Mommy Dearest - any good home cooking?

[WHS]

For a while there, your mom was taking a pretty heavy beating from you on the editor's page (and in your books). I remember going home for the first time after living on my own, and being shocked by how BAD my mother's cooking was. (Whenever I pass a restaurant that has a sign that says "Fine Family Dining" a shiver goes down my spine.) So my question to you: Did your mother make anything that conjures up fond memories?

[Ruth Reichl]

For a while there, your mom was taking a pretty heavy beating from you on the editor's page (and in your books).  I remember going home for the first time after living on my own, and being shocked by how BAD my mother's cooking was.  (Whenever I pass a restaurant that has a sign that says "Fine Family Dining" a shiver goes down my spine.)  So my question to you:  Did your mother make anything that conjures up fond memories?

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Yes, my mother cooked the greatest corn I've ever eaten. We had a house in Connecticut, and she had a farmer she got corn from. She'd call him, tell him to go pick, and put a pot of water on to boil. She liked little white ears - at a time when NOBODY wanted them - so the farmer was thrilled to give her the stuff nobody else wanted. She'd come home from Renzulli's, we'd shuck really fast, and then she'd cook the corn for about a minute. Sweet butter, a little salt - nothing's ever tasted better.

She also cooked great lobsters. Got them from some guy down at the shore.

She could shop: She just didn't believe (really) that anything went bad, anything needed to cook for more than about 10 minutes, or that any combinations wouldn't work.

[Megan Blocker]

I have to say, I just re-read Tender at the Bone, and I still can't get over the chapters about your mother's food - they are some of my favorite parts, both in how they illustrate your personality and relationship with your mother, and just for the pure shock/humor factor.

Ruth, do you think your early exposure to less-than-fresh food helped you develop the strong, adventurous stomach necessary for life as a food writer, reviewer and editor?

Edited December 2, 2005 by Megan Blocker (log)

[WHS]

I have to say, I just re-read Tender at the Bone, and I still can't get over the chapters about your mother's food - they are some of my favorite parts, both in how they illustrate your personality and relationship with your mother, and just for the pure shock/humor factor.

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Yes, the slap of recognition was strong. Vivid memories of my (japanese) mother include digging for tiny clams next to an oil refinery in Tokyo Bay and making a potentially toxic miso soup, and her finest moment: stealing the cook away from the German ambassador when we lived in Bangkok--we ate sauerbraten in 90 degree heat for months...