I really think THIS is what is off topic. The topic is about the pleasure of eating and the memories and good times it brought/brings. the topic in no way is about healthy eating or what was done "badly."

The topic is "pure pleasure of eating". People are trying to share memories that brought them pleasure and joy. It's a treat to read the nostalgic posts.
If the thread becomes contentious, it is because of the repeated efforts of one negative member to derail the topic.

I agree with this, and I would hope the thread does not get closed due to one poster who continues to go off topic.

I don't have very many good food memories from growing up. My mom made killer potato salad, but that was about it, and our family dinners frequently degraded into family fights! C'est la vie, and I'm happy that the family my husband and I have created turned that trend on its a**.

But I have really enjoyed everyone's reminiscences and hope my children and their cousins will be commenting on good memories they have on a similar forum somewhere down the line.

Your post reminded me of my grandmother's (first generation German-American) German Potato Salad. She passed the recipe on to my mother, who always fixed it for family dinners, and church dinners, where it was enthusiastically devoured. My wife is now the keeper of the tradition and it still tastes like Gramma's. I have had German potato salad at many German-American restaurants and have not found one that comes close to my Grandmother/Mother/Wife's.

We used to have wonderful family dinners with my parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents.
The highlight would be when my Aunt Hazel sat down at the piano.
Everyone in the family would gather around and sing old favorites, like "Dear Hearts and Gentle People" and "Now is the Hour".
That was a very long time ago, and of course most of my relatives have since departed beyond the veil.
But I have some wonderful memories.

Just adding my support to this sentiment. Enjoyable topic so far when it stays on topic.

The above statement and question is from the opening post. It doesn't say that God has given us only one special gift. The pure pleasure of eating is just one of the gifts. Then the question is asked, "What say you?"

I say two other special gifts are the gift of life and usually health, at least at first. So we have these three gifts from God: Life, health and the pleasure of eating. If we turn the pleasure of eating into an addiction for junk food and overeating, we may lose health & life.

So we would be taking one gift and abusing it to the point of destroying the other two gifts. Is that what God intended? Really?

This is what's happening in our nation today with 2/3 of people being overweight. And many of those who are not overweight are "overfat", meaning that their percentage of body fat is too high. Diabetes, heart disease and cancer are at epidemic levels. Something over one million people die prematurely every year from these degenerative diseases. And it's not just about staying alive -no one is going to live forever- it's about the quality of life.

This is not off topic unless you take one portion of it out of context.

Remember: There are many gifts from God and no one gift should be misused to the destruction of the others.

Many people who are not overweight are overfat. Really? :ohdear:
How have you reached this conclusion?
There are also adults who are anorexic, and get no pleasure from eating at all.

I knew I should have not eaten all that fried chicken last night said no one ever ! :1rotfl:

Yes, it's called a "potbelly" in case you haven't noticed. Some people are not technically overweight but carry a lot of fat on their stomach.

Just open your eyes to observe the world around you. And if that doesn't work, do some reading. This has been mentioned a lot in various health books: For most people, muscles deminish with normal aging while weight increases gradually. This often leads to a high percentage of body fat.


Yes, and your point is?

I apologize to other members for replying to an off-topic post and thereby taking this thread off topic. Sorry.
I do love hearing about people's favorite memories and great meals they've enjoyed.

Barefoot. I understand your feelings and I share them.

Let me tell you about a meal that I will share tonight with my husband and daughter.

We will have teriyaki salmon, baked potato, steamed carrots, tossed salad with nuts, dried cranberries, green onion, shredded cheddar and poppy seed dressing.

We will also have rolls and butter.

I will prepare it and my husband will dish it up and our daughter will clean up the kitchen. We will eat it tonight on trays in front of the television while we watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. We will have icy drinks and pretty plates and napkins and we will enjoy it together. Glad for a cool evening, glad for the good company and glad for our continued good health. That is our family now and we enjoy sharing a meal in our home. The pleasures of the table will be on trays tonight, but joyful nonetheless.

How fortunate were we to grow up when family and Sundays still went together !
Your many posts have brought back the warm feelings of long Sunday afternoons spent at my Grandmother`s home with great meals and lots of fun with my many cousins .
Her home was very small but somehow we all fit . I can still smell the aroma of her Sunday
extended family meals and recall going home very tired but satisfied .
These regular gatherings caused me to grow up very close to my Aunts and Uncles as well as countless cousins . It really made life seem very special and secure .

Barefoot: and you should be punished for your transgressions. for your punishment you have to eat a banana cream pie all by yourself:pepper2:

How many of you ended up playing card games when the family gathered? Was it poker with pennies, pinochle , bridge go fish?

I'll share it with Villages PL. I know he'll want at least half! :evil6:

Besides the family get together meal memories I am also fortunate to have enjoyed meals in other countries with other people. It was great fun to break bread with others and learn their meal manners and customs and laughter at the table was found to be mutual. To me this was one of the greatest rewards of being in the military years ago.

I fondly remember playing pinochle when I was a little girl. Our summer cottage had no electricity at that time, and I remember playing by the light of an oil lamp.
We also played a card game a lot, called Auction 45, but I think that is a Canadian East-coast game.

Some of my favorite meals were enjoyed over tray tables. My aunt Bertha would invite us to Maine for Thanksgiving. The adults sat at the dining room table and the kids got the tray tables. The food was fabulous and the belly laughs from the kids were very noticeable.

My uncles (Italian side) always played poker. The kids would watch until we got bored and then go out back to play bocce.

We played Euchre, pinochle and hearts. And laughed a lot !!

We played Euchre. We knew how to play before we knew how to read. I LOVE to play Euchre. Our grandparents would snag any young couple to play cards with them, and they would be captive for many hours and they played for MONEY....(pennies) This is while the kitchen help ( kids old enough to do the dishes) were clearing and putting way leftovers for the second go 'round later in the day.

Ah yes, the pleasures of the table. Good memories indeed. I wish I could kiss those worn faces one more time.

The adults played "pitch", and while my cousins played outside, I sat around the table to watch my dad and uncles play. I learned not only how to play pitch, but some very important competitive language, including German epithets. My proudest day was when at about sixteen I was invited to fill out a partnership to play with the adults.

Is this all we'll be sharing?

Multiple sources say about 30 years since 1990? Are you kidding?

You speak for everyone? How do you know what food plans others have for the future?

Barefoot: Well maybe the bananas

:22yikes: :o

My bad. Typo. It should have read "Multiple sources say about 30 years since 1900."

I corrected my original post, but wanted to reply here to own up to my mistake. Good catch, VPL.

i believe some members might be interested in hearing in more detail those meals you enjoyed in other countries

Did you play double or sigle deck pinochle?

bocce was serious exercise in my mother back yard

We did all three also

That's a great idea. I, for one would.

Okay, thanks for correcting it. :eclipsee_gold_cup:

Now, to continue this line of thought: From my reading, a lot of the gain in lifespan was due to reducing infant mortality. And, like you said, there were other reasons.

Where I find a problem is with the quality of life in the last several years of a person's life. Multiple cancer operations, radiation, chemotherapy, heart bypass, kidney dialysis, and many other procedures too numerous to mention. These procedures keep people alive but say nothing about the quality of life.

Some diabetics have to get their feet cut off because of gangrene. They live longer but where's the quality of life?

It has been predicted that there will be millions of people with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia in the near future. They will live on for years with very little quality of life.

Since an increase of 30 years would put the average lifespan in 1900 somewhere in the 40's (roughly), I'd say we have gained a lot of good years with some pretty good quality of life since then.

Another wonderful time around the table that we started when our granddaughter was four. She invited her friends from nursery school to a grown up "tea" and they all dressed in their prettiest and her mother and I used the pretty dishes and baked and cooked grown up fancy watercress sandwiches and lovely tea cakes. They brought their mothers and we had a lovely tea party. That continued until the fourth grade

When our granddaughter was in high school and all through college we prepared a sit down dinner party for her and her friends at Christmas time with a grown up menu and we served them and cleaned up after. They exchanged Christmas gifts and went caroling in our neighborhood. We had some vegetarian dishes for two girls who didn't eat meat but the typical faire for the rest of the twenty or so

It was a pleasure to watch them grow up and a joy to see them enjoy the meals we prepared for them

So you choose to ignore the fact that less babies are dying? Yes, it's good news for the babies that didn't die. They certainly will get a lot more years of life. Good for them.

But more babies staying alive won't help me or you to have a healthy old age.

I had some relatives born in the late 1800s who lived beyond the current lifespan. So I know that old age wasn't just invented.

My apologies to those of you sticking to the topic and enjoying a very nice thread. I allowed myself to be sucked in to the off-topic discussion. I'm sorry, and it won't happen again.

I was referring to years ago when I was stationed in Japan and Korea both. After getting to know our fellow civilian workers on the base and being invited to family gatherings you get to know about their favorite foods and their family recipes they have enjoyed. It was usually always multi generational gatherings. Always plenty to eat and drink.:laugh:

VillagesPL Just a gentle reminder, the thread is entitled The Pure Pleasuring Of Eating