Why are recipes so important? Could it be that from the beginning of time, food was a way of showing friendship? A Bond?
In the beginning, food was hard to come by, and the act of welcoming one into your cave and offer them some of your hard-won Mastodon meat showed them they were special.
As time went on and food was easier to come by, the custom continued. Now it was on the host to provide not just food but a tasty meal.
The invention of recipes.
Some recipes are handed down from generation to generation. Some are a happy accident. Nowadays, one can find almost any recipe on the Internet. Where-ever the recipe came from, when shared at family events or just if guests stop by, memories are made.
I have a memory of my Dad making Sourdough Biscuits. He found it in a magazine or a book. Nothing unique, but the memories made it special.
Unfortunately, Daddy’s recipe was lost to the ages when he passed, though it most likely can be found on the Internet. But the memories last.
I remember as a kid watching Daddy roll out the dough. He would cut it into biscuits, dip them in melted butter and slide the biscuits in the oven. As the biscuits cooked the smell filled the house with the aroma of fresh cooked Sourdough.
He would pull the biscuits hot out of the oven. The taste of the sourdough with a pat of butter was Heaven. It was one of the most vivid memories of my Dad that I will carry forever.
Genealogy is about finding one’s past. It is also about making memories and passing them on to future generations, so they are connected to the past. Recipes can be that bridge.
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Pat Smart
patsmart61@gmail.com
