Food Preferences

One of my father’s likings in the way of food was the pancakes my mother made for him for breakfast. I’m sure it was a carryover from what my grandmother had served to him in his youth. He liked to have them with sugar and cream and it is the only time I have ever encountered this way of serving pancakes. It is because of this idiosyncratic habit that I think it was a carryover from his childhood. He also like molasses, not corn syrup, with his pancakes.

Popcorn was another thing he liked and occasionally we would have popcorn at home on a Sunday afternoon. I can still see in my mind the corn popper we used — sort of a black sheet metal box with a top that would slide open and a long handle. The popcorn would be popped on the top of the kitchen range, the popper being moved back and forth across the top of the stove during the process.

Generally my father was a meat and potatoes man. He ate whatever my mother prepared but I think he tolerated vegetables rather than liking them. He liked bread. Somewhere in his earlier life he developed a liking for oysters, and oyster soup was one of his favorites. Seafood was not a very important part of the family diet. My mother did use canned salmon and to this day salmon loaf (at least the way she prepared it) is one of my favorite dishes. I like fresh salmon but I think I prefer a good salmon loaf.

My mother could not abide the oysters. At one time during her school days at Gustavus she was at banquet where raw oysters were served as an appetizer. That turned her off oysters for life. We never had such items as clam chowder, which is one of my favorite soups (particularly the chowder at McGrath’s over in Medford). When we were still living in El Cerrito before the move to Houston, Jean’s brother-in-law, Ray Rosel, would periodically go on a clamming expedition to Stinson Beach or to Tomales Bay (both in Marin County) and he would invite me along. These were very pleasant excursions and I recall with delight early in the morning when the tide was low digging for horseneck clams. Ray would “clean” them by feeding them a diet of cornmeal for a short while and the clam meat he gave us was used by Jean in some tasty clam dishes.

So in my later life I have become acquainted with various kinds of seafood which I have come to like.

When we were living in El Cerrito one of the favorite restaurants for the whole family was Gonzalez down on San Pablo Avenue. And when I spent time in Houston after I retired as a “consultant” I became acquainted with a Mexican restaurant with the improbable name of Bertha Robinson’s. It was the best Mexican restaurant that I ever encountered.

My father also like bread and no meal for him was complete without it.