I read a fellow blogger’s post about Ketchup sandwiches (for more please visit Jumping in Mud Puddles). I can’t say that I’ve ever eaten a Ketchup sandwich but I do remember dipping toast in ketchup and only having that – toast and ketchup – as a snack.
bread dough image from goodhousekeeping.com
As a kid, one of my favorite times was whenever my mother baked bread and with 5 kids, she baked every week. Because I was the youngest and usually hanging around her anyways, she’d often give me some of my very own dough to make into something. Most often we made “dough gods.” What you do is take a round ball of dough about an inch thick and fry it in butter, browning on both sides until it’s cooked throughout. Press down with a spatula as it’s cooking, like a pancake. Slather with more butter and some home-made jam, chokecherry was my preference. Heaven! *Hey I was 6, what can I say.
Another favorite kid food was Dill pickle dip. I think it’s only available in Canada, because I’ve never seen it in a Michigan store. Yes it is just as it sounds but as a kid, it was fantastic. It was the perfect accompaniment to Old Dutch ripple potato chips and, even better, if both were smuggled out of the kitchen in stealth mode and then rushed to the backyard tent for a sleepover with my cousin! I can only imagine our breath the next morning. Good Lord!
Speaking of pickles, I loved (and still love) dill pickles. A favorite childhood lunch-time sandwich was Cheez Whiz + dill pickle. That’s it. Weird I know.
Can we talk bologna? I actually liked bologna on a sandwich but only if it was accompanied by regular yellow mustard. I would not touch that gnarly pimento-infused stuff that my Grandmother always wanted me to try. Gag-a-roonie. Don’t even ask me to try Lutefisk.
Liver. Believe it or not I was that kid who would eat liver and onions. Don’t touch the stuff now.. something about ingesting organs freaks me out a little bit.
Beets and spinach. Two vegetables that most kids will not eat and yes, I loved them. Still do. Fresh steamed garden beets with a little butter & salt? Divine.
When we went to the summer fair (in Canada it’s called the “Exhibition” or the “Ex” if you’re 14 and trying to sound cool), in addition to the midway jam-packed full of rides, the horse shows and live performances, there was all that food to look forward to. Saskatoon is a multi-cultural city and embraces the foods of many ethnicities. As a result, we were exposed to many childhood delights. Even though some were not really “kid-friendly,” the ones that made my mouth water were the pierogies (sold out of Little Baba’s kitchen and served with sour cream and fried onions), the heavenly smelling Doukhobor bread, Greektown’s chicken souvlaki (served on a stick with cucumber sauce and shredded vegetables) and the deep fried ice cream (and ice cream bar dipped in chocolate and peanuts then flash fried). No elephant ears for me, give me the good stuff!
Thinking back on all of these foods, I realize I was reasonably adventurous. However, I never could embrace Grandpa’s love of sour cream slathered on his bread, my Dad’s sprinkling sugar over his popcorn, or my brother’s love of red hot fireballs.
I guess I’m weird like that.
What about you? What weird foods did you like as a kid and do you still eat them today?
