Old Fashioned Foods

 Would our great grandparents eat what we would eat? What would we think of their favorites?Are there any foods that have lasted through the decades and still served today? Yes!

One of the most endearing and tastiest is the simple grahhan cracker. This sweet cracker began in the mid 1800's' by Sylvester Graham, the father of vegetarianism. They were and still are made with graham flour a densely milled whole wheat kind,complete with the hull and the germ. This creates a healthier digestive biscuit.It may have been the first "cookie many American kids ate. Now it's still a sweet snack and was reinvented as the base for s'mores first made in 1927 by the American Girl Scouts. Now home chefs also use it for pie crusts, weather it's for ice cream pie or a cream pie .Crushed graham crackers mixed with butter and sugar are also the base or crust for cheesecake too.is it still a healthy snack. Yes!It's much better than a sleeve of any kind of cookie and perfect for someone on a limited diet.Another sweet snack that  our grandparents loved is tapioca. Every home chef in decades past had her (yes her. It was always women in charge for the family kitchen back in the day ) had her own spin on the recipe. It's made with the exotic cassava root.Ot's been around for millennia  having first been made by indigenous Brazilians.  The pudding itself is made with "pearls" beads filled with the cassava.They;'re cooked with eggs as any custard is.Vanilla is added to bring out the cassava's flavor. Custards are another ls fashioned dessert that's still being eaten today.

Some foods can cause shivers.Pigs knuckles or hocks were a big deal in German family dinners . SOme German clubs like the deutch Club in Clark New Jersey, has it as part of its menu during their summer festivals and Ocktoberfests.They're braised  , depending  on the family oven crisped resulting in a crispy crackly skin.It's served with potato salad or sauerbraten. Brains and livers are other meats that our grandmothers had all sorts of recipes for. These fell out of favor when people preferred just eating different cuts.There are some who still make the classic liver and onions which is calf liver cooked in some kind of oil or fat and then onions are added to it. Some cultures like Moroccan  do still make it as do the Venetians in Italy. It's taken from a much older Roman recipe where the liver is cooked with figs. It serves with white polenta. Are there any brains recipes? Yes, there looks like some tasty ones, mostly fried and heavenly seasoned. Yet just try getting kids and most adults  to eat them . The answer would be a resounding no followed by leaving the table.

Some foods like graham crackers go on. Some like brains and livers don't Tastes change as do the population.