No Ordinary Dish

My family has used food for many years as a conversation piece. Food has brought us together especially food that has been passed down through out my family, creating a delicious tradition. Though most of the food we cook is no ordinary dish. Elsa Schiaparelli once said, “Eating is not merely a material pleasure. Eating well gives a spectacular joy to life and contributes immensely to goodwill and happy companionship. It is of great importance to the morale.” Food is not merely something we eat in my family, but is a time to bring together family and friends and create lasting memories.

My family has a long line of cooks ever since I can remember I’ve been cooking as well. My Great, Great Grandfather really began the tradition of cooking. This led to the tradition of some of our families’ famous dishes. My father cooked for many years while serving in the army, and went on to own his own bakery. So cooking and baking just comes naturally it seems. Two of our biggest family events where food is served, especially some of my favorite foods is our annual Christmas Eve party and our family reunions. When I think of food I think of meals that I share with my family and memories that come with those foods.

One of my favorite traditions and dishes that have been passed down on my dad’s side is called kidney stew. The recipe began with my Great Grandpa Kinsey, who passed it on to my Grandpa Bedford. After Bedford learned to make the recipe he would serve it every Christmas morning. How the stew is prepared is first the kidneys are cut up and the fat is trimmed off of the kidneys. Then they are placed in a large pot to soak in water, several times, and sprinkled with salt, as my Grandpa Bedford use to say, “Rinse um and squeeze the piss out of them.” After they have been rinsed several times, they are boiled and cooked, then to finish it all off with placing them into thickened broth, and we always serve it over buttered toast and a strip of bacon. This dish isn’t just food to my family, but it holds so many memories.

For about twenty years kidney stew has been served at our Christmas Eve party and all our family reunions. My dad always hosts a Christmas Eve party where both his side and my mom’s side of the family get together to celebrate. The party is filled with foods and is like our own little pitch in. I can remember back to when we first began throwing our Christmas Eve part, the house reeked of the nastiest smell, I couldn’t even leave my room because I hated the smell so much, but my dad kept telling me that I would have to try the kidney stew that Grandpa use to make when he was my age. I didn’t really decide to try the stew until the next year at our family reunion, which is where we really began serving the stew. Each year my dad’s or one of his three brothers hosts our Culp family reunion. The reunion either happens here in Indiana or back where my dad grew up in Michigan. When I think of going back to Michigan to have Kidney stew I remember my grandparent’s lake cabin. I only visited it once when I was five years old. The cabin lay in the deep Michigan woods, and was surrounded by water and big, oak trees. It smelled like cedar when you opened the door. I only knew my Grandpa Bedford for a very short time so remembering the cabin and making the stew each year let’s me remember him. Another tradition that comes with kidney stew is one that my family takes very serious, if we have a new member of our family or a significant other join us at a reunion then they must try the kidney stew. Though kidney stew is somewhat out of the ordinary for people outside of my family, I love telling others about this family meal.

Another food that means a lot to my family comes from my mom. Though it hasn’t been passed down from generations, it has sparked quite a few conversations. Fifteen years ago my mom found a recipe for a layered salad, which included broccoli, peas, carrots, onions and a special dressing. This not so ordinary salad made its premier at a family picnic, and was named stinky salad, though it has a sweet smell rather than a stinky smell. People kept asking her to bring it to parties and it just became a tradition to serve at her annual girlfriend party and at our Christmas Eve party.

Stinky salad is ultimately one of my favorite dishes my mom makes, but I love thinking about Christmas time especially because it involves eating stinky salad. My mom makes the salad now only about three times a year and one of those times is her yearly girlfriend party. Each year around Christmas we get together with my mom’s three best friends from high school and exchange presents and catch up with one another. I have so many great memories that have come out of the girlfriend party, whether it’s trying something new or getting trapped by my godmother’s bull on their farm. Each memory comes back to taking time and getting together.

Though food has brought my family together during the holidays or a little traditional get together, it has created long lasting memories. Food is not merely something we eat but a tradition that we can pass on and create more memories with. Though my family might have foods that seem out of the ordinary to me they have created so much more than ordinary memories.