THE DAILY CUPPA WALKABOUT #9
Do Your Childhood Memories Make it Hard For You to Stick to Your Healthy Eating Plan?
Beautiful childhood memories from Africa featured with your 150-word Walkabout stories about herbs and plants and home cooking traditions.
Akidi is the taste of my village. It is the sound of my grandmother’s voice falling and rising as she sings and works. Nneka Otika
The Akidi that Nneka Otika speaks about is green peas porridge. In this week's featured long-form article, she relates a beautiful story of her childhood and shares how her grandmother made this staple dish. I felt like I was there waiting for her grandmother to walk home with a bundle on her head.
Reading Nneka’s story reminded me of my grandmother in her kitchen. Every Sunday and every holiday, she made an enormous feast. There was a meat dish, potatoes, vegetables, several salads, and many deserts. She also had a relish tray of assorted pickles, carrots, celery, radishes — and there was piccalilli. I loved the piccalilli best of all. If she noticed I always had more than my share, she never mentioned it.
The thing I remember thinking about the most was, how did she do it? How did she do it?
She worked six days a week at the laundry. She’d lost some fingers in a mangle, so they made her a seamstress. As a seamstress, she could sit. But still. How did she have the energy even into her 70s to work and feed a huge gathering every Sunday?
I can only know about a grandmother walking through the African landscape through touching stories like Nnekas.
My grandmother walked to the bus stop to work 10-hour days in a hot steamy laundry. Grandmothers — everywhere — grandmothers working hard and preparing food for their families.
We share this. We share it if we are lucky enough to have such memories. Do you remember the foods your grandmother prepared?
Nnekas’ meal was healthy, directly from the earth.
My grandmother had a small but modern kitchen with a gas stove. I would not consider her meals healthy these days.
- Huge chunks of butter in the vegetable dishes
- Potatoes flooded with thick gravy made from the pan dripping of whatever meat was served — and extra bacon grease
- Molasses cake frosted with cream cheese and sugar frosting
- Salads; macaroni, jello, and mixed fruit
- Pies, cookies, and tarts
I would not consider those feasts healthy. But the house was full and everyone got their favorites.
Many of our traditional meals may make it hard to stick to a healthy eating plan. It's challenging to incorporate those foods we remember so fondly into our lifestyle, but we can do it.
If I focus on the foods I know nourish me, and limit my grandmother's foods to special occasions, I don’t feel deprived. What are some family traditions you’re able to keep today?
Gifts From Your Walkabout Guides
Learning other traditions opens doors to more ways to incorporate variety and healthy food into our lives. We can blend our family traditions with the traditions of our world family as we seek healthy meals.
Saturday:
Jane Frost (Jane Grows Garden Rooms) shares about another amazing Australian plant. The blooms look like a lilac, but it’s a rapidly growing vine. Too bad for me. This one only grows in warm climates. I’m amazed at the many native uses.
Sunday:
James Beaufait tempts us with a luscious Hawaiian fresh-squeezed tangelo drink. Yummy. Can you imagine yourself on a hammock under island trees sipping this gift from heaven?
Monday:
Kris Bedenian shares her Northern hemisphere winter home cooking secrets with this keep-it-simple way to bake. Two ingredients!
Tuesday:
JM Heatherly gives us a quick peek at the history of our lovely black pepper. The recipe he shares in this one is intriguing. I use a lot of black pepper, do you?
Wednesday:
Nancy Blackman warms my heart with this one about tulsi — holy basil. She shares how this plant came into her life to help her regain health. Be sure to read the long-form story she links to in this one! I’m an old herbalist, and I was extremely impressed with this piece about adaptogens.
Thursday:
Julie Gaeta reminds us how wonderful apples are for us. Don’t you just love the simple and yummy recipes she shares? I sure do.
Friday Surprise:
Daniela Nair’s story was a sleeper — if eggs are among your food choices, you’ll really appreciate this gift. This short-form is a collection of easy recipes to create irresistible meals from your favorite way of cooking eggs. To top it off, she knows the secret of using spices for optimum flavor and benefit. Check out number one.
Our Fellow Travelers
Jennifer Dunne
Juana Flor
Adrienne Beaumont
Katie Michaelson
The catalogs are coming in! Are you planning to grow some food this year? We have years of experience gardening here, so let us know if we can help. Okay, I love weeding, but traveling to do your weeding is just out of the question.
Our Featured Long-Form Story
I found the most wonderful story on my Medium walkabout. The story is memories from an African village shared in The Kalahari Review.
My grandma always came back from the farm with a bundle on her head. Sometimes it was vegetables, other times it was green pea stalks. Whenever grandma brought green pea stalks home, we would be dispatched to different corners with aluminium bowls and green peas to shell.
Enjoy this touching story by Nneka Otika.
Enjoy Your Memories
There’s nothing better than the memories of the food we loved as children. But your wonderful memories may make it hard for you to stick to your healthy eating plan.
Even if we limit how much we eat of these comforting treats, we are warmed. We never forget. And how did they do it? How did Nneka’s grandmother and my grandmother — and your grandmother, do it?
Love and keeping family and community together?
Learning about different herbs, plants, and food traditions can help us find a balance in our meal plans and nurture our family and world family.
Join The Adventure
We’d love to have you join us. Do you have stories from your family or cultural traditions? Do you grow food or forage? Do you have a special vegetable you like to grow?
My bias is that home cooking is better for our health than eating packaged food, so whatever food system you follow, we rejoice in stories about what you’re cooking.
What inspires you to grow your food, forage, and cook?
Come along with us on our walkabout.
Submit your recipes, herb, gardening, and plant lore for our gathering of all stories tagged ‘walkabout.’ Link your long-form stories tagged ‘walkabout’ for our collection.
Disclaimer covering all our Walkabout stories
The information presented in the articles in our Walkabout series is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Each writer writes from their own experience and/or research, as such, their content is shared in good faith for informational use only.
Nutrient-dense whole food from plants — from grapefruit, asparagus, spinach, turmeric to blueberries — can be a problem if you’re eating processed foods and taking prescription medications. It may take your body a while to get used to any diet changes. Always consult with your physician or a qualified health care provider before making any lifestyle or dietary changes.
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Writers put a lot into their stories. If you’re not a Medium member and would like to have access to reading as many stories as you want on a zillion topics, please use one of the above writer’s memberships links to sign up. They get a small percent of your fee at no cost to you. You’ll find the link on a long story on their profile page. I know it takes some of your precious time. I appreciate that.
Past Walkabout Collections
Collection #1
Collection #2
Collection #3
Collection #4
Collection # 5
Collection # 6