Food tells a story about how we live. My food story is varied, and I often find myself wallowing in my own memories . . . Heart-warming thoughts about the smell of chicken soup on the stove at my Grandmother’s every Sunday afternoon; The overpowering and unappealing smell of fried walleye set before me on Fridays during Lent; Standing on a farm in Italy, the warmth of the sun on my face as I taste freshly made ricotta cheese.
And this past year is no exception. They took an unexpected turn. The upheaval in our lives due to the pandemic certainly brought upon new food memories, especially as we’ve all been here at home, eating morning, noon, and night together.
And now, as we ready to take a step towards our new lives, when life will become a bit more ‘open,’ I look back at how food played a role in our lives during the pandemic – and, wonder if any of those changes are for the better.
Here are some changes in the way we looked at food during the past 12 months:
Cleaning our Food
After we got past the task of wiping down all the packaged and unpackaged food we brought into the house after grocery shopping, it was great to see that cleaning food truly became a habit for my kids. I no longer had to remind them to wash the apple, pepper, or other fresh produce we brought into the house. We also took to rinsing our grains with greater regularity.
Overall, this was a good outcome.
Over-Stocking the Pantry
My pantry is usually stocked up with all my essentials – from grains, beans and flours to nuts, canned foods and beyond. I’m pretty much organized enough so that it is easy to know when I’m running low on something. I also tend to shy away from over-buying as I don’t want my pantry items to get lost in the back corners of the shelves and not get used for ages. But, during the early days of the pandemic, when everyone decided to try some bread baker, yeast became a hot commodity. We have been baking bread for a dozen or so years, so I always purchase yeast on a frequent basis. After a few days of worrying when I couldn’t find yeast in the grocery stores around town, I bought a huge stash of yeast form King Arthur Flour and have been sitting pretty ever since. I felt the pull of the pandemic when it came to beans as well. So, I bulk purchased from Rancho Gordo. Now, a year later, I truly am overstocked, and maybe I’ll have to look up some recipes for yeast and beans.
I’m going back to my usual buying patterns.
Working on Our Culinary Skills
There was only so much hiking we could do in the neighborhood. So, when I wasn’t dragging the girls on a five-mile hike on Mt. Tam trails, I supported my girls as they experimented with cooking and baking on their own. They sought to make lunches, snacks pastries and even dinners. Addison & Keely even took to creating some IG videos for the Family.Eats.Official account. While the girls were always helpful in the kitchen, and occasionally cooked . . .
I think the time spent at home during the pandemic helped bring their culinary skills to the next level.
Way Too Much Meat
I don’t know what happened, but we just ate too much meat while in lockdown. These days, the smell of bacon annoys me. I know, bacon lovers can hate me for saying that, but between all 6 of us, someone was cooking bacon throughout the day. The results of this, is
I am actively seeking new recipes to add to our rotation – most which will downplay the use of meat!
Argh – Plastic!
The arrival of the pandemic meant more plastic brought home from the grocery store. First it was the plastic bags they made us use, then all my bulk foods and produce, which I usually brought home in my own reusable bags, was now packaged in plastic! And, I couldn’t bring my own containers to the meat counter . . . Needless to say, I added a ton of plastic to the landfill this last year. For me, this was one of the most frustrating parts of making our way through pandemic buying. Things are changing slightly, we can bring our bags for use, but the bulk grains, beans, nuts and dried fruits are still pre-packaged in plastic containers, rather than allowing customers to use their own bags.
It’s a work in progress, and I hope to be back to minimizing single-use plastics in our home.
In the end, food continued to shape our story as a family. And, good or bad, our food memories from the pandemic will certainly tell the story of our time of uncertainty. There are definitely some lessons learned from pandemic cooking and eating, and I’ll be happy to maintain the good ones, and take them into our next journey of “reconnecting with the food we eat and the family we love.”
