What sort of foods did liberals grow up on?

[The Doctor.]

It was a point of pride, but then a thought;

I was so proud that my little ones have been cultivated to ask for fresh bell peppers as a snack, that I posted about it in the cooking forum. (last night I made 'spring chicken fajitas' with sauteed chicken (black pepper, light salt, cumin, pinch of chili powder), wrapped with monterey-cheddar cheese, pineapple salsa, black olives, dab of sour cream, and fresh strips of rainbow bell peppers.)

They percolated about me in the kitchen and asked me for some peppers. I gave them each a third of their pepper of choice, and a handful of olives, and they went back to their game and inhaled them. They loved their fajitas with a big glass of 1% milk too, of course.

So after I posted on the cooking forum (which reminds me, I should post the recipe), and the couple responses from respected DUer's seemed to take growing up on healthy foods for granted.
I too grew up on 'sticks and rocks' cereal, as one old girlfriend used to say. That and fresh fruits and veggies have always been around to snack on.

So I wondered; did a relatively high percent of DUers grow up with such a diet?
I'd lay dollars to doughnuts, so to speak, that most of FR grew up on soda, twinkies, and mac+cheese :beer: (not that I'm knocking it... M+C can be a lifesaver!)

Please take the poll and K+R. It's not scientific, but I think it may be fairly revealing.

[BlooInBloo]

1. Normal "mom's cooking" - meatloaf + mashed taters, etc.

[The Doctor.]

2. That's healthy...

Any veggies or milk with that?

[BlooInBloo]

4. Back then: veggies when my parents could get me to eat them...

I always loved raw veggies, but was sketchy on cooked. Now I'm fine with them either way. Veggies were never, and will never be the "center" of my meal however - that's what meat is for.

I'll never touch brussels sprouts or beets, however.

I wasn't allowed to drink anything but milk, juice, and water until I was like 15. I've drank about half a gallon of milk a day for as long as I can remember. It's weird for me to think of eating without a glass of milk (or 3).

[The Doctor.]

7. Yep, that's key...

Don't knock milk, it's one of the best things a kid can drink. I love it to this day.

It's the kids who grow up on soda that have problems.

Have you discovered http://www.bolthouse.com">BoltHouse Farms yet?

It's on the pricey side, but the stuff is awesome.

[BlooInBloo]

70. Nope - I'm comfortable with the food I eat. Thanks, though.

[The Doctor.]

87. No reason not to be.

I just love their juice.

[PSzymeczek]

109. We had a HUGE garden when I was a kid.

Fresh corn, green beans, lima beans, okra, tomatoes, all the usual stuff, except English peas. The summer I was 12, I shelled so many purple-hulled black-eye peas my thumbs were stained for weeks. My mon canned, froze, made Tomato juice and applesauce. Yum.

[teachableseconds]

45. Milk=healthy?

:crazy:

[The Doctor.]

47. Youbetcha!

I know, I know... the hormones and other forms of ruination, but real milk is still better than soda, and contains higher nutrition variation and density than other juices.

I like the alternatives too... except for soy milk.

I've had about a glass a day since childhood, and experienced no health problems out of the ordinary or by other causes.

[teachableseconds]

50. Well, here's the problem: many cultures cannot tolerate lactose

because their diets normally do not include dairy. Africans and descendants, Asians, Hispanics...And some of these groups come here and consume abnormally large amounts of the stuff.

I would also say that if you can get in touch with a small organic farm that can sell you raw milk, you will be much better off. Definitely, buy organic because the animals won't be abused as much or at all, along with hormones, etc.

[The Doctor.]

54. Very much agreed.

For the few drawbacks milk has, even under modern processing, it's still considerably more healthy than so much of what we have in our diets. That may be a sad commentary on what is available in our culture, but it still boils down to the choices you have rather than those you do not.

Our local grocers carry organic foods from the area, and I go out of my way to get what I can. But I must admit, until corporate agriculture is dissolved, the temptation to stretch the budget on cheap, unethically manufactured foods is still high. Luckily, even our milk around here is locally produced.

Perfect? No. It's about the choices we have.

Excellent suggestions though!

[tridim]

78. I had gut issues all my life until I cut down on milk and ice cream.

It sucks because I loved both.

I can still eat yogurt though (which I only discovered well into my 30's), and have grown to love it. Especially with fruit and granola.

[teachableseconds]

83. Little recipe idea for you, if you like mangoes:

I buy frozen mangoes at Trader Joe's and blend them with plain whole milk organic yogurt, and a little agave nectar or preferably raw honey (the flavor really adds to the shake). Very delish!

I read something where you didn't seem to enjoy soy milk? I like freezing papaya when it's on sale and blending it with Very Vanilla Silk soymilk. Damn, that is tasty!

[The Doctor.]

97. Ooooo! You make me get out Mr. Blender!

Thanks!

[teachableseconds]

99. Yeah, and if you have the counter space, just leave it out and use it every day

You can even make green shakes with frozen bananas and kale or Swiss chard. Great way to work in extra leafy greens.

[mamaleah]

3. Fairly normal

Chicken, gefilte, brisket, lots of potatoes in every way imaginable. Fruits and veggies as well, but we were definitely lucky enough to get soda and cookies and cakes too!

My family was never into the latest health craze or anything. If it was kosher, we could eat it. If not, then it does matter what it is....you are not eating it.

[The Doctor.]

5. Seriously...

What possible, puerile, pernicious reason could some poor, pathetic, petty poster have for UN-recommending such a thread as this?

Get a life.

[Demit]

44. Maybe because of your annoying alliteration?

Not that I was the one who unrec'd you, but your tone throughout this thread has been insufferably preachy. Being a doctor, maybe you could take something for that.

[The Doctor.]

48. None of that was in the OP.

Let's have an example of 'insufferably preachy' from the OP... or anywhere else here.

Methinks thou dost seek excuses to be a piss-pot.

[BlooInBloo]

66. Possibly the KnR request makes some unrec, just on principle...

In general, there can be a lot of reasons, only a few of which are genuinely nefarious.

[The Doctor.]

75. I suppose. It's still a petty impulse.

I genuinely wanted an optimal response to this poll. The higher the sample group, the more accurate the results. There is no crime or egomania in requesting people K+R for that purpose.

Sure, some people request a K+R for more ego-related reasons, but to automatically assume that's the case without understanding the reason for it is a combination of petty and ignorant.

Some people will always be petty. If they so choose to act on their impulses to the detriment of the efforts of others in their community, there's little to be done about it.

[Demit]

67. Not looking for excuses—just expressing a real reaction to your tone.

What's preachy, you ask?

"rarely red meat or sugary snacks"(presumably, anything more than "rarely" is bad, or illiberal).

"I was so proud that my little ones have been cultivated to ask for fresh bell peppers as a snack" (with 'fresh bell peppers' and 'snack' in italics, to show the self-congratulatory wonder of it all).

Your bet that "most of FR grew up on soda, twinkies, and mac+cheese" (which is probably more condescending than preachy, except for the implied 'and I'll bet liberals DIDN'T!' part).


"It speaks well to other facets of one's upbringing that they are a conscientious and intelligent adult."
"It's the kids who grow up on soda that have problems."
"even the Chinese don't eat the crap they serve in 'Chinese Restaurants'."
"It's very rare to find authentic without cooking it yourself."


First, it was the silly premise you started out with that annoyed me (that you've had to backtrack on ever since), then it was the way you have of pronouncing on some people's posts, with generalizations so broad as to be meaningless, but delivered with such certainty and authority. So I guess it is more the condescension & know-it-allness than the preachiness. Thanks for making me think about that more. I hope I answered your question.

[The Doctor.]

80. Your choice to be annoyed says a bit about you.

I've done no 'backtracking' at all.

First, I hate to break this to you, but if these relatively factual observations strike you as 'preachy', then your beef is with reality, not me;

"It speaks well to other facets of one's upbringing that they are a conscientious and intelligent adult."

- Uhhh... how doesn't it?


"It's the kids who grow up on soda that have problems."

- Welcome to the world of medical fact. Study it sometime. If you grew up on soda, but still turned out ok, refer to point 1.


"even the Chinese don't eat the crap they serve in 'Chinese Restaurants'."

- Go to China and order some 'General Tsao's Chicken'... don't act surprised if they look at you funny.


"It's very rare to find authentic without cooking it yourself."

- Again, welcome to the consumer culture environment. You want real Chinese food, go to China or cook it yourself. If you can find an authentic Chinese local restaurant, good for you. Please share.


Now, tell me why I should not be proud that my kids like healthy stuff? Or are you saying that I should refrain from expressing any such pride on the off-chance that it might offend you? I never said that makes me or my children 'better' than anyone elses'. If you want to believe that, I'm afraid that's in your head, not mine.


As I said; you're just another person looking for an excuse to rain on someone else. Did you drink a lot of soda as a child?

Don't like someone condescending to you? Then I suggest you stop looking for thin excuses to criticize someone for your own selective sensitivities.

I'm proud of my kids, I believe good nutrition is important for development, and you're perfectly allowed to believe I think I'm better than you because of that. I don't believe I'm 'better' than you, but neither do I shit all over someone just because I feel like being offended.

Bye.

[WI_DEM]

90. You've proved the posters point. You can't accept what the poster says

yet you ask why anybody would give this thread an unrecommend. You make it sound like if your liberal you grew up eating just the right foods with plenty of veggies little meat, etc, but the reality is for many people who grew up in poor that isn't the case.

[The Doctor.]

96. Then you weren't reading.

"It speaks well to other facets of one's upbringing that they are a conscientious and intelligent adult."

There are no such absolutisms in the OP as you state here;

"if your liberal you grew up eating just the right foods with plenty of veggies little meat,"


That would be you, and presumably the other poster, just making shit up that isn't there. I've noticed such a tendency in those who leap to the attack out of some perceived slight to their own sensitivities before actually reading and understanding what's been said. Read the OP again until you understand it. Find that condescending? Then in the future, read something until you understand it, or ask questions before going on the attack, and you won't be subject to condescension.

Now, if perhaps you'd like to ask questions about what I meant rather than making assumptions, I'll be happy to enlighten you.

Cheers!

[NashVegas]

119. Because It's Insufferably Smug

Would be my best guess.

Is this some kind of internet equivalent of performance art? If this is supposed to be some kind of demonstration of what the Limpbots call "liberal smugness," it's absolutely brilliant.

[The Doctor.]

126. Oh bullshit.

It's out of honest curiosity, and the expectation is rather valid.

Call it 'smug' if you want to, but I've learned that conservative idiocy is a fact. Poor nutrition contributes to underdevelopment.

I'm sure all the university studies that found serious developmental issues with conservatives were all just 'smug' as well. Frankly, the only people that should be offended by this, or find it 'smug' are freepers.... and those morons can fuck off.

[NashVegas]

129. Bullshit, Yourself

In the post-at-home parent household, suburban-sprawl, marketing-driven world, food choices for the overwhelming majority are based on how much money one has to buy, how educated they are about their food choices, and how much time they have to cook.

The issue is not political it's education, class, and income, and there are too many state-level Republicans who consistently vote to protect and promote small independent farmers while their Democratic counter-parts vote with Monsanto, every fucking time, to claim any political motivation's at work.

Your posts on this issue constitute one of the most brilliant parodies of self-righteous, smug, superiority I think I've ever seen on DU.

[The Doctor.]

137. Bullshit right back at you.

I have rarely seen such a display of pseudo-indignant political-correctness as yours.

So, somehow the way Democrats vote in Congress proves their liberal constituents aren't nutrition-conscious?
There's no point there either way.

I'm finding it hard to believe that anyone could be so deliberately myopic to see so narrow a point in an otherwise open thought.

"food choices for the overwhelming majority are based on how much money one has to buy, how educated they are about their food choices, and how much time they have to cook.

- Picture flaming 20 foot high letters spelling out the words "NO SHIT!". When did I make any claim to the contrary?

Why it is that so many indignation-mongers are so practiced at simply making shit up out of thin air?
Oh, right... because then they couldn't indulge in their self-righteous diatribe over how much more modest and politically correct they are than their target.

It's kind of sad, actually.

My points were simple;

Proud of my kids for their choices.

- Don't like it? Think I should just keep it to myself so I don't accidentally 'make someone feel inferior'?
Piss off.

My kids lag in other realms, yet when someone lauds their kid's accomplishments or behaviors that I would like mine to emulate, I can feel proud for them... because I'm not some insecure twit who thinks it reflects on him or his kids. Either way, if I feel like being proud of my kids and saying something about it, all you do by accusing me of 'smugness' is tell me that you're a bit insecure... as indignation-mongers often are.

As for the suggestion that liberals, on average, grew up with greater nutrition-consciousness than conservatives?
So. The. Fuck. What?

If you haven't noticed, we're on DU. People here post FAR more 'smug' suppositions than I've even come close to with this. Hell, I'd go so far as to say they post 'smug', 'rancid', 'superior', 'demeaning', and even down right 'condescending' shit about Freepers... Ya' THINK?!?

So I'll tell you what, you just go right ahead and be the indignant Super-Trooper and make sure that no one on DU is being 'smug' towards conservatives around here.

You'll have your work cut out.

While you're at it, take the time to notice that a great many people contributed to this thread in earnest without looking for an excuse to make themselves feel morally superior somehow. Would that be possible for you?

[NashVegas]

143. May the Fnord Be With You

Really

[The Doctor.]

147. As it is with you...

Sincerely.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Other. I was raised on a farm and we had meat, potatoes, vegetables, and fruits at all dinners.

Hardy breakfasts with eggs, bacon, pancakes, etc. Ate hot lunches at school. We ate a great variety due to large gardens and a grandmother that gathered wild fruits and stuff. Ate lots of things fried as well.

[The Doctor.]

10. Good balance, lucky you!

Some lifestyles, especially farming, require higher levels of fat calories.

People forget that fat is important.

If you don't mind my asking; how would you rate your current health with respect to your diet growing up?

[sinkingfeeling]

16. Pretty good. Normal weight, but not sure about BMI. I have low blood pressure, almost to the point

of needing meds (less than 100 over less than 85). I'm 61 and take no prescription meds. My only health issue popped up last year and was of my own making. Tonsil cancer, after smoking for 40 years. Had surgery and radiation.

[azmouse]

8. My mother was a lousy cook.

She also didn't have time to cook a decent meal every evening when she got home from work.
We did not eat food that promoted good health.

[teachableseconds]

94. How has that affected what you do as an adult?

My SO had the same issue and so I cook for him (healthy, vegetarian) and he appreciates it because of how he was raised.

[azmouse]

101. Unlike my mother I love to cook.

I broil lean meats in small portions. I serve salads of all types with homemade dressing made with olive oil.
I eat fruit most days. I drink red wine. I love fresh herbs and make sure food is well seasoned and flavorful.

I still need to lose a few pounds because I still love my chocolate (and exercise not so much) but overall I'm healthy.
Lucky for me my husband is an adventurous eater too so he's very easy to cook for.

[LaurenG]

9. We had real food

we were fed applesauce as a treat and ate whole tomatoes and cucumbers as snacks. The worst thing I remember eating when we were little was bread sprinkled with sugar when we were home alone - (both parents worked). My parents never bought us soda but occasionally my mom would make a cake or a batch of homemade fudge.



I have to tell you though that my parents are /were (my dad is deceased)republicans and we were pretty poor when I was little.

[tjwash]

11. High starch gross, prepackaged, food. Yes...and mac and cheese, sodas, twinkies etc...

My mom and dad both had to work full time jobs, sometimes 2 to make ends meet. Neither had the time or energy to cook wholesome healthy meals, so meals consisted of what we could throw in the oven, or what was in a can or box.

I didn't turn out bad...and I knew how to cook full meals from scratch by the time I was 15.

Although when I was in college, I figured out how to really make do with nothing. I learned early how expensive mac & cheese and top ramen were. I would buy 50 pound bags of rice and beans and that would pretty much get me through the month. Add a little stolen taco bell hot sauce and you're living large :thumbsup:

[valerief]

12. We had a saying in our house. If it doesn't come out of a can, we don't eat it.

Actually, we ate canned food and lots and lots of undercooked meat (I preferred to eat eggs to my mother's badly cooked meat).

Now I eat real food.

[Aristus]

13. Traditional Southern cooking.

My mother is from Alabama, and a raging liberal. B-) But we were served, and enjoyed, traditional Southern cooking. I love my Mom, but watching her eat turnip greens with ketchup and mayonnaise makes me a little ill...

Sugar cereals and soda were treats, not staples of our diet. We never kept soda (or beer for my dad) in the house, and if we went out to eat, we could not order soda unless we'd had milk to drink during the day.

[doodadem]

26. Same here

Parents from South Carolina. I grew up on black-eyed peas with ham, cornbread, squash fritters, and sliced fresh tomatoes. Still one of my favorite meals to this day. Two sisters who were Type 1 diabetics from a young age, so anything with sugar was a rare treat in our house.

After we moved out to some acreage, my folks went back to having the huge gardens they'd had when they were growing up.....so always lots of fresh veges, and fruit. I'm really wishing now that I'd paid more attention to my mom when she was canning all this stuff. I'm having to learn from scratch now with my own gardens....but getting ready to can pickles today. Been processing and freezing tons of green beans, corn, and squash. Tomatoes and peaches in the coming month.

[Z_I_Peevey]

121. My love of turnip greens

comes from years of eating Grandman's Southern cooking. But seriously, ketchup? Mayo? On turnip greens? Ah swan, I never heard of such a thing. Pepper sauce, yes, the kind that's just vinegar and peppers in a little skinny bottle.

I also remember sitting down to dinner (that's lunch to everyone else) with my Mississippi relatives and my new stepfather. He waited and waited to take the first bite. Everyone else was almost done by the time he sampled some of the many offerings. The problem? He was waiting for someone to set the meat on the table. He didn't know the "meat" for the meal was the little dab of pork cooked in with the green beans and potatoes.

[tridim]

14. My mom served what she thought were balanced meals

But the veggies usually came from a can. Because of that I hated most veggies until I moved out.

My favorite example is orange juice, I thought I hated OJ for the first 18 years of my life, but in actuality I hated generic frozen concentrated OJ. Still do, but I love real OJ.

[trotsky]

21. Yup, Minute Maid from a frozen can.

That is all my mom would ever get. #1) It was cheap, but #2) She liked how it "always tasted the same." Blech.

I still remember the first time I had fresh-squeezed OJ. I was in junior high school and had taken a road trip for a math contest. The hotel served us fresh OJ and I nearly fell out of my chair. THAT was what OJ was SUPPOSED to taste like?

I have never bought frozen concentrate for myself.

[teachableseconds]

52. Yeah, I remember drinking CANNED OJ and grapefruit juice!

:puke:

Totally bitter and not resembling fresh juice in the least!

[The Doctor.]

55. Same same same....

Always frozen OJ!

Ma was pretty good with nutrition, but didn't really get the hang of 'flavor' until they moved to Texas and actually learned how to cook. (Seriously... her stuffed grape leaves were, well... stuffed leaves)

When I finally had fresh OJ, the world changed just a little bit. I don't always drink fresh, but it's always a treat when I do.

[cyberswede]

62. Do we have the same mom? :)

She still buys that canned concentrated OJ. And I swear she would mix our regular milk with powdered milk to stretch it.

We had meat, bread, and canned veggies for supper most nights (often with potatoes, too).
My dad (who grew up in a children's home) felt that every meal should include meat and bread.
Oh - and we had jello a lot sometimes with canned fruit in it). My dad was a teacher, my mom was a homemaker, and there are 8 kids in my family. I suppose canned veggies and jello could go a long way with a big family. :)

We always had a hot breakfast on school days (eggs & bacon, or pancakes, or french toast, or my favorite: rice & raisins). We could only have cold cereal on weekends, and then none of the "sugar" cereals (we could talk my dad into getting Cap'n Crunch at the store occasionally, though).

Lunch was usually a sandwich & fruit; grilled cheese and tomato soup, PB&J, and even Cheez Whiz sandwiches! eep!

The only fresh fruit I remember eating as a kid were apples, bananas, and oranges. We had canned pineapple, canned peaches & pears a lot. My mom didn't drive, and I'm sure it was difficult to keep fresh fruit around the house.

My mom wasn't a particularly good cook (though her roast beef is to die for), but she is a terrific baker. Which means that we always hod lots of sweets around - cake, cookies, bars, tarts, stuff like that. I think she baked with lard until the 1970s.

I'm certain she thought she was providing good healthy meals for us. Now I look back and shudder. :)

Now we belong to a CSA and get fresh organic veggies delivered once a week to our house. We only eat meat occasionally, and try to buy it locally when we can. My 6-year old daughter loves raw spinach, peppers, and eats peas in a pod as a snack. My 8-year old son is another story, but we're working on it. :)

[tridim]

77. Sounds similar, except my mom couldn't cook or bake well at all

She still can't, even though I've bought her dozens of cookbooks over the years.

I try to tell her how fun it is to cook interesting food, and she just doesn't get it. She'd rather have my dad burn chicken or burgers to a crisp on the grill. I'm talking well-well-well done. :puke:

[cyberswede]

95. LOL - my mom loves burnt grilled stuff, too. n/t

[Kaylee]

124. If I weren't an only child, I would swear we had the same mom! nt

[Arkana]

15. Whatever my mom made...she was never overly strict

about sweets with me, but I wasn't the type of kid who overindulged.

Also I'm 24 and have never had a cavity in my life, or indeed any problems with my teeth other than the fact that they're crooked. Also I never grew wisdom teeth, so I didn't have to have them removed.

[Demit]

17. fruits, vegetables, fish/chicken/pork AND red meat AND sugary snacks.

We were 'cultivated' to eat everything. Just not too much. My mother presented variety. The only thing she frowned on was sugary cereals (we could put sugar on our Cheerios or Rice Krispies & maybe have Trix as a treat once in awhile) and asking for seconds (we could have them, but we were warned about our eyes being too big for our stomachs).


We ate fresh-shelled peas AND fudgesicles. You sound the littlest bit smug to me. BTW, my Rush-Limbaugh-loving sister grew up on the same food as I did. So I think that blows your theory all to bits.

[Hepburn]

18. Other: Ethnic food. n/t

[trotsky]

19. Hotdish, roasts, hamburgers, chicken (lots of chicken)

My grandparents raised chickens so we always had tons in the freezer.

For the month of August we'd have meals that were solely garden tomatoes and fresh sweet corn.

Lots of milk (no less than 2%).

Supplemented with "garbage" - candy, sweetened cereals, cookies, etc.

[cyberswede]

65. Hotdish!

Are you from Minnesota? We had that a lot. When we moved to Iowa, nobody knew what we were talking about.

[trotsky]

103. Born and raised, you betcha.

The hotdish formula is easy. Pick a meat, pick a starch, pick a cream of something soup, add a vegetable (optional). Stir and cook.

[Maru Kitteh]

20. Raised on cheap ground meat and potatoes. Hated the ground meat, still love the potatoes.

Went vegetarian.

ebit fro tyepo

[POAS]

22. Typical eastern European peasant food

My Grandmother served up heaping portions of meat and potatoes with sides of corn or peas supplemented with potatoes and meat for variety.

Sausages, pork chops. chicken, veal, beef.

Pierogi, halushki, saurkraut, dumplings.

Is it any wonder I'm a tad heavy.

[Hepburn]

24. At my house....typical Romanian peasant food. n/t

[POAS]

30. It all adds up the same---

Calories and fat and starch galore!

[mamaleah]

37. Pretty close to mine

minus the pork.

Tasty food!

[teachableseconds]

104. That's funny because I was living in a neighborhood with people from

Eastern Europe. I once went into a Bohemian restaurant and it was like: would you like meat or would you like meat? My SO told the waitress that I was a vegetarian and she recommended the fruit dumplings but I didn't go there. I love dumplings but putting fruit in them just seems wrong.

[POAS]

106. My grandmother used to make

prune pierogi. sounds terrible bet it was yummy. I have also seen apricot pierogi.

[redqueen]

23. Subsistence + garbage.

As for why this thread might have been unrec'd... perhaps the implication that you think liberals mostly ate wonderful food growing up... and whatever you think the revealting results of that might be.

[The Doctor.]

38. Nothing of the sort.

There has always been a strong correlation between intellectual development and diet during development. That does not mean that 'wonderful food=liberal' at all.
One can certainly develop intellect without having the benefit of a healthy upbringing.
One can also have every nutritional advantage and still turn out to be a moron.

It is just one facet of development I'm focusing on here.

Now, if someone on DU was 'offended' at the suggestion that a majority of liberals may have grown up in a nutrition-conscious environment, then the problem is with them.

And yes... such an attitude would be 'petty'.

So far, the results point to at least a 60% trend toward 'nutrition-consciousness' and good habits.

Do you feel that might insult anyone here?

Personally, if I had no such advantage, yet wound up with the vital critical thinking skills it takes to invest in liberalism, I'd be fairly proud of myself.

Thank you for pointing that out, but I just can't see why anyone but a troll would be so insulted.

[redqueen]

40. Poverty is shameful for many people.

I can see why people other than trolls might feel defensive. Obviously YMMV.

[The Doctor.]

46. That makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up.

I've been in poverty more times than I care to recall.

Between high school and college I was briefly homeless.
During college I was living at the poverty level. Ra-men and Mac+Cheese were thankfully around 5/$1 then, but I still tried to eat right.

It never, ever occurred to me to be ashamed of my circumstances though... it wasn't by choice.


For those who are ashamed; I feel for them, but to feel shamed by the implicit suggestion here shows a sense of self-deprecation that is simply unfounded. Therefore, the problem is with the person, not with the suggestion in this thread.

Thanks again for pointing out something that just didn't occur to me, but too often we expect of others what we expect of ourselves.

Blessings.

[redqueen]

49. Agreed...

it's a self-esteem issue for the individual to work on, but I could see how it might influence someone's perception of your point.

Peace.

[KittyWampus]

25. Home cooked, from-scratch food but with emphasis on meat & potatos. Nana made me lentil soup often

Even as a young kid, I preferred less meat.

Wasn't til going Macrobiotic that I learned how to make veggies enjoyable and a feature of my diet.

Am no longer a vegetarian, I cook/eat with my family since moving back to family business. But I cook more veggies for myself every night and eat less meat than my family does on a daily basis.

[raccoon]

27. Lots of soul food. Fried squash, fried okra, fried chicken,

and other stuff, not ALL fried.

Homemade biscuits, stewed squash, rice & gravy, peas & rice, Beans & rice...

Those were the days.

[deoxyribonuclease]

28. Homemade Chinese food

No, not the Americanized unhealthy stuff found in buffets and most Chinese restaurants in the country. Mostly Fujian, Hakka, and Taiwanese dishes involving rice and a wide variety of veggies and seafood, most of the time adapted to use western ingredients. It's similar to what my parents grew up with, but with more rice and meat (and no insects or rodents!).

[The Doctor.]

31. Yep... even the Chinese don't eat the crap they serve in 'Chinese Restaurants'.

It's very rare to find authentic without cooking it yourself.

I did find an authentic Vietnamese restaurant nearby. The food is wonderful, and they even get as close to authentic phở as possible without having the many-years old stock.

[Warpy]

29. My mother hated to cook

and during the week I lived on Campbell's chicken noodle soup and peanut butter sandwiches. On the weekend when my dad was home, we often went out to dinner so I got to find out what real food tasted like.

There were always fruit and raw veggies to nosh on, though. There really wasn't that much junk in the house beyond processed main dishes and balloon bread.

[WI_DEM]

32. well a lot of liberals simply couldn't afford healthy foods when growing up and

had to eat processed foods and cheap things like mac and cheese and hamberger helper. As far as freepers growing up on a unhealthy diet--maybe some did but so did a lot of liberals if that's all that there parents could afford.

[The Doctor.]

35. Well, I'm sure the dynamic was not much different for the proto-conservatives either.

The point is that more often than not, liberals tended to grow up in nutrition-conscious environments even if the availability of healthy foods was poor.

I've known plenty of well-off families that let their kids grow up on garbage, and poorer families that strove to ingrain good habits even when they could only provide subsistence foods. That's why I put the 'subsistence+occasional good stuff' option in the poll.

Whether you fell into the category you described or not, would you say that you were nutrition-conscious while growing up?

[quiller4]

145. Hamburger Helper didn't exist when I was a kid n/t

[SemiCharmedQuark]

33. Mostly rice, beans and tortillas because that was what we could afford.

My mom brought in the only income and provided for me, my cousin, my grandma and herself on it. My grandma cooked our meals from scratch. We never got to eat out, and going to McDonalds was a big deal. Usually we had a little bit of meat on the side. My grandma would always say that meat is a taster gooder not a filler upper. But I went Veg after the seventh grade, so it became a moot point.

I don't think it's a fair assumption that only freepers eat boxed foods. When my grandma went back to Texas while my great grandma battled cancer, my mom couldn't afford a babysitter and worked long hours that didn't leave time to prepare meals from scratch. She bought me boxed foods from Aldi to feed myself and the best she could do was Mac and Cheese or Spaghetti when she got home from work.

[OwnedByFerrets]

34. We were very poor. We had meat one nite a week....

the rest of the time it was vegetables and cornbread from the garden I cultivated from the age of 13. That lasted until I left at 19.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

36. Anything we could get our hands on. Including what mom shoplifted.

Beggars can't be gourmets.

[The Doctor.]

39. Where'd you grow up?

Not everyone has the benefit of resources. It speaks well to other facets of one's upbringing that they are a conscientious and intelligent adult.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

42. L.A. area mostly.

But, as a kid, I was hungry in Nevada, Ohio, N.J., and Florida. Homeless on occasion.

[dysfunctional press]

41. mom's hearty cooking, supplemented w/lots of garbage, sugary and fast foods.

red meat main dishes at least 4-5 times/week.
LOTS of soda- my uncle was a canfield's distributor.

[Blue_In_AK]

43. When I was very small

we lived on a farm in rural southern Ohio, so the food was good, with home grown vegetables and orchard fruit, fresh milk, and animals raised and slaughtered by our neighbors.

Later when we lived in town, and I had a different mother (my birth mother was killed in a car wreck when I was 8), it was your standard '50s and '60s comfort food, casseroles, hamburgers/hotdogs, etc., canned or frozen veggies and fruit, iceberg lettuce salads. I really don't fault my stepmother for that -- it's what people were eating in those days.

ed. I should add that when I was living on the farm when I was a child, we also ate things that my uncles hunted -- squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, etc.

[The Doctor.]

57. You've had great variation...

I'm sorry that part of that was due to such misfortune.

But you've otherwise seen a great deal of balance. You're luckier than most in that respect.

Personally, I loves me a good squirrel casserole. ;)

[handmade34]

51. gov't surplus

powdered eggs, milk and canned meat...

But... I fed my kids tons of fresh vegetables from my organic garden, homegrown meat and raw milk

[teachableseconds]

53. Awesome...You probably understand more than most

what it means to do without and you are trying to give your kids the best.

[handmade34]

56. I've always believed that

people that make our laws and rules should experience what many who live by those rules do. Growing up in poverty, but having an avenue to rise above it some, makes a tremendous difference in how I view the world. I know what it is like to be homeless and have nothing, but I have also experienced great wealth through associations. (I have lived in a tent in the woods and I have dined in a penthouse in Manhattan)

[Horse with no Name]

58. I can remember eating in a restaurant three times growing up

(until I started dating).
We never ate junk food. Mostly meat and potatoes and lots of corn and green beans. We raised our own meat and eggs.
Since I grew up on a dairy farm, so we had fresh butter and cream and milk that was chilled at 33 degrees without any type of chemicals in it. We took it out of the tank into porcelain pitchers (which probably made it taste that much better!)
The milk you buy in the grocery store doesn't even compare to the taste of that. Doesn't even taste the like the same stuff.
I was sick once as a child when I was 11 years old (rheumatic fever), I never missed school, didn't have asthma or allergies, in fact, even though we had excellent union insurance, I never went to the doctor.
I'm sure the way I was raised and the food I ate had a lot to do with that.

[The Doctor.]

59. You're very lucky.

Most people have no idea what real, fresh food tastes like. Even I can say I've never had milk that fresh.

I always did wonder why the blackberries that grew by the brook tasted better than the ones in the store. I always thought it was because I 'picked them myself'. Now I know.

One thing I've noticed more and more... the more local the eggs I buy, the stronger the shells. The less local, the weaker.

I have no doubt why that is.

[Horse with no Name]

61. I know that...now

However, back then I had no idea.
We lived a pretty healthy lifestyle. We were outside working or playing all day and didn't live a sedentary lifestyle.
The first pizza I ever ate was in a school cafeteria--never at at a Pizza Hut until I was 17,lol.
It is amazing at the difference of real and (store bought) fresh foods. There is no comparison.

[handmade34]

63. egg shell thickness has to do with feed

my free range chickens that I feed extra calcium have thicker shells than caged chickens fed just the minimum for optimal egg production. Freshness has everything to do with flavor and I do love fresh wild berries!

[The Doctor.]

82. Yep... big agribusiness cuts costs anywhere it can.

It's nice to still have local producers. I truly hope that corporate agriculture takes a dive.

[The Doctor.]

60. It's refreshing to know that so many DUers have a taste for Fresh Wildebeest!

[flvegan]

64. Home cooked food. Hardly anything came from a box.

Short of pantry foodstuffs like pasta and cereal, my mom made everything we ate. Bacon and eggs every Saturday. Meatloaf to DIE for. When I was a kid, vegetables and I didn't mix. A salad was lettuce, onion and croutons drowning in dressing. Lots of seafood. Go out for pizza maybe once a month. Weekly trips to the fresh bakery. Sweets were rarely an option. Cereal was Wheaties, not Lucky Charms. Afternoon snack was an apple, not a cookie.

Looking back I was a very lucky child in this regard.

[Better Believe It]

68. Road Kill Stew! Yummy! Good Eats!

:)

[pipi_k]

84. You gotta cook 'em up before they smell bad, though

Especially the skunks...

[ieoeja]

69. I guess Other.

I don't see where ham, fried chicken, fried pork chops, steak & gravy, chuck roast, etc with veggie sides (potato, corn, peas, green beans) fits into your categories. We had LOTS of red meat, and a meal wasn't a meal if it didn't have some kind of meat, so that would tend to kick out the first category.

And a chicken ain't chicken til it's lickin' good fried! (with apologies to whomever wrote that song). Even the steaks and chuck roast were usually braised (breaded and fried just enough to lock in the juices; then add water and cook slowly for an hour or two).


We did have rarely used vegetable oil in the house. I recall using that for popcorn and salmon patties. But meat was cooked in lard. When I was really young, my grandfather actually made our own lard.

Around thirty years later, I dug the rusty, pitted fourteen gallon cast iron cauldron -- he used to make that lard -- out of the barn, re-seasoned it and have used it a few times. Didn't really need something that big, of course. Believe it or not, I have never had an occasion to make fourteen gallons of stew or soup.


The typical special occasion menu growing up was homemade egg noodles cooked in homemade chicken broth with fried chicken and a veggie, usually corn. My mom's noodles were famous. After getting her to teach my (now ex-)wife who then taught me**, I did some experimenting and concluded not drying the noodles is what made them so special. I believe they soak up more broth that way. Even when I worked on an Amish farm, their noodles didn't live up to our standards. When I ran this idea by my mom, she pointed out that wasn't really part of the recipe. She, and her mom before her, just never bothered preparing them in advance. The result is a happy accident.

A good thing my ex-wife learned the recipe. Turns out nobody else in the family did. So after mom died I ended up teaching the rest of my family the recipe. It would have been lost otherwise. Of course, the actual recipe portion is no different than the standard egg noodle recipe I have read in a dozen different sources. Just don't dry the pasta before cooking.


**My mom tried unsuccessfully to teach my sister to cook, but emphatically refused to teach me. I learned a good bit just by observing things as I grew up. But my ex-wife had to learn a lot of recipes for me. For a woman who actually broke a gender barrier in the region -- first woman in a traditionally male job -- my mom had a pretty strong conservative streak which included not teaching her boys to cook. I got the liberalism from my dad ... who encouraged my learning how to cook after mom went to work so I could cook for him!

[bridgit]

71. Quaker Oats and 100% natural maple syrup...and maybe some corn

http://www.annies.com

[Maine-ah]

72. we had a garden, and my father traded

with other teachers. Some had gardens, others farms. So we always had fresh milk and one teacher had pigs that went to slaughter every year and the deal was if you helped him catch the pigs you would get a side. We had a 6' chest freezer (I think I played with the box it came in for a whole summer) and we'd freeze and can what we could.

[Codeine]

73. We hunted like crazy,

so I ate enormous amounts of meat every day. Steaks were huge in our house, like three times restaurant size even for the kids. We ate elk, moose, antelope, deer, rabbit, sheep, and all sorts of wild birds.

Now I'm a vegan; I figured I've eaten more than enough meat for a lifetime.

[csziggy]

74. Traditional southern cooking - fried chicken, meatloaf, greens, etc.

Mom grew up on a small family farm,so her big luxury was being able to buy canned vegetables rather than having to prepare them from scratch. So most of my childhood we only got fresh vegetables for holiday meals. But Mom did not use many convenience boxed things to cook - most entrees and desserts were cooked from scratch. The exceptions were "exotic" foods such as pizza - she bought boxed pizza that came with a little box of flour and yeast to mix the dough, and little cans of sauce and cheese.

And yes - pizza was "exotic" in the little Southern town I grew up in. The only restaurant in town was Greek owned but did not cook Greek style food, just Southern style. No pizza places, no Italian places, there was an A&W but it closed when I was very young and there was not another hamburger place for maybe ten years.

The 'junk" food my parents indulged in consisted of Spanish peanuts, hard tack with blue cheese, popcorn, and the olives for their martinis. It's still a family joke - we kids would sneak olives out of the jar in the fridge. So my parents started giving each of us a jar of olives in our Christmas stockings - something they still do to this day!

[Kitty Herder]

76. Meat and pototoes. Why isn't that an option?

We always had a freezer full of beef and pork. Bleccchh! :puke:

[The Doctor.]

85. Sorry....

Should have thrown some leeks in with the wildebeests. :silly:

[shanti]

79. mom was a RN

so we ate a healthy diet. no sodas or koolaid except for special occasions. always a balanced meal. no sugar cereal, only cheerios, rice crispies, shredded wheat, and the like. i'm 53.

[pipi_k]

81. Another whose mom was a crappy cook

Although she did make a pretty good homemade mac and cheese.

But we ate a lot of frozen TV dinners (when they came in the aluminum tray and had to be cooked in the oven).

fish sticks and tater tots

hotdogs and beans

oh, one of her favorite "recipes"....a can of tomato soup poured over, and mixed in with, cooked spaghetti. Mmmmm.... :puke:



edited to add:

Fridays were fun days....fish and chips from the corner fish market...

it's about the only food I have good memories of

[mamaleah]

86. Been thinking more about this

My parents were hardly liberal, at least by a modern definition. They were certainly supporters of civil rights and social programs to help the poor, but otherwise they were pretty socially conservative, as Orthodox Jews tend to be. Yet we hardly ever ate out and "junk" foods were homemade cookies, cakes, pies, etc. My mother canned foods in the fall for consumption in the winter (nothing in this world is as good as homemade pickles) and cooked very simple, yet hearty meals. Most nutritionists would be horrified at the amount of meat we consumed or the high amounts of butter and cream, but we all grew up pretty well adjusted.

I am not sure it's a political divide as much as an economic divide and a generational divide. By generational I mean that a few generations ago, families spent more time together and mom or grandmas kitchen was the place to be unless you were stupid. People ate better because time with the family was a focus, and family (as least with Jewish family) means food.

Spending time together nowadays for many families means hanging out in the car in the McD's drive thru on the way to soccer practice after band practice.

[The Doctor.]

92. I've been to many a Seder...

Bar-Mitzvahs, Bat-Mitzvah, even a B'not-Mitzvah.

I know all about the food. :party:

I think it's just one of many factors, but it is true that the development of critical thinking is augmented by good, early dietary habits. It is also true that liberals, on average, tend to be more intelligent and educated than conservatives.
From those truisms one might hypothesize that the critical thought that tends to vest someone in liberalism lends the individual more to an early, healthy diet.

I think it's fair, even though appearing superficial at first glance, to presume that more liberals had a better nutrition-conscious environment during childhood than conservatives. Again... that would just be a projection of averages.

[mamaleah]

100. I have to disagree

I know very many conservatives. Again, if using DU as an example of what "liberal" is, then most of the people I know are very "conservative". Most of them are very educated and intelligent too.

I do believe that good nutrition will encourage better lifestyle choices overall and help a growing child's brain function better. But I think that cuts across political boundaries and has more to do with the lifestyle we embrace now as a population. The lifestyle of "I am going to do whatever I want and damn the consequences" mixed with "Gimme more".

Parents also do not have as much home time as they used. For some it's out of necessity and for others it is choice. I choose to stay home. As a result, we live in a very small home and have a tiny tiny savings and get by. If I chose to work, yes we'd be better off financially, but for us it's more important that the home fire is tended. If I had to work I know that meals would be more of a rushed affair consisting of things that could be pulled together quickly, and not always the best choices.

Many people both liberal and conservative are faced with tough financial choices too. Red bell peppers are often 3.99/lb. That's an almost luxury for us and for many people. 2-3 peppers can cost you $6-8. $6 can buy you more food, maybe not the healthiest food, but at least guarantee you can feed yourself for more than one meal.

[kiva]

108. Great post. n/t

[The Doctor.]

138. While I don't disagree at all, how does that address this;

"I think it's just one of many factors, but it is true that the development of critical thinking is augmented by good, early dietary habits. It is also true that liberals, on average, tend to be more intelligent and educated than conservatives.
From those truisms one might hypothesize that the critical thought that tends to vest someone in liberalism lends the individual more to an early, healthy diet.

I think it's fair, even though appearing superficial at first glance, to presume that more liberals had a better nutrition-conscious environment during childhood than conservatives. Again... that would just be a projection of averages."?

I know it's nothing particularly profound, but that's why I posted the poll... I just wanted to know how the numbers worked out. Now, I'm quite open to the possibility that early diet has no correlation to political bent, but there are enough interrelated factors to give it some thought.

[ellie]

88. We grew up in the 60s and 70s

and my parents had 8 kids and not a lot of money, so they would buy a side of beef and chicken and put it in the freezer. We had no packaged foods like macaroni and cheese: it was meat, starch and two vegetables every day. For snacks, my mom baked all of our treats. For sugary drinks, we drank kool-aid. I remember the first time I bought my own Coca-Cola, I was a freshman in high school and it was from the pop machine in the teacher's lounge (we didn't have vending machines in the cafeteria). My mom packed our lunches every day for school, even when I was a senior in high school: peanut butter and jelly or old-fashioned loaf (gross), an apple and carrot slices. My mom had no money to give me for lunch and I never bought lunch at school the whole time I was there, except for that Coke.


My brothers all grew to be way over 6 feet tall, which I think is incredibly interesting.

[rucky]

89. No sugar. Very little salt.

I used to go to my friend's house just to gorge on twinkees, kool-aid and fruit loops.

[Broken_Hero]

91. Mostly subsistence foods

Mac and Cheese, Spaghetti, Top Ramen, Hot Dogs, Bologna...

At times the old man would do eggs and french toast on Sundays, that was a treat.

[ThomWV]

93. Some meat, lots of vegetables, not much fruit, never sweets or soda

We didn't eat a lot of potatoes either, but had grits or homney with many meals. We ate mostly vegetables, but with a small portion of meat at most meals. On a birthday there might be icecream, maybe once or twice during the summer too.

Oh, I never tasted a pizza until I was about 17 and was well into my 20's before I ever ate a taco.

[SteppingRazor]

98. I ate nothing but arugula and tofu until the age of 30. n/t

[The Doctor.]

102. I'm so sorry.

You didn't even get to splurge on brussel-sprouts, I'll bet.

:nopity:

[SteppingRazor]

118. Heh. Just trying to be as stereotypically liberal in my food intake as possible.

In reality, I'd say my diet's pretty typical. There's not a lot I won't eat.

[The Doctor.]

125. Yeah, I expected a minor trend.

Really, it turned out to be more significant than I thought.

And I never would have guessed we had such a high percentage of wildebeest eaters here.

[Ignis]

141. Arugula? LUXURY!

We ate nothing but frisse! I would have KILLED for your snooty greens!

;)

[earth mom]

105. Where's meat and potatoes on your list? We never had mac & cheese

because it was looked upon as junk food by both my parents.

My parents didn't allow junk food and soda in our house. We drank milk or water and could on occasion have hot tea (with cream & sugar) with breakfast, which is something both my parents drank as kids.

If I wanted candy or junk food, I sneakily bought it on the way to school or went across the street to the neighbor kids house for to die for homemade chocolate chips cookies washed down with Tab, which was the happening soft drink in the 70s. :hide:

[The Doctor.]

110. "Other, I'll explain".

I was a Fresca kid though.

[wickerwoman]

107. Garbage, garbage, garbage.

Came home to an empty house every day from the age of 7 and had to prepare dinner for my brother and myself from whatever was sitting around. Ate vegetables once a week and it was usually frozen corn. School lunch was greasy hamburger pucks and tater tots. Breakfast was Lucky Charms or Cocoa Pops.

I'm the generation that benefited from Uncle Ronnie classifying ketchup as a vegetable.

Had virtually no impact on my political leanings. FYI, quite a few liberals come from blue collar backgrounds where two parents working two or more jobs significantly effected how many cooked from scratch and/or organic meals they ate.

[Horse with no Name]

111. and that is evident when Ravioli touts "a serving of vegetables"

in every dish!:puke:

[Arugula Latte]

112. A lot of gross, processed stuff mixed with some real food.

My mom would make things like Campbell's soup casserole w/ ground beef x(, dried out pork chops, boxed scallop potatoes, etc. We also had salads and real potatoes and fruit, and lots and lots of junk food (ice cream and cookies galore), and for some reason we had applesauce on the table every night.

It was a very 70s experience. Eating dinner at our Italian neighbors' house was a revelation -- real food, not overcooked, not from a can, not from a box. :9

I stopped eating red meat when I was about 15 or so.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

113. My Mom was a single working women.

We ate all quickly prepared processed food. The very worst were the instant mashed potatoes served with round steak with a can of tomatoes poured over it. We drank Tang
for christ's sake.

I on the other hand keep a garden and chickens, love experimenting with all kinds of ethnic cooking and love working with herbs, spices and French sauces.

[Arugula Latte]

130. Oh yeah, Tang was there in our house, too.

Now we're really into fresh food, cooking with herbs, farmers markets, etc. I was thinking about asking the neighbors if they'd like to get chickens with us and split the care and eggs. Lots of people in Portland have backyard chickens now. :hi:

[EmeraldCityGrl]

136. TILTH in Seattle...

offers a chicken tour every year. They usually sell out quickly, but you travel around the city visiting all the different chicken coops in peoples backyards.
Some are so creative and just down right beautiful.

Keeping chickens is so easy and very rewarding.

[surrealAmerican]

122. That was pretty much my experience too.

My mother was not a bad cook, but those canned or dried soups seemed to be in many of her meals, and the only fresh vegetables we ate were in salad. Just about everyone I knew growing up ate like that.

[Contrary1]

114. A little meat, potatoes, and other veggies,

and mass quantities of gravy and buttered bread. They didn't know any better back then.

[TaffyMoon]

115. Sunday morning: kippers, Sunday lunch: banana sandwiches,

Sunday dinner: roast beef cooked so long it was the size and consistency of a baseball, yorkshire pudding, brussel sprouts, turnip and potatoes.

Copious cups of tea and,

Every day a spoonful of cod liver oil.

[Ken Burch]

116. Damn,that wildebeest was good!

Especially with a little mongoose gravy.

[TheKentuckian]

117. Home cookin' for the most part but got more sustenance based as I got older

[Laelth]

120. Not too many "latte liberals" around here. n/t

:rofl:

:dem:

-Laelth

[Stephanie]

123. Crock pot!

When Mom went back to work in the 70's, she set up the crock pot in the morning and that's what we ate at night. I can't even remember what was in it, it all tasted the same.

[The Doctor.]

140. I'll never forget!

Always stewed beef that tasted like carrots and onions that tasted like stewed beef.

... sometimes with rice.

Hell... I think I have that thing around here somewhere!

[DefenseLawyer]

127. Don't knock wildebeest until you've tried it. n/t

[NoSheep]

128. Your "ass"umptions are revealing just that.

Bragging about what you can afford to feed your perfect children is kinda lame, don't you think? Apparently not. Please put me on ignore. I can't imagine you'd ever like me very much.

[Critters2]

131. My mom was a good and creative cook. But that didn't keep us

from eating our share of twinkies.

[DailyGrind51]

132. We live on "hope" and suffer chronic malnutrition!

[annonymous]

133. My family was semi-vegetarian

My family only ate meat 3 - 4 times a week. We ate whole grain bread and very little junk food. Sugary cereals were a rare treat for us as we mostly had oatmeal, cream of wheat and such cereals as Raisin Bran, Rice Krispies and Cheerios. My parents ground their own beef because they didn't like fatty meat. We ate a fair amount of chicken and fish, but ham, turkey and lamb were only for special occasions and/or holidays. My mother always had homemade baked goods such as brownies and cookies around as snacks. We had mostly canned vegetables supplemented by a few garden vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers and green beans. We also ate a fair amount of canned fruit in jello, usually as a dessert. My family ate some fresh fruit such as oranges, apples, grapefruit and wild blackberries and wild strawberries. My family wasn't well off but my parents were a bit snobbish about food. My father wouldn't allow Spam in the house, and my mother would turn down venison if offered. They thought certain foods such as ham hocks, vienna sausage, collard greens, and creamed corn were white trash foods.

[ceile]

134. Even balance of health and junk.

But even the junk food was low fat or diet. I think that's why I don't eat many sweets-I'm always expecting that fake sugar/diet taste.

[Ikonoklast]

135. Pretty straightforward, actually.

My parents pretty much made sure what we ate was fit for human consumption.

You know, people food.

[The Doctor.]

139. Ah... soylent green... gotcha!

;)

[Ikonoklast]

142. Umm...no.

I said "people food", not "food made from people".

Just what kind of 'Doctor' are you anyway, Mr. Mengele?

[The Doctor.]

146. Does no one have a sense of humor?

It was just A Modest Proposal... that's all.

[quiller4]

144. Not what we would call all that healthy today but pretty close to

the 1950s food pyramid. We almost never had pop in the house but we drank lots of Tang and KoolAid. We ate a beef roast almost every Sunday with extended family gathered at our house and then ate left over roast in various forms. My dad was from the south and because of him almost all vegetables were seasoned with bits of bacon. Though every meal revolved around a meat or fish entree, 2 and sometimes 3 vegetables were also served.

We were Catholics and back then that meant fish once a week. In the Pacific Northwest, that often meant fresh salmon. Fresh, local seafood was a big part of our diet.

[reflection]

148. I imagine liberals, as a group,

grew up on the same diet as conservatives. This doesn't strike me as a liberal/conservative issue.

Also, many people's ideologies swing right and left as they grow and mature, so in my opinion it's not quite as simple as "what sort of foods did liberals grow up on".