Tuesday, June 26

Are You Sweet, or Savoury?

If someone offered you a choice of chocolate, or pizza, which would you choose?

I have to say, I would choose the Pizza every time.

GOM would choose the chocolate.

If I have the choice of more vegetables, or a desert, I would rather have the vegetables, usually.

I do love fresh fruit though, so if there was fresh mango or tropical fruits available, perhaps I would forgo the vegetables or salad.

When we were growing up, my Grandmother did most of the cooking, as our mother was often away at work.

And our Grandmother was a really good cook. She had come from Yorkshire, & she could make Yorkshire pudding to make you weep, it was so delicious.

And there was almost always a desert, or pudding. She made quite a few steamed puddings in the winter, or Jam Roly Poly, or Treacle pudding.
And we had Feijoas aplenty, & in the summer we would have them fresh or stewed. I never liked them as much cooked.
And I loathed junket, & semolina, or rice pudding, which my Grandmother loved. I guess it was my dislike for dairy, that made me feel vegies were nicer! And I always enjoyed boiled rice, though we didnt have that very often.


And she often made a Ginger cake, that she served with stewed fruit of the season, and cream. Perhaps that is why I never liked rhubarb, the horrible tartness with the awful curdly cream....


She told us that a lot of poor families in England used to have their sweets course first, to fill up, as the meat was too expensive for them to be able to afford it often.

My Grandmother's family were tennant farmers, in Yorkshire, & they were probably quite a lot more comfortable than many people, & I dont think they had their pudding for first course.

We had a lovely large vegetable garden, that our Grandfather used to tend, when he was alive. After he died it was a lot smaller, & was cared for mostly by our Grandmother.

She told us that in England, when she was growing up, pumpkin was not considered fit for humans to eat. They grew it for their animals, to eat.

This seemed incredible to me, as I have always loved pumpkin. However, my poor brother loathed it, & I am sure he wished it was only fed to the animals in his childhood! I can remember our Grandmother making him sit at the table until he ate the pumpkin. I felt very sorry for him, & tried to get him to pretend it was egg yolk, mixed with his mashed potato, so he wouldnt get into trouble.

I am of the school of not forcing children to eat things they loathe. What is the point. Sure, offer it to them, and encourage them to taste, but if they genuinely dont like it, forcing them, to my way of thinking, only sets up a resistance that is likely to last a lifetime.

I speak from some experience here, as GOM was forced to eat Broad beans as a child, & he wont touch them now. It took me years to get him to eat many vegetables at all. He only ate peas & potatoes when I first met him. All as a result of being 'force-fed' his vegetables.

His mother told us that when he was sick in bed, she would take his meals in to him. She was always amazed that he always ate his vegetables when he was sick. Later she found a suitcase she had stored under his bed, was full of rotting vegies!! I always laughed at the story, & couldnt help but think it served her right!

*********
Here is a pic of a cat I knitted for SG when he was a baby. It had a nice face, of felt with green eyes. He told us Oscar, the Granddog, ripped the face off the cat. Hmmmm, I wonder if it might have been SG in a fit of rage?
He has asked me to make another face for the poor cat.

And here is a sensible little girl. Sweet Honey, all curled up on the lounge, among the cushions & the crochet rug.
It is another cold day, & I need to make some more thick & rich vegie soup, to keep warm, or I could cook a pizza for lunch.
And I could curl up with a good book, to keep warm under a quilt. Mmmm, pass me a piece of pizza, while you enjoy your chocolate.

25 comments:

Tanya Brown said...

Now I'm hungry and it's Your Fault. Mmmmm. Even though I've never even had some of the things you listed before, I can tell they're good just from the names.

Chocolate vs. pizza, eh? That's a hard choice. I think it would depend on my mood.

Diana said...

Years ago it probably would have been chocolate for me, but we've been on this heart-healthy, low-fat diet for so long, pizza sounds wonderful!

It's interesting what you said about pumpkin. Here it is used for pie, cookies, muffins, or even ice cream, but I've never heard of eating it just as it is. Do you cook it like squash, then?

meggie said...

Hi, Tracy, I do find I like a little chocolate now & then, but I dont care if I dont have it for months.
Diana, It is interesting to see you dont have it as a vegetable. We boil it, & it is lovely mashed, or roasted or baked, it is divine!
And always use it for pumpkin soup.

meggie said...

Sorry Tanya, obviously I meant you, not Tracy!
We have a building assessor here, & so I am a little distracted!

Anonymous said...

Meggie ,Do you remember the " Yes,yes, but what about the Pumpkins ?" story -- Indeed I do now eat some pumpkin but am not over fond of it . Likewise butternuts , buttercups , kumi kumi squash and marrow and all similar things from our youth !

Unknown said...

Hi Meggie - far be it for me to contradict but I think you may have misunderstood your Gran - when she said they had their sweet first I'll bet she used the expression 'pudding first'. By this she would mean Yorkshire Puddings not dessert. A lot of Yorkshire people still eat their Yorkshire puddings with gravy as a precursor to the rest of their roast dinner, like a starter, for exactly that reason: eggs flour and water were and still are much cheaper than meat and so you filled up with your Yorkshires so there wasn't the need for a large piece of meat or more likely the meat would then stretch to do at least three meals - roast on Sunday, cold on Monday and minced up and used in say rissoles or cottage pie on Tuesday - in days before refrigeration you do wonder at the wisdom of that but there you go. I grew up in the Yorkshire Dales but didn't eat like this as my family weren't from there originally but I had friends who were true locals and who did :o)

Unknown said...

oh and btw chocolate wins hands down for every time - must be that terrible sweet tooth I have!

Lone Grey Squirrel said...

Haven't been around for awhile. I see you've been busy with quite a number of very interesting posts.

I too would be savory rather than sweet but alas I am quite capable of consuming large quantities of either. My mother never encouraged me to eat vegetables at all. It was something I learned to do later in life.

I don't doubt your grandmother's great cooking skills but a delicious Yorkshire Pudding? I didn't think that was possible. LoL

Joyce said...

I'd probably go for savory but I don't feel like a meal is finished without something sweet at the end.

Sheila said...

I'd have chocolate over pizza any time. Yesterday I ate a big bar of organic dark chocolate with ginger all to myself. (oink! oink !)
I was going to write exactly what Anne Bebbington wrote. That is what we were always told when we lived in the UK too.
I loved and still love Yorkshire pudding. We lived next door to a small farm when I was a baby. My mother would help on the farm, and was partly paid with fresh veggies.
I was weaned onto home cooked fresh veg, nothing from a jar for me, and now I can quite happily eat any veggie you give me, except eggplant..!
BTW, I love corn on the cob, yet growing up in the Uk it was always considered to be pig food.

Ragged Roses said...

I'm afraid it's choccie for me!!! I love vegetables and fruit but can never say no to chocolate! My mother use to make the best Yorkshire Pudding, always for Sunday lunch! Cold here too.
Kim x

caramaena said...

If I had a choice it would be the sweet things - chocolate particularly :D

Pumpkin? Blech... hehe.

Angie said...

Well, I'll just pop on over and start with a big bowl of hot veggie soup THEN I'll have some pizza with you, too, Meggie. I LOVE pizza (mainly veggie pizza), and then we can finish up with a bit of chocolate. :D

Charity Grace said...

How fun to read about your grandmother.

By the way, I'd choose chocolate over pizza, although it would be a close call.

I found your blog wandering around the blogosphere...Very nice!

Thimbleanna said...

Sweet, Sweet, Sweet! Chocolate any day over pizza! And, that soup sure sounds good -- I'd take that over pizza too! ;-)

meggie said...

I know what you mean about the Yorkshire pudding before the meals, but I am sure our Grandmother also said they did eat their sweets first- not her family, who were a little pious, (dont you love that word).
She also made a dish called Toad-in-the-Hole, which was sausages cooked in the Yorkshire pudding batter. I can remember loving it, but wouldnt dream of eating it now. Haha.

Unknown said...

I would choose the pizza if it was home made otherwise it would be the chocolate and probably I would eat chocolate after the home made pizza ;) so the bottom line is CHOCOLATE.

fifi said...

I like savoury better, but It depends. I'm not at all keen on pizza. hmm, I don't KNOW!

We don't have dessert here, and that's because I am a NASTY MOTHER WHO MAKES THE CHILDREN EAT FRUIT and they fantasise about having a nice one who buys icecream and chocolate.

Stomper Girl said...

God, Meggie, no wonder you prefer savoury if that was the sort of dessert yo grew up with!

I do think people either have a sweet or savoury microchip implanted from birth. We're all sweet in our house.

crafty said...

I guess for me it would depend on the pizza, if it was your average pizza, then pass the chocolate. If it was one of those triple cheese, gross out, weird things in the crust pizzas, pass me the chocolate and get the thing far far far away from me. If it was roasted pumpkin and goats cheese, or potato artichoke and rosemary, I'll still have the chocolate, after I've finished my pizza.
(I have many memories of sitting at the table staring at my plate until everyone else's stamina ran out, and I could safely tip my leftovers in the chook bucket)

ancient one said...

Chocolate Pie? Yum!!

molly said...

My Ukrainian F-I-L refuses to eat carrots and corn [two of my fav. veggies]as they were strictly for the animals when he was growing up! Add to that the surfeit of carrots he was treated to in military service....

Aunty Evil said...

If I had to choose between pizza and chocolate, I would choose

Chocolate.

If I had to choose between fruit or vegetables, I would choose

Chocolate.

If I had to choose between dessert and mains, I would choose

Chocolate.

LBA said...

Savoury ( but not particularly pizza ).

I always go the entree-main option at a restaurant, and perhaps a cheeseboard if still peckish, but never the sweet.
In fact, in a 3-course meal, I would like to choose - entree, entree, main :)

Of sweets, there are few that I desire, although a lemon-merangue pie is irresistable, and if someone would take me back and make me an old fashioned steamed pudding with jam in the bottom, served PIPING hot with cold milk poured over .. WELL, I thinkI would just die of pleasure.

In fact, I think I will attempt one .. soon ....

meggie said...

Actually I often prefer the entrees to the mains, & would happily eat 3 entrees for my 3 course meal.
I very rarely have Pizza, & suppose that is why I chose it as an example, but any savoury appeals more than a sweet, to me.