The Herald (November 6, 2011) featured an article by Sarah Jackson about the cultural importance of sharing recipes. What a lovely thought! I loved the article and I loved the idea. There are a few faded recipe cards in my recipe collection and I thumb through them from time to time, but that is as far as I get. My family tree has dwindled alarmingly over the last few years. I find myself thinking that I may have missed a very special window of opportunity, and I don’t want that to happen to you. Recipe sharing is a work of love, and sharing recipes should be thought of as a way to pass down a time honored cultural tradition. You may scoff at the idea of such busywork but I am betting that you don’t remember how to make anything resembling real home cooking. Can you duplicate your mom’s recipe for homemade breads and soups?
Recipes are lost forever because village cooks refuse to share their recipes. There is always at least one person at every potluck or every family reunion who refuses to cough up a secret recipe. What a waste! Remember family reunion picnics? I mean real family reunion picnics where everyone brought something special? Family reunions aren’t the same anymore. Nobody has time to cook or nobody knows how to cook, so we end up with a boring collection of fried chicken and deli potato salad. Remember potato salads and cold slaws that were made with homemade dressings? Admit it, picking something up from a deli and passing it off as your own is not the same thing.
What happened to those family recipes? Most of us haven’t even thought about putting together a family recipe collection. I have seen some fundraiser collections of favorite recipes, but not real family recipes. I have scraps of paper and recipe cards that are so old and faded that I can barely make out the writing. Mom’s pumpkin pie, Edie’s bean salad, Aunt Irma’s potato salads are only memories now. I don’t even have any of those recipes in my memory bank because I wasn’t much interested in cooking back then.
Food and culture have always been inseparable. Please don’t keep your favorite recipes a secret. Pass down your best recipes so that they can be enjoyed and remembered for generations to come. Buying a recipe book as a gift isn’t the same as compiling a real collection from scratch. While you are at it, call and visit relatives and ask them to share their favorite recipes and jot down the stories or family lore that goes with them. Compile the recipes into a cookbook of your own (enlist a child to help you) and give a gift that will last for lifetime.
The author shared a few tips that she thought would be particularly useful:
- Search: First of all go though your own recipe box. I am willing to bet that there are faded recipes in there that you can barely read. Whip up a batch and see if it is as good as remembered.
- Rewrite or copy the recipes. Consider making a digital or hard copy as digital copies will be easier to share. This will be more than just a scrapbook by the time you finish.
- Proof read carefully so nothing gets lost in the translation.
- Don’t skimp on details. The person using the recipe may not be as skilled as you are and it might just a tiny detail that makes this recipe different from anyone else’s. Describe any special techniques in detail. Try to remember that the current generation of cooks in your family may not even know how to make a pie crust from scratch. Include pictures if you can and share the history. Jot down notes on how you came about the recipe, why you liked it and when it first made an appearance in your family.
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