Our friend, Kaye Wilkinson Barley, recommended Mary Martha Greene’s The Cheese Biscuit Queen Tells All: Southern Recipes, Sweet Remembrances, and a Little Rambunctious Behavior on her own blog, Meanderings and Muses. It’s just the kind of cookbook I would expect Kaye to enjoy, filled with delightful stories, some funny, a few tearjerkers, as well as all kinds of recipes from the Lowcountry of South Carolina.
Naturally, there are all kinds of recipes that include seafood, shellfish, rice, grits, and pecans. But, for me, the best part of the book are the family stories that accompany each recipe, along with funny ones about Greene’s friends. From garden clubs to legislative hijinks, there are all kinds of tales to make you laugh. But, there are also a few that will make you tear up, stories that deal with aging and death. We’ll all get there, but that doesn’t mean the stories won’t bring tears.
I’m not going to go on about Greene’s charming stories or her mouthwatering recipes. Instead, I’m going to quote her from the introduction, and then ask you if you want to share a memory or two. Mary Martha Greene says, “Food elicits powerful memories”, and that’s why so many of her stories revolve around family occasions and celebrations.
What about you? Are there foods that bring back memories? I know my sisters will have different memories than I do, but here are a few of my family memories connected to food. And, once I started looking back, it was hard to pick just a few.
My mother remembers Sunday dinners at her mother-in-law’s. I remember Grandma Growel’s bread-and-butter pickles and her spiced peaches. Grandma did a lot of canning. A cousin has stories of being forced to make chocolate chip cookies at Grandma’s, but she’s one of the oldest, and I don’t share that memory.
It was always a treat to stay at my Grandma Smith’s, my mother’s mother. All of my cousins remember Grandma’s cut-out cookies, thin with anise icing. And, I’m guessing most of us remember Boston coolers at her house, made with vanilla ice cream and any flavor pop you wanted. She always had several flavors on hand. Why did my family call them Boston coolers when stories say they were called that in Detroit, and made with ginger ale? I have no idea. The family has no connection to Detroit and Grandma didn’t offer ginger ale.
Anyone who knows me well knows the story of my love of my mother’s gumdrop bars. Those bars, with the anise icing, are the smell of Christmas for me. Mom also makes the best pie crust and pies, from scratch. I love her cherry, lemon meringue, and, oh, her rhubarb! She used to mail me a slice of rhubarb pie.
My father liked to cook, too. His vegetable soup is still the best I ever had, made with barley. And, I’ll never forget the time he made ketchup. I like ketchup, but that stunk, and, I thought tasted awful.
Mom and Dad made popcorn balls at Christmas, burning their hands. But, Dad loved to give them to his family. And, corn pudding. That was a family activity, husking the sweet corn, scraping the corn, and then baking it. It could be frozen, and eaten all winter. We all love corn pudding, and my youngest sister, Christie, now has the tool to make it. And, she shares!
Food memories. That’s really what Mary Martha Greene’s cookbook did for me. It brought back memories of family and food. What about you? Are there are food stories you want to share?
Mary Martha Greene’s website is https://thecheesebiscuitqueen.com/
The Cheese Biscuit Queen Tells All: Southern Recipes, Sweet Remembrances, and a Little Rambunctious Behavior by Mary Martha Greene. The University of South Carolina Press, 2021. ISBN 9781643361826 (paperback), 232p.
FTC Full Disclosure – Library book
My dad’s mom baked but she was the really old fashioned type of baker – she never measured anything but just threw things into a bowl and made the best apple strudel and pies. She would let us make shapes out of the leftover dough and bake them for us to eat.
My dad would BBQ and I used to sit outside with him so he wouldn’t be alone. The only memory I have of him cooking was when I was in college. I had to drive him to the train station so I could use the car so we were the only two who got up early. He would make coffee and scrambled eggs for the two of us. He really couldn’t make scrambled eggs and a lot always wound up stuck to the pan but I ate them anyway. I hadn’t thought about that in years until you asked about food memories. It’s funny the things that stick with you.
Sandy, I’m glad the question brought back memories for you. Thank you for sharing the ones of your grandmother baking. I really love the one of you and your father.
Oh, I love this.
Good food and good stories just do go together, don’t they? My favorite book similar to Mary Greene’s is Pat Conroy’s cookbook.
Donald and I love seeking out good food when we’re traveling and trips are known to be gauged by how well we ate and how much we might enjoy a particular restaurant.
My mom was not a great cook, God love her. But she did make the best crab cakes. THE best. This was when crabs were plentiful in the Choptank River and the Chesapeake Bay where we lived and were not as expensive as they now are. My grandmother worked for one of the local crab houses picking the meat out of crabs for pennies a pound, my grandfather was a waterman and oftentimes whatever his big catch of the day was was what we would have for dinner.
And now I’m wondering what we’re going to eat here at our house today!
You’re so right, Kaye. I love the way food brings back memories. It doesn’t even have to be good food. I enjoyed Sandy’s story about mornings with her father and his not-so-good scrambled eggs.
I know you have stories of food with your travels with Donald.
Thank you for sharing the memories of seafood and crab cakes!
Love food memories, especially ones from OUR side. For us food was always love. I could be at the cottage and say to my mom, “wish I had some….” And the next day she showed up with it. I always thought mom liked to cook because she made each of us individually what we liked..turns out she loved us, not cooking. Swedish rosettes stand out in my mind and I loved mom’s meatloaf the best. It tasted just like Grandma Smith’s. Your mom is pie champion, her crusts are so flaky.
Those moments when you realize how much our mothers loved us are special, aren’t they, Carol?
Oh, yes! Swedish rosettes. So much better than funnel cakes.
CarolMorelock, love the statement “turns out she loved us, not cooking.” How true that is about so many things parents do for and with their children. Mom makes the best lemon meringue pie, and chicken sandwiches! My kids would say GGS- Grandma Growel Special- ice cream with peanut butter and chocolate syrup. Elizabeth did say last night she loves my chocolate cream puffs, so hopefully I have food memories to pass on too.
Oh, yes. I love Mom’s chicken sandwiches.
I’m sure you have food memories that you passed on to your family. I bet Elizabeth will remember times she spent in the kitchen with you.