What kind of food were you raised on?

Corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, black eyed peas, corn bread, gumbo, pot roast, fried chicken, grilled steak, soups, lima beans, mixed greens salad, smoked brisket...

Mmmmm, now I'm hungry!
smoked-beef-brisket.jpg
 
A mix of 70's health foods that Mom made, with lots of whole grains(including pie crusts, cookies, etc. one reason I like hippy bakeries), veggies, overcooked fish, over-steamed broccoli, etc., Grandma's overcooked english style traditional, Babysitter' hamburger helper and mac and cheese, and Dad's Pizza and Ice Cream nights when Mom had a meeting.
 
I grew up in Southern California with a mom from Oklahoma and a step dad from West Virginia...

We pretty much covered the gambit of American cuisine with a fair bit of southern flavor thrown in, along with a steady mix of Mexican food and Pizza.

Most of what my mom made was pretty good... Sheppards Pie, ChiliMac, Chicken and Dumplings etc. The crap my step dad made (can't forget the 20 years he spent in the USMC eating mess hall shit and C-Rations) was abominable. S.O.S. was among his "specialties" along with Liver and Onions, Ham hocks with Lima brand , grits, and a bunch of other equally offensive culinary insults. We usually went hungry on those nights.

He did make a mean chili though. Have to give credit where it's due. Oh, and biscuits and gravy were a staple that I could pretty much live happily on until it killed me.

Strangely, my mom also LOVED to use her WOK and make Asian food. She had a knack for it. Go figure.
 
Meat, Potatoes, Vegetables.

I would complain sometimes when I saw yet another hunk of boring meat on my plate. My parents would say "That was rib roast... this is sirloin... and the other day was flank stew." I swear I could only tell the difference in meals based on au-gratin potatoes vs mashed or baked. :facepalm: My favorite food as a kid was Pizza. It was such a reprieve from meat, potato, vegetable....

Every once in a while we'd have lasagna or spaghetti, but we basically ate the foods my parents liked. I never had taco bell (or any mexican food) until I was a senior in high school. The only Chinese food I ever had was La Choy out of a can and it was pretty awful.

Once my eyes and palette became open to foods of the world, I started trying everything and Mexican, Chinese and Japanese became my favorites. Then of course I found hot wings and different styles of BBQ and my tongue was off to the races! I like Thai, Korean, and Filipino food but not as much. Good fresh Italian food is among my favorites as well.

It's pretty rare that I'll ever just eat a hunk of meat on it's own. Even really good filet. I can eat a small amount but damn, I just go soooooo burned out on red meat as a kid.
 

We used to think it was a treat when we got to have TV dinners. :grin:

Usually though Mom cooked. Lots of meat-and-potatoes kind of staples, basic suburban USA stuff. I had a REALLY hard time with vegetables when I was a kid, we had some battles over that at the dinner table. I'm better now, but I still can't stand lima beans.
 
Italian. My Grandmother lived in an apt in the house and made every meal.
Lots of pasta dishes,salads, roast stuffed vegetables. We also had wine on the table at every dinner.
Great stuff.
 
basic stuff - pasta, meat and vegetables, mostly home cooked meals until my step-mom left and then it was more TV dinners and fast food.
 
Meat and potatoes. Canned veggies. Spaghettios. Tomato sandwiches. Spaghetti. Tang. Kool aid. Kraft cheese and miracle whip sandwiches. Pop tarts. Cinnamon and sugar toast. Quisp cereal. Every cookie ever made. Hot dogs. City chicken. Grilled cheese.
 
Beans, taters, biscuits, cornbread.
No greens?
We had 3 guys in my platoon from NC..
On a 48 we'd go to their home towns and eat at mom's house.
They got a kick out of an Italian from the Bronx loving Southern food.


Some of it wasn't too different,just made a different way.
 
No greens?
We had 3 guys in my platoon from NC..
On a 48 we'd go to their home towns and eat at mom's house.
They got a kick out of an Italian from the Bronx loving Southern food.


Some of it wasn't too different,just made a different way.
Nope, no greens for me.
 
Bland food. My mom’s cooking sucks. My favorites were mac and cheese and spaghetti, because she could cook those without screwing up. I hated fish because my mom didn’t know that you’re supposed to season it. And my mom didn’t know that frozen green vegetables were an ingredient, so she’d just warm them up and give them to us as sides. I used to drown my veggies in mustard to make them edible. That continued until one night my sister gagged on warmed up frozen spinach and barfed up her dinner in the kitchen sink.
 
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