Did you peel the carrots?
I just spend some time trying to determine what qualifies as a traditional meal in this area. After all I live on an island where a lot of potatoes are grown and people catch fish but that is not the response. Before my adult life I was often offered bowls of stew. Essentially a meal made with root vegetables and if you’re fortunate some chunks of beef. And there was a strong divide between the recipe used by my grandmothers on my mother’s side and on my father’s side. Two different households. If I placed a bowl of stew from either kitchen you could tell it apart immediately. My mother peeled her carrots my father did not. If you boil an unpeeled carrot long enough the skin will be removed and it will appear in the mix of food in the bowl. A very different texture. My grandparents came from similar backgrounds but different villages and now I’m wondering was this the only reminder of the life from where they came. You can see why this would leave me curious. Place the two areas on a map and you could cover the areas with a teacup which incidentally was a very common beverage in both houses. It was not another question of religion or language or family size. Could it be that I’m looking for something that has nothing to do with background and everything to do with how much time my father was willing to spend in the preparation of carrots. Seriously that is the only factor that makes any sense. My dad did not like to scrape vegetables so he did not. And if you were to ask what do I do? the answer is simple; of course I peel my carrots. Maybe I am on my way to removing a terrible food product from what my grandchildren and great grandchildren will eventually consume. I have checked with commercial products; canned stew; restaurant stew and other place’s stew I never found unpeeled carrots. There, you have it: a complete history of a food from my home. Everything else prepared by my parents used identical recipes. The only differentiation comes from the carrots.
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