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 Green
Martha's Food History
At this point it seems easiest to explain some of why and how Green Martha
learned to cook over the years. My grandmother was one of those old timey
Yankee cooks who seldom measured anything precisely. Her little kitchen
was always warm, inviting, and a constant clutter. It smelled good, and
I could sense the magic of years of pies, roasts, soups, veggies, cookies
and fried eggs every time I burst into her house from where we lived next
door. My great grandfather, grandfather and father were wholesale fruit
and produce dealers, so there were always plenty of veggies and fruit, though
often not strictly fresh, because we got the leftovers. Because of this,
both my mother and grandmother cooked without using canned or frozen food
- a rarity in the 1960's, and that's where the similarities between the
two women ended. My mother, rest her soul, had the Irish American habit
of boiling most everything half to death. She found cooking to be a drudgery,
so as the oldest child I took over a fair amount of it. My grandmother,
on the other hand, prepared meals so automatically she was hardly conscious
of what she was doing, so she wasn't much help as a teacher. But I was always
welcome to work alongside her, and now realize I've incorporated many of
her techniques into my own cooking. To be truthful, she did patiently explain
how she made her marvelous fried dough, and the steps to her delicious gravy,
but I was pretty hopeless at executing these things myself. I was painfully
aware that when she died these treats would be gone too. One of her last
Thanksgiving in the kitchen, I walked into the dining room with a pitcher
of gravy and shocked myself by saying out of her earshot to my brothers,
"you realize when she goes, there'll be no more of this". And so it was.
I've tried over the years, but I'm not a natural cook.
Because I waitressed for 12 years, I got to taste all sorts of delicious
foods and watch how dishes were prepared. It was during this period I also
realized I was never going to be a fancy cook either - I was much better
at setting an elegant table. I usually ate at work, or out with friends,
and honestly didn't care very much about food one way or the other just
as long as my hearty appetite was satisfied.
During these years, and 18 more besides, I also worked as a Florist. Constant
contact with the pesticides and fungicides on commercial flowers brought
on chemical sensitivities, that once diagnosed, forced me into a pretty
restrictive diet. To feel at all energized, I could no longer munch on just
anything when I was hungry. I had to avoid all processed foods, sugar and
sweets, fermented foods and drinks, most fruits, some grains, a lot of meats,
and all dairy except for yogurt. Yogurt! Yuck, I wasn't going to eat stuff
like that! To top it all off, eating out wasn't an option anymore unless
I cheated. Now what! At one point I was standing in a grocery store aisle,
reading yet another ingredients list on a package label when I burst into
tears. Was there nothing I could eat? I felt doomed, it all seemed so hopeless;
I was sure I was never going to enjoy eating again.
But as I slowly adopted this "horrible" dietary regime, I began to see that
I felt much better when I stuck to it. It was a huge transition, and took
some time, but the lifestyle change became manageable, and after awhile
it was hardly inconvenient. These days my food routine is much more flexible,
and upon occasion I can eat most anything in moderation if I steer clear
of exposure to chemicals. The difference is, I really like the foods I've
chosen, and I stick with them because they are tasty and I feel much better
when they are the core of my eating habits.
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