Cafeteria FOODIE...

A FOODIE is someone who enjoys good food. The word didn't exist until 1981 when two food enthusiasts used it in their Official Foodie Handbook. I first heard the term at Tres Amigoes, a Mexican restaurant in our small town (Osage, population: 3622) and used by a lady from Riceville (population: 785)--who shopped at a food outlet in Rochester, MN (population: 107,890) to satisfy her unique taste buds.

The term stuck with me because

I enjoy experimenting with new foods--considering taste, texture and nutrients.

Does this make me a FOODIE? 

You won't find FOODIE in Webster's dictionary, 1969 era; however, if the word would have existed, its place would be between food-cycle and foodless. Insightful?

Growing up on a farm near Greenville, (population: 75)
we had breakfast, dinner and supper.
I caught myself referring to "supper" as "dinner"
recently and knew times had changed.
We grew up with a hearty breakfast of eggs,
white-bread toast slathered with real butter,
and bacon. In the cold of winter,
there would be hot cream of wheat on the table.
Mom and Dad always drank their coffee black
and served froman old tin pot that made
its home on the stove 24/7.


My most memorable dinners were on Sundays. Before church, Mom would stick a pork or beef roast in the oven and place a kettle of pealed potatoes on the stove. A fruit jello (of the Lutheran variety)

had been assembled and placed in the refrigerator the night before. Arriving home from church, she would flip the stove dial on high for the potatoes while everyone changed their clothes and set the table. A jar of home-grown green beans or corn was brought up from the basement to be boiled along with the potatoes. Home-made white bread was always on the table along with the butter. Chocolate cake was a constant--served for dessert at every meal.

Supper usually met a casserole (like goolash or Spanish rice) or more than likely--leftovers, served exactly as they had been served the first time around. Except for hash--which was a combination of left-over potatoes and roast beef, fried, and mixed together. Pizza was not known to us. Cheese was Velveeta or cottage, and words like brie, feta, ricotta were foreign. Yogurt was unheard of in our family. We ate lots of ice cream. Lobster was something that lived in the water and not known as edible.



Dessert? A repeat of chocolate cake-- blanketed with fudge frosting and always served out of a 9 x 13 pan. It's no wonder that I have this thing for chocolate.

What is interesting is that I have evolved from 

simply chocolate cake to black-bean brownies 

made with dark cocoa and dark chocolate chips.

                                                Does this make me a FOODIE?

We took a cruise to Alaska several years ago, which put my personal FOODIE movement into high gear. When we arrived home, I missed the more exotic fruits and vegetables, the wild salmon for breakfast, the sumptious entree choices for dinner. Sorry, Mom. In addition to that experience, our children attended college, traveled places I had not and came home with new recipes and new experiences regarding food and shared their enthusiasm for them.


Formerly, they were each picky in a variety of ways;
however, they now cook with and eat chick peas, 
pine nuts, flax, wheat germ, humus and bulgur. 
How did this happen?


Recently, during our long week in Rochester, I visited the hospital cafeteria and encountered items such as chipotle chicken, seared chicken and farfalle, spring herbed pork loin, tilapia, jalapeno basil pizza, potato relenas, caldo gallego, chicken vindaloo, quinoa turnkey stuffed pepper, need-I-say-more? I can not pronounce this stuff; however, I will eat it!

Does this make me a FOODIE?

Okay, I know, this is nothing Andrew Zimmern 

would be raving about on his television show.

Is it any wonder that I like cafeteria food when others were trying to get out of the building to the McDonalds or Kenturcky Fried across the street?

                                      I must be a FOODIE--or, at least, a CAFETERIA FOODIE. 

God created the Earth and all that grows on it for our pleasure and use. 
When we pray today before breakfast, lunch, and supper (or dinner?),
truly give thanks for all the good things He provides for us,  
and also consider all that some do not have--
sometimes those who live right in our own communities. 

Come Lord Jesus

Be our guest

                                                                   And let these gifts
                                                                  To us be blessed. . .

To us be blessed!

It's a big jump from FOODIE to the book signing event...
   more on that in a forth-coming blog; however, you
   may want to check out the "talk" given, "The Story
   Behind the Story" concerning the latest book--
   Thou Shalt not. Just google--

   www.mitchellcountyhistoricalsociety.org

   and...

   click on "kathy stauffer's book signing"

We ARE blessed!