![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Most Memorable Meals
I've been reading Death by Pad Thai lately. It's a collection of essays about various writers' most memorable meals. That made me think back to my most memorable meal, and wonder about all of yours. Will you share, here or elsewhere? It's okay, btw, if it's more about the people or the occasion than the food, as are many of the essays.
Mine is
I was 18, and had just graduated from high school. I'd been selected to work for a month at Burning Bush, a summer camp for inner city kids operated by Young Life. There were about 16 of us teenagers, all "supervised" by three adult workers who were all of maybe 23. Campers went home Friday evening, and the new batch arrived Sunday evening, so on Saturdays we all piled into two enormous old vans and explored Pittsburgh.
I think it was probably the second Saturday that our adult supervisors took us to visit a very wealthy old Presbyterian church-- in the inner city, but still serving the rich people who had fled the neighborhood. It was enormous, and luxurious-- and almost totally empty. Then we went to another nearby church which chose to serve the new neighbors. It was shabby, messy, and vibrantly alive.
By the time we left the second church, it was getting late- 8 p.m. or so and we hadn't eaten. Church members suggested an ethnic restaurant nearby. We all piled in-- 20 of us!-- lining up a bunch of tables together. When the owner came to take our orders, 4 or 5 kids wanted hamburgers and fries; the rest of us asked question after question about the Greek dishes on the menu. Finally the owner asked if he could make a suggestion. "Hamburger people, sit together down there.... the rest of you, $5 apiece, trust me?" We agreed. (I was painfully shy and inexperienced, and probably would have been among the hamburger eaters, had it not been for the fact that my lifelong best friend was Greek. I had already found something I knew and loved in the Greek side of the menu.)
The hamburgers and fries appeared promptly. For the rest of us, the owner brought out baskets of pita bread, and then dish after dish of Greek specialties, explaining each one and letting us share them family-style. It went on for hours! The hamburger eaters began to at least sample a few bites of the less scary dishes. Periodically more pita breads would appear. When we left, near midnight, we were fast friends with the owner and his wife, and we left with one paper grocery bag full of leftovers, and another entire bag of pita bread-- and assurances that the owner and his wife were going to send their son to our camp (which they did).
Even though I was already familiar with Greek food, and even though I came from a big and reasonably convivial family, I had never experienced a feast like that-- watching the owner's joy in sharing his food with us, finding fun together in tasting new flavors, and learning about each other in the process. Truly unforgettable!
Mine is
I was 18, and had just graduated from high school. I'd been selected to work for a month at Burning Bush, a summer camp for inner city kids operated by Young Life. There were about 16 of us teenagers, all "supervised" by three adult workers who were all of maybe 23. Campers went home Friday evening, and the new batch arrived Sunday evening, so on Saturdays we all piled into two enormous old vans and explored Pittsburgh.
I think it was probably the second Saturday that our adult supervisors took us to visit a very wealthy old Presbyterian church-- in the inner city, but still serving the rich people who had fled the neighborhood. It was enormous, and luxurious-- and almost totally empty. Then we went to another nearby church which chose to serve the new neighbors. It was shabby, messy, and vibrantly alive.
By the time we left the second church, it was getting late- 8 p.m. or so and we hadn't eaten. Church members suggested an ethnic restaurant nearby. We all piled in-- 20 of us!-- lining up a bunch of tables together. When the owner came to take our orders, 4 or 5 kids wanted hamburgers and fries; the rest of us asked question after question about the Greek dishes on the menu. Finally the owner asked if he could make a suggestion. "Hamburger people, sit together down there.... the rest of you, $5 apiece, trust me?" We agreed. (I was painfully shy and inexperienced, and probably would have been among the hamburger eaters, had it not been for the fact that my lifelong best friend was Greek. I had already found something I knew and loved in the Greek side of the menu.)
The hamburgers and fries appeared promptly. For the rest of us, the owner brought out baskets of pita bread, and then dish after dish of Greek specialties, explaining each one and letting us share them family-style. It went on for hours! The hamburger eaters began to at least sample a few bites of the less scary dishes. Periodically more pita breads would appear. When we left, near midnight, we were fast friends with the owner and his wife, and we left with one paper grocery bag full of leftovers, and another entire bag of pita bread-- and assurances that the owner and his wife were going to send their son to our camp (which they did).
Even though I was already familiar with Greek food, and even though I came from a big and reasonably convivial family, I had never experienced a feast like that-- watching the owner's joy in sharing his food with us, finding fun together in tasting new flavors, and learning about each other in the process. Truly unforgettable!