In my review for Lady A, I mentioned interviews she did some "Food for the Souls" interviews for Black History month.
I listened to more than one, but there was a moment in the interview with Dexter Allen that got me thinking.
He mentioned his mother's smothered pork chops, and the way they filled you up.
It reminded me of something that the Gin Blossoms' Jesse Valenzuela had posted once, asking his mother about her putting potatoes in the burritos when he was growing up. She said it was to fill him and his brothers up.
Potatoes are good; they are very popular in breakfast burritos now. It's not like he was complaining about the burritos.
Potatoes are also cheap.
It started me thinking about how there can be different perspective between the parents and the children, especially when they are poor.
Pork chops are meat -- though you can get good deals on them -- but Allen also mentioned the onions and gravy and biscuits that were a part of it, and then said "It sticks to you."
The other nice thing about that meal is that it can be made quickly, which I am sure doesn't hurt.
I don't know how much stress it is for parents sometimes, just trying to keep their children full. I do believe it is a beautiful thing that so often those end up being favorite foods, and comfort foods.
And then people criticize those foods -- which are often very starchy -- and discourage indulging, of course, but they also served a purpose. It is comforting that the only memory isn't struggle. Sometimes it is a memory of a belly that is warm and full, maybe for just pennies a serving.
I wondered if there might not be an opportunity for a album raising funds for hunger, with different musicians turning their food memories to song. It probably wouldn't work; people hate paying for music now, and what if they all turned into the same kind of country song?
But it's fun to think about.
And as grateful as I am that when we were filling up on cornmeal mush (which is basically polenta) or casseroles of rice or potatoes, or ramen (and not Top Ramen either; the cheaper packs), it is not fun to think about how some parents do have to worry, and that sometimes there isn't something rib-sticking available.
About a year ago I had just finished up a fundraiser for the Oregon Food Bank. There are lots of food banks and pantries out there. If you have help to give, there is someone out there who needs it.
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