Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!
This cartoon was published in The New Yorker in 1999, and is a personal favorite. My husband, father of our two girls, is an expert pizza eater and connoisseur. It is definitely a skill, and I have learned from him as well. I have not asked our daughters if their pizza consuming skills came from observing their father, but I am sure they would say yes.
My father was a wonderful father. Among the many things he taught me (birdwatching, patience, humor, love for adventure), he taught me how to make spaghetti carbonara. I happen to be cooking exactly that tonight at a family dinner, everyone always asks for it.
Food traditions are great, aren’t they?
See you tomorrow!
I love this! I can relate through being married to a pizza lover also and having pizza as my own favorite food group. I also love the question you posed. I work in food systems ecology and YES! Food traditions are not only great but so very important to cultural bonding and cultural sharing and knowledge passing from generation to generation. Like your husband did! Learning the rituals of how to eat something is as important as the food. I think this every time I use chop sticks inadequately, even though I had a Japanese exchange student for a full year and tried hard to have him teach me, or go out for Ethiopian food. I forwarded your email to my husband. I feel certain he will smile very widely and it will be a gift this one day post Father’s Day. Thank you so much!
Spaghetti carbonara, something I picked up from one of Marcella Hazan's cookbooks, was a mainstay of our meals for a good long time when the kids were young!