What is something you could eat forever and never get sick of it?
For me, homemade mac and cheese is pretty high on my favorites list. Despite being raised with a plethora of fresh vegetables and lean protein, carb and dairy-rich meals are usually my favorites. Actually, I think about how good I ate growing up a lot now that I’m an adult forced to feed myself independently.
For my entire life, my family ate around the table nearly every night for better or worse. Whatever a family is going through, good or bad, it shows itself at the table where people are talking, laughing, and eating…or not. (For a while it was against the rules to quote Austin Powers movies at the dinner table if that gives you an idea of the intellectual stimuli my parents were forced to endure.)
Having dinner every night with three teenage girls who worked and played sports wasn’t easy. Squabbles sometimes occurred, schedules were constantly changing, and yet my parents chopped fresh salad, grilled salmon and roasted vegetables every night for over a decade. When I visit my parents today, we still sit down at the table to eat together, with the addition of our significant others and their chunky cat Olive who has a shoulder-height cat tree next to the kitchen table.
When I went to college, I learned how many friends ate processed foods and canned vegetables instead of the fresh stuff I had naively assumed we all ate. In my early social service career, we partnered with the New York City farmer’s markets to teach folks how to identify and cook fresh vegetables like greens and lettuces and root vegetables that were easy to roast and preserve. That my sisters and I knew how to roast vegetables as we entered college was a skill I had no idea made us unique.
Also at college, however, I learned about all these foods I didn’t eat at home. For the first time, I had homemade biscuits and gravy at 5 AM in my sorority sister’s dilapidated rental house on Riverside Avenue before a homecoming tailgate. I had my first Big Mac in a McDonald’s off 86th Street in Manhattan. The delight of canned peas and Pizza Rolls overcooked in the microwave truly knew no bounds. Scram, move over, get outta here roast veggies and grilled salmon. There’s cream and ground beef to be had!
I am still this way. I love mayo-based salads, remember? And I shouldn’t say we didn’t eat junk as kids, we definitely fed Pop Tarts to our dog under the table and I can remember double-fisting savory Toaster Strudel on the car ride to school. But the desire to eat a meal together every night is something I love to do today with Erik and Fezziwig (who eats his evening meal around the same time we do). I’m still in awe my dad and stepmom pulled dinner off with three teenagers and three dogs every night. As far as nutrition, I still try to follow my mom’s rule that every plate has “something green on it.” As a middle schooler learning to cook for myself, she criticized my junk food selections with the observation they were a “completely yellow meal.” As a grown ass woman, I try and avoid the completely yellow meal at home. (In public it’s every yellow meal for itself.)
When it comes to reading about food, I might prefer food writing in fiction to real life. I like to read about chefs, but the detailed descriptions of food in a novel almost always means the story is unusual and maybe even fantastical. Not fantasy necessarily, but turned up to eleven. When I sat down to pick book recs this week, I felt like I saw that trend in books that rely on food descriptions in their plots. Let me know if I’m way off…
Some of these books feature food in the plot, but they all have food in the title, which is what got them on this week’s shelf. Take a bite out of these books and let me know how they taste.
There’s Food in My Family Saga // Thursday, November 21, 2024
Rocky is a middle-aged gal “sandwiched” between her adult children and aging parents and aching for the relief of their Cape Cod rental, the site of their family vacation for the past two decades. As Rocky deals with her family’s struggles and her changing body and identity, she’ll spend the week confronting her truest self, people and passions from vacations past, and embracing self-reclamation. Ann Patchett called this one “joy in book form.”
Though it was recently adapted into a series, this novel first published in 1995, tells the story of Tita, born on the floor of her family’s kitchen and forever immersed in their rich recipes and traditions in turn-of-the-century Mexico. A love story and a family saga steeped in “special sauce” that has engaged readers for nearly 30 years.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
This Southern classic, adapted into a beloved movie, follows middle-aged Evelyn as she listens to the elderly Mrs. Threadgoode recall her life story. The stars of her story are tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruth who ran the Whistle Stop Cafe in Alabama in the 1930s. This story has slowly but surely become queer canon as both the novel, published in the 80s, and the film, released in the 90s, introduce the love between the two women. The film earned a GLAAD Award and Harper Lee even blurbed the book!
…a heated blanket perfect for the season
A few weeks ago, I sat at a friend’s house sharing their dog’s electric blanket and I was blown away. No wonder their dog loves this frickin’ thing, I thought, it’s so warm and light. I always imagined heated blankets were heavy and oppressive but this one was lightweight and subtly heated. The dog and I were very pleased.
That led me to look into what other kinds of heated blankets my own dog (yes, the dog, I tell myself) might enjoy at our house. This list from The Strategist features reviewer’s favorite heated blankets from Am*zon and I’ve been using it to jump start my search for my preferred heated blankie. I mean, Fez’s preferred blankie.
…the perfect napkins are from a puzzle maker
Piecework, the maker of some of the chicest puzzles around, has an incredible home goods section on its website. It features statement taper candles, super cute puzzle lamps, dishware and my personal favorite: cocktail napkins.
If you’re looking for just the thing to round out your Thanksgiving tablescape, a stylish hostess gift or even a great stocking stuffer, these are just the thing. The olive and watermelon napkins are picnic perfect, but I think my favorites might be the sardine and tomato options.
Share The RONAREADer with your besties! Subscribe so you don’t miss an issue!
The RONAREADS shop is always open and you can get more on the ‘gram at @ronareads4u where we post daily(ish) book content.
Get Rec’d,
Wynne + Fezziwig
Remembering those sit down dinners with warmth and affection. Miss you guys around that noisy table!
Where is Corey’s rec!?