ottawa foodies

The post on children's culinary education got me wondering...I'd be interested to know how many of us, us "foodies", were involved in the kitchen from a young age - is this why we're foodies? How did we each start on the foodie path?

People sometimes ask me how I became so interested in food, particularly since I finished my schooling in that area. I'll never know for sure, but I was allowed to mess about in the kitchen from a young age, sometimes helping my mom, sometimes my sister and I were just allowed to go through the cupboards and mix things to create new "recipes" (which were usually disgusting of course, but at least we got to experiment). My siser and I had a couple of children's cookbooks from as long as I can remember; "The Mother's Helper Cookbook" (which was an antique relic left from when my mother was a little girl) and "Debbie Learns to Cook". Both were essentially picture storybooks with simple recipes that went with the story. I can remember from a very young age (about 4 or 5 years old) picking out recipes and having my mom help me make them, The Mother's Helper Cookbook was the favourite and I still make recipes from it today like Honey Bear's Honey Milk (soooo sooooothing before bed) and Teddy Turtle's Eggs Mixeroo (basically scrambled eggs). I think I got my fist "real" cookbook when I was only about 9 or 10; "The Complete Step-by-Step Foods of the World Cookbook", which exposed me to a much wider variety of ethic recipes and flavours.

Also, my dad had a weakness for good Italian meats and cheeses, so it was a special treat to go down to the Italian deli once in a while, which was very exciting. When we would return home, my dad would cut me off a chunk of each cheese and meat for me to taste - asiago, parmasean, procuitto etc., I suspect that this awakened my interest in good quality ingredients and awakened my sense of culinary adventuresness.

What do you attribute to starting you on the path to foodie-dom?

My mom was a stay-at-home mom (as most were at the time) and I always helped in the kitchen from a very young age. As we got older (grade 9 or 10) she went to work and we were at home fending for ourselves for lunch. Also, my dad was always into trying new things. Any new recipes or ideas that came into the house were invariably from him.

I think it's a combination of the 2 that made me a foodie.

BTW, we also have several of those types of kids' cookbooks for our kids, and they love them!

My mom worked long hours, so it was my responsibility as the oldest child in the family to get dinner started. Every day there would be a set of instructions on the counter i.e. take the chicken out of the fridge, rub with butter,sprinkle with garlic powder and paprika etc and put in the oven at 350 degrees at 4:00,peel potatoes etc, etc.

All my early cooking skills came from cookbooks or my mom's written instructions. She let me do whatever I wanted in the kitchen within reason, so I used to make us cookies and muffins sometimes. Some of my early experiments were pretty disgusting also.

When I started working at restaurants I tried foods that were never served in my home when I was a child. Mussels, lamb, artichokes, zucchini and eggplant are just some of the foods I never tasted until I was an adult.

The only "foodie" food I really ate growing up was fresh-caught fish. I didn't much appreciate it at the time, but the fish I eat now doesn't quite taste the same. I'm the only one of my family who doesn't like to fish!

My mom was also a stay-at-home mom and she felt cooking the meals was her job so not much room for creativity there. My cooking skills as a child involved making jello, stirring cookie dough and other basic tasks. Although my mom was a good cook she prepared plain meals like roast beef and mashed potatoes and such. Somewhere along the line, after I moved out on my own, I developed a taste for really spicy food - maybe I'm making up for lost time? I went out on my own with a few favourite recipes from Mom but didn't really start experimenting until a decade later. It was actually after the breakup of a long term relationship with a meat and potatoes guy. I love meat as much as the next carnivore but not three meals a day! I swore off meat for about 6 months after, pulled out the wok, and started making risottos, stirfries and all sorts of other dished I never tried before. BTW I eventually caved in and had a steak one night when I was hankering for red meat. Note to self - if I ever do that again I should pick a meat that is easier to digest LOL! Now I love going to the farmers market and asking for something I have never eaten before. It's as if there is a whole culinary world out there and I have to try everything!

Oh, I should also point out that my dad was very much into "health foods" and "whole foods". Though of course he was (and still is) very much into over-eating so it's not like he's actually healthy or anything :-/ As my profile points out, I ate next to nothing until I went to university, at which point I made a decision that it was time to "grow up" and to try every single thing they served at the cafeteria. All of these factors combined to make me into a foodie.

This is also tempered with the fact that I'm a tinfoil-hat wearing survivalist who believes the end is nigh and those who don't know how to DIY are in big trouble :-)

I like this thread, already.

As seen from my profile, I'm 46 now. I grew up in a time when there was Home Economcs(Home Ec) for girls and Industrial Arts(Shop) for boys, at school.

In 1976, womens libertion hit Cape Breton. I was in grade 9 and heading into my last year of Shop. A number of girls came forward (with parental support) and said they wanted to take Shop instead of Home Ec. So the school board said if there was an equal number of boys wanting to take Home Ec., they would allow the girls to take shop.

Looks like the school board thought that no boy, in his right mind, would want to take the girly Home-ec. Since the woodworking teacher was a real ranting and raving tyrant (Burke the Jerk, we called him), some of us boys, who were already sick of this man, from the previous two years, volunteered to take Home Ec that year.

What a year... playing racing car gas pedal with the antiquated sewing machines and tossing the occasional egg aroung in cooking class. and no 'Burke the Jerk'. Yeehaa.

The cooking classes opened up new foods to me, Chili Con Carne to name one.
I soon was making Kraft pizza's at home. Egg rolls and other stuff, came later.

My mom was a Domestic Engineer (read: stay-at-home-mom) and played the role to the hilt. I never made my bed till I left home.. yeesh.

Her kitchen was her domain, and although she would encourage my sister to join her in that domain, the boys (myself and brother) were to go out and play (anywhere in town). But we were required to come home for dinner, with the family.

After my Home Ec experience, my mom was proud to share her kitchen with me. She gave me a lot of support.

In my youger years, I was a very pickey eater living on McCains fries, and Lipton soup, and Libby's beans and macaroni and cheese (had to be made from scatch by my Mom (and only my Mom))That was about it. "Just try it !! Just try it !!" still rings in my ears.

Those Kraft pizza's put me on the road to foodie-dom.

Later in life (20's)I got into beer making. Which I liken to bread making, so a foodie related activity, for sure. I went to the level of making partial grain batches with liquid yeasts. Tasted like real commercial beer and didn't even taste like 'home-made beer'.

My fiancee and I, in the mid 80's, loved to take all the 'disposible income' we had and go to restaurants. Mostly new ethnic food experiences for both of us. This was all through out Ottawa. (Anyone remember the belly dancing at the Morracan Restaurant. The one with the Bedouin Tent seating?)

Making those new found delicacies, at home, was the next logical step. Especially when out the disposible income had to go into a diaper service, day care, car seats etc.

So now you can clearly see my path to foodie-dom.



PS: The picture is the Coal Mine where both my grandfathers worked. I wanted to give the set and setting of my childhood.

Wow, it's clear that our childhood has a huge impact on our foodiness! My parents both love food and my Mom was always interested in nutrition. As a child, I would sit on a stool next to the stove and watch the magic unfold, helping when I was permitted. They used to say I'd become a chef but then we got a computer and I was hooked. yadda yadda. Ottawa Foodies. ;-)

Ha, ha, I had the opposite experience Caper, just down the road in another coal-mining town : Stellarton.

When I got into grade 7 (1978) is when we first had Industrial Arts and Home Ec. By then, girls were already allowed to take Industrial Arts and there were a few doing it. But only the 'butch' ones. A friend and I wanted to take Home Ec but we were not allowed to. Oh, those were the days! Though not sure of his reasons - mine were very clear : being the only guy in a class of girls! How could you NOT want to do that?!?

Oh yes.... getting rid of 'Burke the Jerk' was not the only one reason to want to take Home Ec back in 1976. Being in a class full of girls (we called them 'Chicks' then), was compelling. Some say a down right fantasy come true.



I also remember at exam time, the teacher handing out the Home Ec exams was not the Home Ec teacher. When she saw myself and a few other boys putting up our hands up to take the Home Ec exam.... she got all flustered .... Boys ??? Home Ec ???? Huh ?? She thought we were 'playing' with her. She even went to the principal to verify it. Looks like it was her day of 'liberation'. hehehe

Like many of you, my mom was a stay-at-home mom for much of my childhood. I did help her in the kitchen with cooking and baking, which started my interest in cooking. As well, I was involved with Brownies for a few years. Most of the badges I got were cooking related ones. ;)

When my mom went back to school when I was 11 or so, I started helping in the kitchen more frequently, sometimes preparing dinner completely on my own. By age 12 my mom was back in the workforce and I was taking care of my younger brother in the afternoon and cooking and baking by myself even more often. There were quite a few nights where my mom would come home to me having prepared dinner without her even asking.

My dad didn't do much in the kitchen, just some prep work and a lot of BBQ in the summer.

So ok, I got my basic cooking skills and interest in food from my mom for the most part. HOWEVER, I should probably note that my mom had dietary restrictions and couldn't eat much spicy food. As well, we lived in small-town Nova Scotia, where interesting food items weren't exactly easy to find (basically most 'ethnic' foods). So I would say my interest in those things developed in spite of my childhood experiences, rather than because of them.

Another bloody bluenoser! Which small town, Candice? (Hmmm, you wouldn't be my cousin Candice would you? :-))

"As my profile points out..."

I just want to say how much I enjoy zymurgist's profile bio. I've definitely read it more than once. Funny stuff!!

The short and quick answer to this is, yes!

zymurgist: I think we've chatted about this before! I was born on the south shore (Liverpool) but did most of my growing up in Kingston, in the Annapolis Valley.

Great topic. Definitely attribute my love of food to both my parents having a keen interest in cooking. Being the oldest child, I was taught at an early age how to cook so I could take care of my younger siblings if my parents were busy. We lived just outside of Ottawa and had access to the local farmers market and conveniently had a huge natural food store just down the block (Foodsmiths - Foodsmiths). I grew to appreciate fresh ingredients. My parents frequently stocked up on meats from friends who owned a farm - I remember at one point having so much lamb in our freezer, my brothers and I were making lamb tacos and burritos all the time (sound familiar zymurgist?). The local Chinese restaurant introduced me to great asian food (yes, other than chicken balls) and I still remember the first time I tried falafel and was blown away. When I moved to Ottawa to go to school, after a short stint as a line cook in a bar one of the busboys got me a job in a fine dining restaurant. I didn't have much experience in a kitchen, but cooking just came naturally to me. That whole experience really introduced me to a lot of new food and drink as a few of the cooks were from Vietnam and Eastern Europe.

Captain Caper: I am laughing out loud; Kraft Pizzas, I totally forgot about those!!! I guess I was lucky to go to school in a more "liberated" era - both boys and girls were forced to take shop (metal, wood, and electronics)AND sewing AND cooking :) ...we did have to decide between art and band though in junior high, I was like "Why can't we cut out a math class here and there and have BOTH?".

Yeah, I was thinking that too FiH - I totally forgot Kraft Pizzas but they should actually be added to my profile because they were a mainstay for me as about grade 7 as one of the very few things i'd eat ;-)

My father did most of the cooking in our house and always encouraged my sisters and I to get in there too. He'd describe processes, how things went together, why flavours combinations 'worked'. We also had a VERY large garden where we worked as weeding slaves *oops* helped tend it through the season.

I remember first day introductions in grade school, each kid standing to say a bit about themselves. After 23 proclamations of love for pizza, I stood and said "I like brätwurst and sauerkraut." (I'd been laughed at before so I took it quite well:) I also recall a few years after that, Greg and I rushing late from Home Ec into math class saying together to the teacher: "Sorry. We were doing the dishes!" (That line worked so well, I used it every time I was late for any class. Ha!)

It's too bad that, beyond the academic, life skill classes (cooking, *gasp* sewing, wood/metal work, orienteering etc.) are no longer in most school's curriculum. Indeed, it's up to parents to teach these things to their children but the more exposure the better.
"I can't believe my kid doesn't know how to *insert skill here*. The school failed."
No parent, you failed.

I wonder if Greg is a chef now...or just stuck with dishwashing (but could, if asked, make a good souflée).

Oh, I forgot to mention that my grandfather (early ukrainian immigrant - 1917) had his whole yard turned into a garden, and in the summers i used to go 'raiding gardens' with friends when sleeping out in the back yard. the only veggie i'd eat as a kids was string beans but only fresh crispy ones not the canned or cooked ones.

It seems like I'm not like most of the other foodies here. Growing up we only ate the plainest of food - typical stuff like spaghetti, bbq chicken breast (pre-seasoned from M&M Meat Shops), stews etc. When I moved out at 16 I was exposed to new foods courtesy of my ex's stepfather, who was the ex-executive chef at the Chateau Laurier, but my ex was a typical meat and potatoes kind of guy. It wasn't until I moved to Montreal and left the ex that I really got into the foodie scene. I found that once I was totally independent and able to make my own food choices, I would choose smaller quantities of high-quality foods. One of my most memorable meals in Montreal was at a Portugese tapas restaurant in the Plateau - totally amazing.

My fiance is much the same (plain foods at home when he was younger), but he's become quite the foodie since we met. He's even taken to ordering tuna at restaurants (Juniper/Domus) - and this from a guy who HATES seafood (he had never had tuna that didn't come from a can before he met me).

While I didn't help out all the time in the kitchen at home, my mom was a stay-at-home mom until I was 10 or so, meaning that we did have home-cooked meals most of the time. That's probably what helped. That and helping cook pizzas for Saturday nights through my childhood.

Once we got older and pizza nights on Saturday turned into steak dinner on Sunday, the pump was primed.

I think that my turning point, personally, was when I vacationed to New York alone. I had a couple of fancy-pants meals (tasting menus at Tabla and the French Culinary Institute), as well as a couple of totally not fancy-pants meals (hot dogs from a cart, deep-fried twinkies and peanut butter cups from the Park Slope Chip Shop, breakfast at Tom's Diner).

Since these things are clearly things that a foodie would do, but I was doing it before the "foodie" label existed, I reject the label ;)

My mom was also a stay-at-home mom. Mom had no problem feeding us things like zoodles, Kraft Dinner, metal tray TV dinners and those cheap little pot pies. But dinner was always a healthy meat and potato type meal. As kids we never had fruit roll-ups or store bought cookies in our lunches like the other kids, it was always home-made. Some of my favorite memories are baking in the kitchen with my mom, which I now do with my two year old son.

Food is Hot - "sometimes my sister and I were just allowed to go through the cupboards and mix things to create new "recipes" (which were usually disgusting of course, but at least we got to experiment)."
I always wanted to do that, it reminds me of that TV show from the 80's Just Like Mom, I always wanted to make cookies and put ketchup in the batter!

The last time I made one of my "experiments" and threw a bunch of ingredients in a bowl I was forced to eat it. It was *really* heavy on the candied ginger. I'm surprised I can still eat the stuff to this day.

As a child, I was a bit of a mad scientist. My mother at one point, carefully outlined how cooking was essentially chemistry, and that is how I got started. (That, and if you help make the cookies, it's easier to raid the chocolate chip jar... hope my mum isn't reading this ;-)) Later, having these basic skills, and the willingness to try (cooking) anything, I found that cooking was a great skill for impressing the girls. It seemed a large number of the girls I knew in university could not cook very well, and were frankly not interested in learning. Me and my male roommates would often cook a big Sunday dinner, and invite friends over... which was the source of many good times. Our standard sunday meal was a BIG roast of turkey, or beef, maybe some yorkshire pudding... fresh veggies, and homemade cheesecake or pastry for dessert.

AMR - lol, I had a similar experience when I was about 4 years old. I was taking a music class and we played a song game every few weeks where we had to sing out our favorite food. Now, my mother made a mean roast chicken, and as every non-health conscious child knows, the crispy delicious skin on a roasted bird is the best part. After declarations from the other children about pizza, hamburgers, ice cream and potato chips, I sang that my favourite food was "chicken skin". This was met by a resounding "ewwww" from the other 4 year olds. The next time we played the game, I went for the safer "strawberries". I've never forgotten that. But I still have a weakness for roasted skin on poultry - man when that Thanksgiving turkey comes out of the oven, I am all over it.

Short Version My story is similar to Captain Caper's.

Long Version My story is similar to Captain Caper's...but...

First off thanks to Captain Caper who inspired me… and apologies that this has ended up so long.

Like Captain Caper, I am of the same generation of Canadians where Mom’s stayed at home, Dad’s went to work in an industrial setting (many of their generation having moved to more urban environments from “the farm”). The 1960s in particular were the apex of modernizing the kitchen. Our home had a fridge with a top mount freezer (not the little tiny icebox found in most fridges of the time. In addition we had a chest freezer in the basement. The stove had coils of various sizes (no gas or woodstove here) and a full oven. There were various “new” small appliances, an electric kettle, toaster, electric frypan and mix-master. A cooks dream.

I remember my mother had a large collection of cookbooks in addition to a tattered notebook where “family recipes” were written out in detail – Betty Crocker, Fanny Farmer, Good Housekeeping, The UCW (United Church Women), The Women’s Institute, The White House Collection, etc. The latter being the “in” thing, with recipes from the chefs at the White House under the Kennedy administration, after Jacqueline did the radical thing of opening the White House to the photographers at Life Magazine. Most of the recipes from the White House were “party” favourites. There must have been a lot of sweets in it, because I remember this is when my Mom added some new cakes and cookies to her Christmas and Birthday repertoire. In particular I remember an ongoing Birthday request by myself for the cake with the whipped frosting. The closest I can explain was the frosting was sort of like marshmallows with pineapple in it.

But for all the “latest” in domestic efficiency, our family severely lacked imagination. My father worked long and hard all day, (back then before unions the work week was Monday to Friday, PLUS Saturday morning), when he got home he wanted dinner on the table. And it was nothing fancy… meat, potatoes, and a canned veggie. As I’ve said in an earlier post, canned veggies were this “in” thing as well. After the war, when commercial canned food became available to all, it was considered very healthy to eat all these canned veggies. Afterall, unlike home-canning, commercial canning was much safer. Canned veggies also improved the choice and longevity of produce available. It is hard to believe now, but it wasn’t so long ago that all the produce we take for granted now in the grocery store, just wasn’t available. In my generation, getting an orange in the bottom of your Christmas stocking was standard fare, it was a sign of good fortune, because oranges were expensive, and not very common in the winter (another reason why TANG was such a big hit in the 60s beyond it being invented by NASA it also made “orange flavoured” juice (sic) available to all.

And so it was in my “mothers domaine”… meat, potatoes and veggies everyday. There were roasts on the weekend and that old favourite pot-roast. I remember pot-roast was cooked in the electric frypan. My memories of this dish are not positive. It would go in about 10 AM, we’d go off to church (another 60s tradition) and come home about 2 hours later to lunch. I don’t know what cut of meat this was, but it wasn’t very good in my opinion. Too much grissle. And along with those canned peas and carrots a nightmare for me!

cont'd

Continued...

My first memory of cooking was in the mid-60s when I was doing a badge for Brownies. We had to prepare soup and a sandwich. There was a practice session before the big test at a friend’s house, her mom had offered her kitchen (my mother would NEVER have done that). I discovered it was fun to cook, and fun to do it with friends (something that has never left me). I remember being nervous the day of the test, but the Tester lady was very nice and old enough to be someone’s gramma (she probably was). I PASSED, but most importantly I was so proud of myself!

My awakening to “real” food came in the 1970s. Like Captain Caper my High School had a wonderful Home Ec Department and Shop Program, along with Business Courses, And Art & Music Departments. As an introduction to all these programs in Grades 7 & 8, the school year was divided into 4, and everyone round-robined thru them all… Cooking, Sewing, Drafting, Electronics, Banking, Woodworking and Arts & Music. LOL, I loved the traditional “guy” options, Sewing sucked! Cooking class was fun, we weren’t making meat & potatoes, we were cooking things like chilli and lasagne. I loved it.

My next fun memory was with a church youth group. As the 70s changed people’s thoughts about religion and church going, churches started to find ways to keep teenagers interest. “Sunday School” as it was previously known was out, “Youth Group” was in. And the formal lessons were out, now things were more hands on. Beyond the folk-singing, there was also cooking. As a group we’d prepare eats for the Meals on Wheels Program (usually cookies) that was a lot of fun, and very rewarding emotionally.

By the mid-70s new restaurants were coming to town... Pizza (which inturn became a place that every teenager hung out) and Chinese. Chinese was fascinating, all these new tastes and spices. For me it was WOW from the first whiff of Won Ton Soup.

By the late 70s I was off to college, and a whole new world. The city offered so many different people and cultures and food experiences. By now, grocery produce was similar to the way it is today. Many in my dorm opted-out of the Cafeteria Program, instead choosing to cook as a group. This was when I discovered so many more food choices (especially veggies). One of my girlfriends took a job one year over Christmas holidays minding a professor’s house & children, it was great, I visited often and we would cook up a storm trying new recipes from their well-worn copy of the Joy of Cooking. (A cookbook I soon after bought for myself, and is my “kitchen bible”).

Again, like Captain Caper, love increased my interest in food. As an engaged couple and a newlywed we spent a lot of time (and money) exploring restaurants. Italian, Greek, German, French, Seafood and Tex-Mex got added to the list. As our family grew (kiddies) then our disposable income shrank, so it was back to the book, if we wanted to continue enjoying these dishes at home.

Now the kids are gone. My life has moved on. The new “man in my life” has reawakened my love of food again as a social / cultural thing. And beyond new dishes, I’ve also discovered a love for the wines that accompany them. This would be my new flavour adventure. It is hoped that in the future I’ll be able to travel to discover more about wine and the regional foods that compliment them.

Hey Food and Think....... Thanks for the enjoyable read ... down memory lane for me.

I want to clear up an urban myth about Tang.

As seen from the website, from a guy right into 'Future Food', Tang was NOT developed for NASA but was used by NASA.

davidszondy.com

I remember a jar, yes jar, in my mom's cupboard. When there was absolutely nothing sweet in the house, including no more Bakers' Chips or semi-sweet cooking chocolate, we could a have a nip of Tang powder and pretent it was orange Lik-a-Maid or Pixie-Stick.

Am I dating myself here ? Oh Well...

"Am I dating myself here?" Not at all! I recall asking for "jello salad" for my birthdays when I was little - green jello with cottage cheese and pineapple in it. I also recall going to the candy store to buy sour candies, jawbreakers, charm bracelets, those little candy baby bottles, bazooka gum, and Pez candies. I also remember buying (politically incorrect?) bottle caps and candy cigarettes. When there was a movie on tv I was allowed cracker jacks.