Family Food Fare and Favourites
Join me as I dig through my memories, and recipes, to rediscover my family’s food “back in the day” and how those food habits have changed over the decades to today’s diverse and multi-cultural cuisines. This is my theme for the 2021 A to Z challenge.
THEN
Y was silent in the days of my youth except for one of mum’s inevitable biscuit recipes.
NOW
Yoghurt has become part of our regular diets today, either in breakfast meals or as part of curry accompaniments or in cakes, desserts or biscuits.
When we lived in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG) I even made my own yoghurt. What started me down that track I don’t know, but I would let it “grow” in a large dish in the sun and then scoop it into smaller containers.
Nowadays we have yoghurt in a delicious Yoghurt and Pistachios with Cardamom Cake. How am I supposed to lose weight thinking about all these yummy treats I ask myself?
The minute you think of Middle Eastern food your mind flies to Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipes. They are simply delicious! He would be one of my favourite food creators.
One of our Thai treats for visitors is Yam and Mussel fritters from a Spirit House recipe. It’s always very popular with most of our friends though one family member remains unimpressed. Yams aren’t normally on our food list so we often substitute sweet potato. I have a memory that we had yams cooked in a fire pit when we attended a local colleague’s wedding in Port Moresby in the 1970s.
The pièce de résistance of our Y recipes is the Yabby Tails with Champagne Risotto that eldest daughter cooked for us on Christmas Day 2008 at the Freycinet Peninsula, Tasmania. Our entrée was scallops with cauliflower and tapenade and the meal was accompanied by delicious Tassie bubbles. Dessert was fresh Tasmanian berries. Delicious! The seafood had been pre-booked from afar and was fresh from the coop on Xmas Eve, so the entire meal was simply spectacular and will remain a very special memory, both of a meal and time together.
Is yoghurt part of your daily diet? Do you say Yo-gurt or Yog-it?
Are you a fan of Yotam Ottolenghi?
What dishes do you eat that start with Y?
Family history across the seas 
Your recipe for yabby tails looks delicious. With cheap frozen lobster tails from WA I’m wondering how this would go? Not as good as fresh but maybe OK? I remember the first time I had yoghurt was at Teachers College in 1969. You could buy it from the hole in the wall food outlet and to me was quite new and exciting. Now I have Chobani Greek yoghurt on my cereal and also instead of icecream for dessert at night. I haven’t tried Yotam O’s recipes. Must get onto it. Thanks for the inspiration.
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Linda, I’m sure you could use the lobster tails without any problems. May as well while they’re cheap 😉 Now I need to follow your evening example of yoghurt instead of treats.
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I say Yo-gurt 🙂 When I was young it was often sweet and flavoured with strawberries. Now I like Greek style yoghurt.
That Christmas lunch sounds marvellous.
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Me too Anne re the pronunciation and Greek style. Others are too sickly for me. The lunch was memorable without a doubt – would love to do Christmas in Tassie again some time.
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I seem to remember Yoyo biscuits made by Arnotts but can’t think of any other Y foods we enjoy except for yoghurt. We tried Youngberries somewhere on our travels – not sure when or where.
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Another vote for yo-yo biscuits. Pretty sure I’ve never tasted youngberries.
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And here’s a recipe for yo-yo biscuits which addresses the difference between them and melting moments: custard powder vs cornflour.
https://bakeplaysmile.com/yoyos/
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I’ve tried to eat yoghur but really don’t like it. Hi wish I did as it’s Would be a great healthy breakfast. The only Y food I can think of is YoYo biscuits.
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Yo-yo biscuits are a good one Jennifer. I forgot those.
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We do enjoy yogurt and I often use it in baking too. It was not something I grew up with but is much more popular these days. Although, I’ve never tried to make it from scratch. That Christmas meal sounds like it was amazing! Weekends In Maine
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Yoghurt has certainly become an essential food these days hasn’t it. It was indeed an amazing meal in an amazing place with great people.
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Y for Yum is all I can say. Thanks for the fond food memories along with some great recipes. Food for the brain and body indeed.
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Thanks Carmel and thanks for joining in with your memories.
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Great food choices and that’s a fabulous photo of the two of you in Tasmania. I have long been a yogurt fan — and in the 1970s had one of those Salton yogurt makers in which you could make your own. I got the starter (c. 1905) from a Jewish dairy restaurant on the Lower East Side. I’m not sure they even make those machines any more, but it sure was fun!
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That’s impressive about the starter. I think I had to use commercial yoghurt and no machine…so retro…lol
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Looking closely at the photo of us, I’m amazed that I had the foresight to take one of our best tablecloths 3600kms for the Xmas table.
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What wonderful Y’s today, I am looking forward to browsing back through your A to Z to browse your food experiences! Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks Beth.
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Love the handwriting in the recipe!
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Yes, Mum’s handwriting was immaculate.
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We say yogurt here snd it’s so good in our muffin recipe as it makes the muffins so tasty and more delicious. Love yams too snd we often call them sweet potatoes
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