Junior MasterChef judge Anna Gare, recently alluded to a childhood dish called ‘shit on a plate’, which consisted of fried mince and tinned spaghetti on toast. Hardly surprising her mothers dish didn’t make it into her new cookbook Homemade. It did however trigger a memory….
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| thanks to LexnGer |
For much of my youth, the re-grouping of the family at the end of the day would herald the common refrain….
‘What’s for dinner?’
One by one the question would be asked as each family member walked through the front door and collapsed onto the couch. One by one we’d be told the name of the night’s dish.
In our house the most popular dish was ‘Wait and See’ which was served at least three times a week for well over 20 years.
Throughout these years we’d tried all sorts of tactics to break down the head chefs defenses. However we soon learnt that probing for clarification was pointless. It was far easier cut our losses and walk away hoping the accumulation of well placed grunts or heavy sighs might one day eventually break her resolve. Sadly in our heart of hearts we knew it was futile, even the mostly highly decorated SAS interrogator didn’t stand a chance.
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| thanks to mateus27:24&25 |
Now as an adult I ponder….
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Does every family have a ‘shit on a plate’, or ‘wait and see’ dish?
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Where do mothers learn this skill?
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Do they learn it, or is it an innate ability that rises to the surface around the same time that breast milk stops flowing?
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Have the SAS course administrators ever considered doing away with 10 hour sand dune hikes and water torture stints, and replacing them with three hour Question Avoidance courses run by mothers? I’m sure many a hardened, tree-trunk-esk soldier would buckle under the pressure, forget his captains instructions to remain monosyllabic at all times, and fall to his knees screaming….‘Sergeant Toughnut, 555731, for the love of god I just want to know what’s for dinner.’….or maybe it’s just me?
