Letter: Reminiscing about childhood food dishes

Recently, I was sitting at a table with seven friends between the ages of 50 to 90 having lunch. As our meal progressed, we started to reminisce about what we ate when we were children.

One young man talked about jaternice, a large gray type of sausage, a favorite Czech 'delicacy” of that time. Should one be left over at the end of supper, he and his dad usually split it in half.

One food my wife grew up with was pig cheeks (pork cutlets). She fried them with onions at our home at least once a month. So good!

A long time Cedarapidian talked about his love for ham hocks. One lady said her family ate chop suey regularly when she was a little girl. She hated it, and would go to her room and only eat the white rice with some of its broth.

Growing up in the ‘30s, my brother, sister and I ate a lot of yellow congealed fried mush. One variation of this was called scrapple. Mother had her version of the traditional recipe and only added fried crumbled hamburger. In a skillet, the scrapple was cooked, then served, and I would usually add butter and maple type syrup over it.

I also remember one lady at the table saying they always added lard to their Kolache dough, to make them soft and fluffy.

Looking back, it was great to remember our family life when we were young and the unique things we ate.

David H. Burke

Cedar Rapids