Raving Summer Cookout Cookbook
Raving and Friends Summer Recipes and Their Stories for Impressing Friends, Family and Neighbors
Introduction
We all know that the tradition of cooking and specific recipes brings us back to people and experiences associated with those foods.
Summer holidays, when I grew up in the 70’s, are intertwined with the smell of charcoal and lake water or chlorine and fresh cut grass. Old people might get silent for a while thinking about their time in the service (that’s what we’d call just about anyone over 45); there would be neighborhood dads and moms dressed up in some pressed cotton outfits. It was about putting flags on graves and putting up our flags up at our homes. It was about running around with the neighbor kids, playing ball until it was really too dark to see the ball, and catsup stained t-shirts.
We often joke around my family that we grew up enjoying a lot of white trash delicacies (seriously, no disparaging here). I’m not sure if it was because both my mom and my in-laws were from the Mid-West or when I grew up, when mom’s celebrated the convenience of TV dinners and not having to make things from scratch; but healthy food was never part of the summer menu. Bologna sandwiches with American cheese packed for the beach with original Doritos in the orange and yellow bag or my brother’s favorite, Bugles. I don’t think turkey dogs existed back then and iceberg lettuce was the only type of green salad we ever knew (spinach, radicchio, baby greens, pea shoots … huh?)
Whether this year your summer holidays looks a bit different or you just want to take a stroll through recipes of generations past and even some new ones, we’ve compiled some food that might inspire you to try something new (or just laugh at what we love to eat). These were contributed by my fellow Ravers and dear friends.
Do you have a favorite yourself? Be included in our next edition by emailing me at [email protected].
Best Regards,
Christine Faria
www.betravingknows.com