Family Recipe Evolution - How Have Recipes Changed In Your Family?

1. 66

   philzgrillposted 14 years ago

   When I was growing up, my mother used to make tuna casseroles (which I hated) and liver and onions (I threw up at the dinner table one time after being forced to eat this dish).  She would make very practical recipes such as chicken and tacos too.  My father used to drink the old "Hearty Burgandy" wine from Gallo for his dinner wine (he is a wine enthusiast with a very nice wine cellar now).  And now, if you compare the things they make now, like homemade ravioli's and prime rib's, homeade salsa', there's no comparison to the past.
   
   I would be interested to know if recipes have changed over the years in your family?  Or are they the same recipes that really didn't need to change?  If they did change what were some of the influences of this change?

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   1. 61

      Dave Mathewsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I am sort of an amateur chef of sorts. I learned how to cook by watching my mom cook some of her best tasting recipes and then following her recipes until I got them right.
      
      In later years I have added, subtracted and changed ingredients, in order to make them taste a little different and improve them, and for my taste, I have succeeded. Even my mom who is still alive likes the way I cook her recipes, with different variations to them.

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2. 61

   Hestia DeVotoposted 14 years ago

   My grandmother really liked to cook and my mother learned to love cooking too.  I think my sister got more of the hereditary talents than I did.
   
   I think the family cooking has gotten simpler.  When you look at cooking trends, it was European-influenced for a few decades, then fusion cooking was "it," and now there's a bigger trend towards simple, organic and local dishes.

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3. 77

   workingmomwmposted 14 years ago

   My family recipes use a lot less sugar than they used to. Almost everyone in my family has diabetes now, so we substitute Splenda for sugar most of the time.

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4. 84

   Gordon Hamiltonposted 14 years ago

   Sadly, my family as a whole is dying out and their recipes with them. None of the most recent generation (myself included) have ever had children, so that is likely to be that, so far as all such issues go. I am also the last remaining member of my family who actively cooks and make all my own recipes up from scratch. I suppose that means that my family's recipes are - or soon will be - no more...

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5. 60

   purrnfurrposted 14 years ago

   My grandma was a German farm wife. And when she dies I got her recipes.  A few changes have been made like using olive oil instead of bacon grease to cook with and steaming veggies instead of boiling them to mush. I even have some old family recipes from before temperature gauges on ovens that just say bake on a hot oven until done.  I still love cooking and baking though and am always looking for and coming up with new and healthy alternatives to old favorite. Here's a shameless ploy: follow me on hubpages because I'm going to be sharing a bunch of recipes, new and old, and talking about food and what we eat and why.  Shameless ploy out.
   
   Great question, though!

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