My grandma is a pretty ballsy woman in every area of life. Her culinary confidence was especially palpable to me as a child, as I was a fussy eater and she was unfazed. I felt like she could always rustle me up exactly what I wanted (okay, so, egg and soldiers isn’t too demanding, but it was her willingness to do it that comforted me and made me feel special).
I remember one evening, at my grandparents’ house, I was on the brink of a meltdown and Grandma offered to cut up an apple for me (because eating a cut up apple is a far superior experience to biting the flesh from the core like an animal). I was stunned. I’d often beg Mum to do this for me (at an age before my handling of a fruit knife would’ve been appropriate) and she’d usually reply that I could just eat a whole apple (uh, Mum, do I look like a rodent? Answer: unfortunately, yes, pre-braces me very much looked like a rodent). So, I was incredulous about this offering of a cut up apple and Mum says, “Grandma doesn’t mind, she went to catering college.” Grandma affirmed this with pride – handling food is second nature to her (her skills far exceed cutting up an apple, by the way, this is just a memory that feels significant to me).
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| Grandma won 3rd prize for a cake when she was 15 or 16 (apparently all her competitors were a year older, so we can discount the girls who won 1st and 2nd prizes due to unfair advantage and accept the fact that Grandma won 1st place.) |
When the opportunity to write a food blog as part of my degree came up, I liked the idea of writing a ‘food memoir’ but didn’t think I had much material for that knocking about in my own brain – but then I thought, “Grandma does!” What’s more, I love hearing Grandma’s stories about her life, so this is the perfect excuse to go to my grandparents’ house, have a natter and still be grafting towards that degree. Cheers, Roehampton.
I’ve now ‘interviewed’ Grandma for the first time on the topic of food, which brought up tons of ideas, so my concept for this blog feels nebulous. To give me focus, I’ve pinned down my 2 main aims. They are:
- To gain insight into food cultures of the past, from the 1940’s to now, without losing a personal perspective on food. Many of Grandma’s experiences are typical of the time in which they occurred, but many are not. I’m mindful of the importance of staying true to what Grandma tells me about what she cooked, ate and felt about food. I want my exploration of Grandma’s history to be illuminated, but not overpowered, by objective historical facts.
- To explore multiple personal stories through the lens of food. I want to compare Grandma’s stories about food to the ways in which food is presented in literary narratives (both autobiographical and fictional). I will draw comparisons based on what the food is, how the food makes the eater feel and the role food plays in interpersonal relationships.
