Unlike
many people, I have embraced lockdown wholeheartedly.
I
am fortunate in that I am not encumbered by family or serious financial
worries, love my own company and do not much care for the big outdoors. It has also
given me time for reflection and the opportunity to consider what the future
might hold.
For
those of us born in the 50s and beyond, I think of the last twelve months as
being our WW2, a time when the freedoms we have for so long taken for granted
have been severely restricted, causing us to lead our lives in a way we could
not have foreseen. The inability to move around and mix with each other freely
has caused significant distress and a feeling of isolation for many of us, but I
believe we will all come out of this better people; less selfish perhaps, and
more conscious of the impact our behaviour has on others.
Putting
our current inability to travel aside, we all still need to eat.
After
procreation, for without that the human race would not survive, food must
surely be the most important thing in our lives. In our relatively affluent Western
world, we have an abundance of food on our doorsteps, despite our insistence on
choosing to consume produce grown thousands of miles away, with little thought
to our impact on the environment.
How,
when, where and what we eat, and who we choose to share meals with, has never
been more important.
I
try to eat seasonally, and local, largely because it means that that I can
support independent businesses that are struggling, and also because things
just taste better the closer they are from farm to fork. Whilst I am no
stranger to junk food (Fray Bentos Steak & Kidney pie is a weakness, as is
vesta Chow Mein) I do care passionately about what goes into my mouth, even if
it means a conscious decision at times to eat badly.
My
dietary habits have never been the best, and having been housebound for almost
a year now, with little opportunity for eating out, my body clock has gone
completely haywire; hence chicken noodle soup and hot cross buns at 2am, and
calves’ liver for breakfast.
I
have a thing about fish on the bone (it HAS to be) and spanking fresh eggs,
with shiny pert golden yolks, but I have never enjoyed ‘veg’, except for
slender spears of asparagus smothered in hollandaise, and whatever happened to
those fabulous kidney-shaped, yellow, waxy, Jersey Royals?
I
resist ordering online, not trusting anyone else to ‘pick’ my produce, and have
felt forced to shop in supermarkets; a dismal experience all round. I just do
not want to buy a whole pack of (out of season) tomatoes, a cucumber, a head of
broccoli or a bag of lettuce. Six salad leaves is just about my limit.
The
thing I have missed most of all since lockdown is eating out. I love cooking
but would never dream of cooking an entire meal just for myself. When I eat out,
which I usually do around five times a week, I very rarely order a main course,
much preferring several small portions. In my current state of nutritional
melancholy, I long for a menu of delicious, tempting, low calorie morsels,
waiting to seduce my tastebuds, whilst keeping my waistline in check. Linda,
get over yourself; remember there are millions who are dying for want of
anything at all to put in their distended bellies.
Of
course, reading about food (now on my 164th book) has not helped my
plight at all.
Ploughing
my way through my latest volume, a series of essays (some not very well
written) about food and life, I came across a chapter in which the author
considers the foods eaten by some of our most recognisable writers while they
labour under the tension of finding the perfect word for their latest
award-winning manuscript.
This
got me thinking. The vast majority of the people I choose to socialise with are
‘into’ food and wine. Under normal circumstances we would get together
regularly but in the absence of being able to do so, apart from the odd virtual
wine tasting, I decided to carry out a little experiment, posing the question,
on Mon. 15th Feb., ‘What did you have for your dinner this evening?’
What was astonishing was the extraordinary level of immediate responses. Those
I received, from this diverse selection of people from across the world, came
in thick and fast, and were socially very enlightening. Some decided to wax
lyrical, obviously wanting to ‘let it all out’, complete with apologies and a
certain amount of embarrassment as to their lack of imagination when it came to
the choices they had made when no-one was looking.
Others
were brief and to the point, with very little detail being given, bringing to
the surface a range of unanswered questions. Some were in relationships or
living with family members. Did they eat together? If not, why not? Where did
they eat? At a table, in the kitchen, watching TV? Did they use the ‘just throw
it all in’ approach to ad hoc cooking, well-tried recipes, ready meals, cheat’s
tricks or all prepared fresh from scratch?
I
was also struck by the high level of abstinence, and the extent to which people
appear to be eating healthily.
We
ARE what we eat in more ways than one. It is the decisions we make when faced
with hunger, necessity, or merely boredom perhaps, that determine who we are,
and what is important in our lives.
LdH
Homemade
(not by me) toasted small round loaf of rustic sourdough bread - made with
whole wheat, rye, and white flour (2 slices). Canned lentil soup (1 cup).
One
slice of toasted bread, then the soup, then a second slice of toasted bread
Water
drunk throughout the meal and after
It
was easy; I bought the bread on Saturday at a roadside bakery stand in Grand
Isle so I needed to eat it sooner rather than later as there were no
preservatives. The soup was heated on the stove.
Clearly
using up the bread, but what about her husband? Did they eat together, eat the
same thing? Was the toast buttered, or not? Water seems rather puritan, to me
at least.
DB
I
had Parmesan chicken. Cooked chicken chunks ‘til brown, then added Italian
seasoning, salt, pepper, mushrooms, rice, stock and cooked for 15 minutes until
cooked. Then added cream and Parmesan cheese - a very yummy dish. With two
glasses of Chilean Merlot.
This
person obviously felt the need to give details as to how the meal was prepared.
Why chicken ‘chunks’? Did she de-bone thighs or chop up a breast? What kind of
mushrooms were used, how were they used, whole or sliced? What kind of rice?
What stock was used? What type of cream? Was the Parmesan freshly grated or
from a packet? What size glasses of wine? So many questions….
KW-C
We
had pasta with mushrooms - mushrooms fried with garlic and then crème fraîche
and Parmesan and pasta water added and some parsley. All stirred together.
(Jamie Oliver cook 5 but with added parsley). We had a lot of mushrooms in the
fridge.
Ate
early as N has a PC meeting. I have supped 2 G&Ts since.
When
he has finished, we will have some left over smoked salmon and left over white
Bordeaux - which I will go easy on!
This
is not a normal evening.... PC ones are always different.
This
person was feeling obliged to explain the thinking behind the meal and the fact
that it was based around mushroom that needed to be used up. What type of
mushrooms and what type of pasta was used? Is a G&T the usual tipple? What
type of G&T is preferred?
FB
Prawn
risotto with tomato sauce, with garlic. Small brandy.
Homemade?
If so, where was it purchased? What else was in the risotto? How was it cooked?
Why the brandy?
CP
Beef
brisket roasted with homemade Yorkshires and carrots and leeks in blue cheese
sauce. Red merlot and beer and gin.
Short
and succinct. What happened to any brisket left over? What blue cheese was used
on the leeks? Was the wine a conscious choice or an opened bottle to use up?
What type of beer and gin, with the meal or before/after?
VH
A
rather basic pasta meal. Cooked a few chopped slices of bacon with diced onion
then added some cooked pasta shells and peas and bound everything together with
a homemade cheese sauce (cheddar). Simple but tasty. With it I drank diet
lemonade.
Almost
apologetic. What kind of bacon was used, smoked/unsmoked, back or streaky? Were
the peas fresh or frozen? What was the reason for the diet lemonade?
LT
Okay,
so it’s perhaps a shame I am answering this today as we had a simple tea! We
had M&S southern fried breaded chicken pieces with salad and wraps,
however I am not so keen, so I had a haddock fish cake with some M&S
layered peas, sweet corn, broccoli and carrots (in a pot which you microwave)
and some Dauphinoise potatoes. I drank a glass of Dr Pepper Zero. It’s a fairly
regular Monday night meal, first day back at work for the week and I want
something easy to cook.
A
family with different tastes and eating habits, well served by ready meals for
an easy life. Quick and easy to prepare. Dauphinoise potatoes, served with a
fish cake, made with potato? Note the use of ‘tea’ rather than dinner. I wonder
what time they ate?
VM
lobster
bisque with cream, reheated in microwave
baguette
with butter and carrot spread
skate,
reheated in oven
potatoes,
reheated in oven
steak,
reheated in oven
french
fries, reheated in oven
salad
chocolates
with whipped cream
lemon
bar
I
strongly suspect this was a ‘gourmet’ meal delivered by a very posh, and very
expensive restaurant nearby which pre-cooks everything for diners to heat up
and serve. Designer ready meal. I wonder how well the food re-heated, and what
cut of steak was used, served with what sauce? Carrot spread on a baguette?
Skinny fries or chunky ones?
RG
Oxtail
and red wine stew with mashed potato and steamed broccoli.
Short
and to the point from one of my oldest ‘foodie’ friends. But, was the oxtail
re-heated (always better the day after). What potatoes were used for the mash
(I suspect home grown) and was butter and/or cream added to the mash? Nothing
to drink? Surely not!
LJ
I
made a Chinese stir fry with bean sprouts, shredded cabbage, peppers, noodles
and king prawns. The sauce was “curry style” and I added soy sauce to
taste.
Overall,
it did not taste great and was not even what I wanted to eat. It was easy to
make and filling, so it was selected mostly due to practicality.
Although
it will pain you to read this, the chosen beverage was water (some of us insist
on torturing ourselves...)
What
I really wanted tonight was fish and chips. Alas, due to general overindulgence
during the Christmas and lockdown periods, I am having to resort to culinary
austerity. For an unadventurous chef like myself, this is no challenge.
This
sounds like someone who is not easily pleased and rather fed up with life at
the moment. Were the ingredients for the stir fry from a ready mixed packet?
What would have been the difference in price from having fish and chips?
LL
Dinner
last night...
A
few tiny pieces left over from a delivered Lou Malnati’s pizza that was ordered
for lunch
Water
Horrible
I
have never been one to order food deliveries! However, have done it twice
recently...
Can’t
bear to go out in Chiberia! (Chicago under snow)
So
when I ordered I did two meals which really lasts for about six!
Am
out of coffee beans today... must figure out how to get them in!
So
many people order groceries in. Not me... yet!!
That’s
the bipolar way! Extreme extravagance ...then the opposite!
I
am a main meal at noon person.
Yes,
I love eating in courses… result of spending time in FRANCE.
There
then followed details of previous days meals and plans for Lent. This is from someone
who is passionate about food, sounding rather fed up and frustrated with life
at the moment. Interesting in that there are places in town still open for
diners to visit in person.
DS
Tito’s
Vodka martinis, no garnish
Salad
of roasted beets on arugula, dressed with tarragon vinegar and EVOO and crumbled
goat cheese.
Osso
Buco (recipe from Giada De Laurentiis)
Tiny
potatoes, boiled then crisped in butter.
2105
Winesmith Cabernet Franc, Lake County, California.
This
is someone who is clearly not prepared to cut corners despite the pandemic.
Cocktails made with designer vodka, to get them in the mood, simply prepared
food and decent wine (around £30 a bottle). When can I come for dinner?
JG
Baked Sweet potato,
Grilled chicken, and
Washed down with tea.
Simple and healthy. Not a lot more to be
said.
JCW
We
had Pad Thai vegetable stir fry made up of: - broccoli, cauliflower, carrots,
leeks, mushrooms, red and yellow peppers, cashew nuts, noodles and sesame
seeds. All home cooked except for a sachet of sauce.
Washed
down with half a bottle of sparkling rose La Folie Mirabeau and half a bottle
of Nelson Bay Sauvignon Blanc - leftover from last night's Valentine Supper!
Finished
with handmade (not by us) Pink Gin Marshmallows coated in Belgian
Chocolate.
It
was the "veggie" night.
Stir
fries and noodles or pasta seem to hit the spot for a relatively quick, easy
and satisfying weekday meal. I wonder what sachet of sauce was used?
Interesting that they had a ‘veggie’ night. How many of us consciously do that?
JG
An
unusually simple and commercial meal not typical at all:
homemade
cauliflower soup with Georgia country smoked ham
panko
crusted shrimp (purchased but good) with my incredible VSOP sauce (perhaps the
best sauce you've ever had; my invention)
one
coconut cookie
Certainly
not the menu I expected from the most adventurous gourmet I know. It just goes
to show that at times we all want the comfort of familiar ingredients and a
level of simplicity. I shall have to get my hands on the sauce recipe.
BL
We
have our main meal lunchtimes during lockdown as its better for K with
diabetes.
We
only had 2 courses.
We
started with a glass of wine each of Malbec and then had calves liver
lightly tossed in flour, gently pan fried with a little onion and olive oil, served
with broccoli, spinach and red cabbage (cabbage cooked with some red wine)
I already had an onion gravy. Then bacon, 2 rashers for K, 1 rasher for me,
microwaved in our new smart microwave oven. We had another top up of wine
and moved on to our dessert which was a small serving of homemade plum and
apple tart with crumble topping, served with gluten free ice cream.
We
then followed this up with a black coffee and a quick doze. However, it
has to be noted that we walked 10,000 steps before lunch and 2500 later in the
day.
We
have both lost weight by eating lunchtime and having a salad snack early
evening.
Smug
or what?! I knew without looking that this was from a friend who likes to cross
the Ts and dot the Is. Maybe I am behind the times, but when did ice cream
usually have gluten in it? Technically of course, given the question posed, I
should have been sent the details of the ‘salad snack’ eaten in the early
evening.
SW
I
had loin chop and mushrooms, lightly fried in proper butter, with portion of
french stick and butter
One
of my best friends who no longer lives in the area, which is a pity as we used
to eat out together at least once a week.
LE-R
lentil soup cooked in an InstantPot, with
cassava root chips
Spartan fare. Does cooking in an
InstantPot mean it was basically something you add hot water to and stir?
Cassava is an interesting choice, presumably healthier than potato chips.
BS
Skipped
dinner last night
Brief
and to the point. Does this mean that they ate or drank absolutely nothing?!
HW
Our
eating habits were simple yet quite tasty. We cooked the entire meal in a large
casserole dish.
Roasted
potatoes with cumin, hot paprika salt and pepper and olive oil, then halfway
through the potatoes roasting, we added chicken breast on top of it with olive
oil, salt and pepper, garlic, lemon juice and brown sugar.
We
added a salad of mixed field greens, sliced fresh mozzarella, black olives, red
peppers, dried cranberries and a few peanuts tossed with a balsamic
vinegar.
We
are both avid water drinkers, so there was no other beverage. And no dessert … just
leftover chocolate from Valentine’s Day.
This
from a NY friend who now lives in Florida, and as a man of advancing years, it
is heartening to see that he still cooks a proper meal. It is beyond my
imagination to know how one could become an ‘avid’ water drinker.
MC
I
did myself 2 slices of buttered toast and made it into a sandwich with a slice
of ham and some Dijon mustard.
To drink I had a glass of water and for dessert I had a plain bifidus yoghurt
with a mandarin.
Very exciting. I normally have my main meal lunch time.
It
is interesting to note that the ‘older’ generation have taken to eating their
main meal at lunchtime. Very sensible, and something I try to do myself. I know
that this person is gluten free so am assuming, rightly or wrongly, that they
used gluten free bread. As they also live in France, and as I am a ham snob, I
am wondering about the quality of the ham used.
ClH
Cottage
pie with mashed potatoes and shredded cabbage, pancakes with lemon and caster
sugar. No wine. We always abstain on Mondays and Tuesdays. Decided not to fast
from alcohol this Lent. Bad for mental health, COVID lockdown and the blues!!!
Pancakes
seem appropriate, with Shrove Tuesday on the horizon, and of course English
people always have sugar and lemon with them. Cottage pie is a staple family
meal for us also. Not sure that I could abstain for two days a week, and I
wonder how many people have decided not to fast for Lent this year, feeling
that they have suffered enough!
MW
Not
a normal day. We have our main meal at lunchtime but we had the remains of
Sunday's steak that I couldn't eat, cut up & done with onion, garlic & falafel.
Served it with remains of Sunday's saute potato & garden peas. Pud was
pomelo in lime jelly, also left from Sunday. I had a glass of water & Russ had
a cup of tea.
However,
because we went to Waitrose we ended up having a huge bowl of moules mariniere
with garlic bread for dinner last night along with a glass of white wine &
nothing to follow.
Interesting
to see how many respondents felt that the day in questions was ‘not normal’,
which begs the question, what constitutes ‘normal’? Once again, thrifty ways
have meant that leftovers are being used judicially, albeit for lunch rather
than the dinner requested. ‘posh’ shoppers, they indulged in moules (not
mussels!) for their evening meal. I wonder what wine they had? I enjoy a
Muscadet.
DC
This
is an interesting experiment but easy enough to take part in. I had pasta
primavera with spaghetti pasta and oil & garlic dressing. I chose this
entree because it is nutritious and filling. I didn't drink anything with
it (I was out of wine, lol, and I don't drink other beverages when I'm
eating). I had one garlic knot (small bun) too. I would say the bun was
just white flour dough infused with garlic powder and baked. I ate some of the
pasta first before taking a bite into the bread. The meal was takeout from the
Italian restaurant around the corner. I'm sure the veggies (chopped broccoli,
sliced carrots, mushrooms, green peas and garlic) were sautéed.
Another person aiming
to do the right thing, despite purchasing their meal from a take away. No
alcohol, and no pud by the sounds of it. I do speculate on whether or not any
of these well-intentioned people get the munchies late at night. Where are the
Bridget Jones lookalikes scoffing a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in
solitary splendour?
