If We Could Go Back to Grandma’s Table
There are some meals we never forget, not because they were fancy, but because of who was sitting around the table. We asked our readers what their grandparents would serve if they could sit down at their table just one more time, and their answers brought back a flood of memories.
In a past issue of Front Porch Life, we asked our audience a simple question: “If you could sit down at your grandparents’ table one more time, what meal would they be serving?” The responses poured in, and we quickly realized they weren’t just about food. They were about people, places, traditions, and the tables where some of our very best memories were made. Here are some of the heartwarming memories our readers shared with us.
We asked our Audience:
If you could sit down at your grandparents’ table one more time, what meal would they be serving?
“My grandmother was so proud one year at Thanksgiving. She had discovered the Cornish game hen. The whole family was there and we each had our own “mini chicken.” There would almost certainly be fluffy mashed potatoes that my grandfather would make, loaded with salt, pepper, and butter. Peas or corn, in their own puddles of butter. Sliced bread with butter, and lots of giblet gravy.” – Monica Bridges
“Grandma was the Queen of creamed vegetables and congealed salads! My favorites were creamed peas with pearl onions and her black cherry salad. So both of those along ham, scalloped potatoes, and yeast rolls. And apple pie for dessert.”– Wendy Medlin
“Always woke up to the smell of bacon, with biscuits and gravy, always had a pan of cornbread on the counter, living on a farm we never went hungry.” – Donna Mills
“Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, garden green beans, corn on the cob, lemon Jello with grated carrots, and angel food cake with fresh strawberries and a spoon full of vanilla ice cream!” – Sarah Parker
“Her Sunday best dinner . . . Roast beef with mushroom gravy with the mushrooms cut up so fine you couldn’t find them because my father hated mushrooms but loved her gravy. My father went to his grave without knowing he’d been eating mushrooms all those years. The fluffiest mashed potatoes ever. Green beans she had canned from the garden. Pickled Peaches that she had canned last summer. Her homemade parker house rolls, I can still see how she did them with her hands and, some 60 years later, I still can’t do it. Dessert would be her cherry pie made with those small, tart cherries that she picked and canned. One Christmas she gave me a whole cherry pie as a gift and I ate the entire thing in one sitting while reading a new Stephen King book. Best gift ever.” – Sandy Adams
“Summer Lunch time: Cold meat, garden fresh tomatoes and apple cucumbers, pickled onions and buttered white bread, served with a cuppa. Afternoon Tea time: Scones made by Grandma served with cream and Grandad‘s tomato jam (Grandad was the maker of green tomato chutney, and tomato jam – these were both made at the end of the growing season when he pulled the vines down to rest the soil. He made enough jars to get through to the following year after donating some to the food stall at the local fete/Senior Cits), or Sponge Cake with a cuppa….a cuppa punctuated every meal.” – Ros Crawford
“I am so blessed that my 88 year old maternal grandmother is still cooking up a storm so I can eat at her table anytime. My paternal grandparents have passed. I would love to INHALE my grandmother’s homemade pancakes and a bowl of her red beans and rice!”-Kayla
“At lunch and supper, the menu with Dolly and Leonard and my family would almost definitely include chicken fried steak, fresh green beans, corn, with either fried potatoes or mashed potatoes, accompanied by my Granny’s greasy biscuits with homemade gravy. Red beans or cornbread might be simmering on the stove as well, and probably a coconut cake or bread pudding made from any leftover biscuits. I can still smell those wonderful aromas wafting in the air, carrying with them the essence of love and care that filled that kitchen.”-Tammy
What Would Be on Your Table?
Now we’d love to hear from you. If you could sit down at your grandparents’ table one more time, what meal would be waiting for you? Maybe it was something they made every Sunday, a dish you haven’t tasted in years, or simply a meal that reminds you of home.
Tell us in the comments below. ❤️ We’d love to read your memory.
These Memories Made Us Hungry
After reading all these wonderful memories, we couldn’t help but notice how many familiar dishes kept appearing….biscuits and gravy, green beans and potatoes….the simple foods that have been served around Southern tables for generations. Many of them are recipes we’ve been making and sharing for years over at The Southern Lady Cooks, so we thought we’d gather a few here.
Buttermilk Pancakes
3 Day Coconut Cake
Southern Biscuits and Gravy
Green Beans and Potatoes
More Stories Like This in Front Porch Life
This is exactly why we created Front Porch Life. Our digital magazine is filled with the kinds of stories we grew up reading in magazines ….real people, treasured recipes, beautiful homes, nostalgia, traditions, memories, and the everyday things that connect us to where we came from.
There are no ads to scroll past and no endless distractions…..just beautiful photography and stories meant to be enjoyed.
If that sounds like your kind of magazine, we’d love to have you on the porch.
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