Regional variants of previous generations' nutritionally[-semi]-complete meals

[rotuts]

@Duvel 

 

posted here :

 

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/164739-dinner-2023/page/30/#comment-2379025a 

 

a traditional dish :

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linsen_mit_Spätzle

 

Wiki suggests this is a dish , of the less affluent .

 

it notes that lentils , and wheat has some nutritional completeness 

 

it reminded me of a New England dish  , as Ive heard 

 

from 2 generations ago , for Saturday Night 

 

baked beans , ' hot dogs ' , and brown bread   ( baked in a can , w molasses )

 

do you know of similar dishes 

 

 you've tasted yourself 

 

that are regional , semi-nutritionally complete

 

evolved by and for the less affluent 

 

I know that  the number of these sorts of dishes 

 

must really be quite large and regional 

 

which have you tasted  over time ?

 

 

 

 

[TdeV]

I was given to understand that cooked dried beans and rice make a nearly complete protein. Could be fully nutritionally complete with the addition of an occasional (ceremonial) rabbit, squirrel, or small wild pig.

 

 

Edited February 27 by TdeV (log)

[heidih]

I think this article puts it forth simply and clearly. The whole complete protein mania harks back to the 60s in my recollection and then got even more manic when high protein diets became the rage.  We've thrown a lot of that out the window and reliance on variety, less reliance on heavily processed foods are the more "complete" picture to me. For ages beans (legumes) and corn in Mexico and south fwd people well.  The point as noted in the article is that the foods need not be comsumed in one meal, and that variety gets you the widest possible darts at all the vast nutrients that our bodies thrive on. 

 

https://www.realsimple.com/complete-protein-6891861

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Diet for a Small Planet spelled out how to complement incomplete proteins.    And its recipes are delicious.

(I remember showing my father a copy when it first came out.   He glanced through it for many 15 minutes then scathingly said to me, "You do understand what they are promoting, don't you.    They are preaching vegetarianism!"

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Lentil soup was a standby in our home.    Also Senate White Bean soup.   

[weinoo]

A sausage and mushroom pizza worked for us.

[liuzhou]

It has often been said that during World War II, the nutrition levels in the UK under sternly enforced rationing laws, were higher than normal and people generally healthier. People could only get limited supplies, but nutritious ones, so didn't fill up on junk.

 

Although I was born under rationing, I don't really remember it. Didn't eat a banana or ice cream until I was about 8 or 9.

I'm not claiming the food was great, but it was nutritious.

 

 

Edited February 28 by liuzhou (log)

[Smithy]

I think another name for what @rotuts is asking about is "peasant food" in various regions: inexpensive, nutritious, filling, not particularly fancy. My husband's version of that is probably split pea stew, with chunks of ham and, if I have my way, chunks of potato also.

 

I'm drawing a blank on what my family might have had in that category, but I discovered a favorite in Egypt: khoshary. The Wikipedia link has some pictures. Here's what I wrote about it in (good grief, so long ago?) 2005:

 

Quote

Khoushary may be the closest thing to a national dish in Egypt. It's a hot meal of rice, macaroni, lentils, crispy fried onions, tomato sauce and another thing or two that I've forgotten, all in a bowl. At the table you add your own sauces to your tastes: a lemon/garlic sauce that's tart and almost sweet, and a hot red pepper sauce. Caution! The hot red pepper sauce really is liquid blow torch, and it does that slow burn thing that sneaks up on you. Pour a little into your spoon, swirl it in the khoushary, and do not lick the spoon until you've stirred thoroughly. I didn't believe my husband the first time he warned me about this, and my taste buds were seared for 2 days. But oh, under the heat there's a wonderful flavor. 

 

We've made it here in the States a few times, but it's a pain because so many ingredients must be cooked separately before mixing them all together and it necessarily makes large quantities. It's much better for cooking for a crowd. I've never quite gotten the lemon / garlic sauce or the red sauce right, although I might do better at it now.

 

Hmm. The more I think of it, the more I might be willing to try it again. It IS nutritious, cheap, filling, and good.

[rotuts]

@Smithy 

 

thank you .

 

I was hoping to hear from those 

 

who had     ' Beans & Franks , Brown Bread , steamed in a Can '

 

as  I did , 

 

growing up,   in the Bay Area , 

 

initially in Los Altos 

 

with mostly apricot trees , septic tanks , and gravel roads 

 

those days   and I have traveled , as both my parents were

 

teachers , and taught  in France and Spain

 

but from their own discoveries .

 

I initially thought it odd , for a dinner , it was B,F,BB

 

but it wasn't 

 

 

[Smithy]

1 minute ago, rotuts said:

@Smithy 

 

thank you .

 

I was hoping to hear from those 

 

who had     ' Beans & Franks , Brown Bread , steamed in a Can '

 

as  I did , 

 

growing up,   in the Bay Area , 

 

initially in Los Altos 

 

with mostly apricot trees , septic tanks , and gravel roads 

 

those days   and I have traveled , as both my parents were

 

teachers , and taught  in France and Spain

 

but from their own discoveries .

 

I initially thought it odd , for a dinner , it was B,F,BB

 

but it wasn't 

 

 

 

I think my mother may have tried the "beans and franks" thing once, but certainly never the brown bread steamed in a can. I say she may have tried it "once" because I know it wouldn't have gone over well. To this day I loathe sweet bean dishes such as those canned things, and my sister detests cooked beans of any type except green beans. However, my husband loves 'em and has taken to buying "barbecue beans" and eating them with sausages of his choice.

[rotuts]

 may have misrepresented the

 

Brown Bread component

 

https://newengland.com/today/living/new-england-nostalgia/franks-and-beans/

 

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&sxsrf=AJOqlzUajHzoxWSDoCUo0DxalxdkbIDxOQ:1677609307740&q=beans+franks+and+brown+bread&tbm=isch&source=univ&fir=PW_vxhdAwfMFGM%2CaR3FqItjGMI-FM%2C_%3B1Fl63BmvL9KZ-M%2CVAIE1_F3AWKhwM%2C_%3B4z7M5XQkjrLUTM%2CrRvQZOp7bJr6nM%2C_%3BazB8xKFURk7x7M%2CV7DstMoP_OCM6M%2C_%3BrecfSgNB6CxYwM%2CBr39SkYdn54jdM%2C_%3BkaawveToMSL10M%2CsIpGGwALSn695M%2C_%3BtKWXItSLshtEFM%2CEvb6NMy3qZ2M6M%2C_%3BR4caG_UpWJ3xKM%2CsIpGGwALSn695M%2C_%3B56NtAx4yRrnTKM%2C0B5pcU8vLGPbIM%2C_%3B1o8yRZ2CowLbSM%2CHMSSyJnvCr4cXM%2C_&usg=AI4_-kQ-NMrnCUXzpWXFuPtTvIW7JrR_uA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjj8O_W7bj9AhUfEVkFHY4aDakQjJkEegQIOhAC&biw=1143&bih=1137&dpr=2

 

thanks agai9n.

[blue_dolphin]

12 minutes ago, rotuts said:

I was hoping to hear from those 

 

who had     ' Beans & Franks , Brown Bread , steamed in a Can '

 

as  I did , 

 

We often had this for a Saturday night supper.  Us kids usually skipped the brown bread and had our dogs on buns but my dad loved the brown bread.  Other days, there was always salad and cooked veg.  I guess the veg got those Saturdays off!

 

Edited to add that while I grew up in northern NY, my dad was from western Mass and I suspect that's where he got it!

 

 

Edited February 28 by blue_dolphin (log)

[chromedome]

I didn't grow up with the steamed brown bread in Nova Scotia (we favor a conventionally-baked oatmeal/molasses loaf as our accompaniment) but I used to make it for my farmer's market gig, and sell it alongside tubs of baked beans. It was a good seller for me. Not that we got a lot of tourists at the farmer's market - some, but not many - but a lot of locals vacation/shop in Boston and came to appreciate it during their visits.

[JeanneCake]

I remember having beans and hot dogs (cut up and put into the beans) when I was a kid; usually when my parents were going out on a Saturday night.  It was that, or the old standby, pastina,  that was a giveaway that we were getting a babysitter and they were going out!

 

I  love lentil soup and now that Margaret has mentioned Senate Bean Soup, I want some !

[heidih]

My dad age 100 reminisces about being raised by his widowed mom in rural Croatia and having beans cooked with a piece of salt pork from the barrel (the yearly pig) and sauerkraut from the several barrels as a dietary staple especially fall/winter. Sometimes there were potatoes or mom's homemade noodles. They had farmland she leased out like a sharecropper arrangement and spring/summer there were fruits especially to sneak. 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

On the rare evenings when my mother wasn't cooking (she was doing the Avon Lady thing) my father would cook for us.

He could make two meals really well.

Beans and fried baloney or home made french fries with fried baloney. He had a lifelong love for baloney that none of us really shared.

 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

6 hours ago, Smithy said:

I think another name for what @rotuts is asking about is "peasant food" in various regions: inexpensive, nutritious, filling, not particularly fancy. My husband's version of that is probably split pea stew, with chunks of ham and, if I have my way, chunks of potato also.

 

I'm drawing a blank on what my family might have had in that category, but I discovered a favorite in Egypt: khoshary. The Wikipedia link has some pictures. Here's what I wrote about it in (good grief, so long ago?) 2005:

 

 

We've made it here in the States a few times, but it's a pain because so many ingredients must be cooked separately before mixing them all together and it necessarily makes large quantities. It's much better for cooking for a crowd. I've never quite gotten the lemon / garlic sauce or the red sauce right, although I might do better at it now.

 

Hmm. The more I think of it, the more I might be willing to try it again. It IS nutritious, cheap, filling, and good.

 

That takes me back.

I was in Egypt in December of 1990 and spent most of the time in Sohag in the central part of the country and ate a lot of khoshary, mostly for lunch. Ful medames was the standard breakfast (usually with a hard cooked egg or a very thick yogurt cheese). 

These were tasty and nutritious dishes but what I remember most was the smell of the freshly baked bread and the sight of it being delivered by men on bicycles balancing full open trays on their heads or across their handlebars (which our Antiquities Ministry hosts didn't want us photographing because they felt it didn't reflect 'Modern Egypt').

 

 

Edited March 1 by Senior Sea Kayaker (log)

[Porthos]

12 hours ago, liuzhou said:

It has often been said that during World War II, the nutrition levels in the UK under sternly enforced rationing laws, were higher than normal and people generally healthier. People could only get limited supplies, but nutritious ones, so didn't fill up on junk.

 

Although I was born under rationing, I don't really remember it. Didn't eat a banana or ice cream until I was about 8 or 9.

I'm not claiming the food was great, but it was nutritious.

 

 

On Prime there is a series called Wartime Farm that delves deeply into food in the UK during WWII and talks about the healthyness of that diet. My Sweetie and I have watched it several times. 

[Tropicalsenior]

The national dish of Costa Rica is Gallo Pinto which is basically unseasoned rice mixed with unseasoned black beans. Most families have it three times a day. In the morning it is served with eggs and at lunch it is served with some type of meat. For dinner it's served with a shredded cabbage salad, a vegetable and some type of meat.

Another ubiquitous meal is arroz con pollo which is served at every social Gathering. It is a seasoned rice served with a miniscule amount of chicken. One chicken can feed about 40 people.

When we moved here 40 years ago, we used to comment on the physical fitness of the Costa Ricans. You very seldom saw a fat person. In the years since, the diet has changed drastically. Fast food chains have moved in and junk food is everywhere. Obesity is everywhere and even the little school children look like miniature Pillsbury doughboys. Another change that the diet has made is in the height of the people here. When we moved here, the average height of a Costa Rican man was about 5 ft 7. This younger generation is tall. There are 6

footers all over the place and even the young girls are tall.

It's been interesting to see in such a short time how a change in diet can change the whole culture of a country.

[liuzhou]

7 hours ago, Porthos said:

On Prime there is a series called Wartime Farm that delves deeply into food in the UK during WWII and talks about the healthyness of that diet. My Sweetie and I have watched it several times. 

Yeah, I saw some of that when it was originally on BBC.

 

Edited March 1 by liuzhou (log)