Food & Drink—Eating Out with Family

I have many memories of eating out with my family.

In the early 1960s, when we were very young, my parents ate often at an Italian restaurant in Antioch. It was the type of Italian restaurant served the meal in different courses. My parents ate the shrimp cocktail; we ate the antipasti. They had the soup; we ate the spaghetti. They ate steak; we ate spumoni. They might have paid a little extra to make sure we got our dishes, but probably not very much. One thing I remember most are the other diners who would stop by our table and compliment our parents on how well we behaved. Oh, we behaved well in restaurants. If we didn’t, Mom would squeeze our arm above the elbow and whisper quietly in our ear to stop whatever we were doing, and we would hear more about it when we got home. There were no devices in those days to keep us busy and quiet. We sat there quietly and spoke among ourselves.

Later, when the family was complete with six children, we didn’t eat out much. Sometimes for treats, we would have a delivery service like Chicken Delight, or we would pick up pizza from Pinky’s or a chicken bucket from Kentucky Fried Chicken. Our parents went out to their favorite restaurant, Cape Cod House often without us, so our treat was to select which Swanson’s TV dinners we wanted. I always selected the turkey dinner because it had the best dessert.

As adults, my sisters and I started having Sisters Night especially for birthdays. We would treat the birthday sister to dinner at a restaurant of their choice. We included our sisters-in-law and our nieces when they reached adulthood. The restaurants got expensive, and we didn’t get to visit as easily and as long, so we started having sister-birthdays at our homes. Hors d'oeuvres usually consisted of cut vegetables, smoked baby oysters, spinach dip, and other items depending on the theme, and cosmos was the choice of drink for most of us, though I prefer sparking water or wine. We really enjoyed spending 2-4 hours visiting with each other one-on-one, having good food, and eating birthday cake. Of course, there were presents, too!

With our own daughters, we usually took them out to dinner with us. We knew no babysitters locally and besides they were at the sitters after school while we worked. We also included them in conversation at the table. There were no electronic devices to keep them occupied. Sometimes we played mental games, like I spy, or I’m thinking of something that begins with a certain letter. Our girls still enjoy having dinner out with us.

Today, we eat out seldom except for special occasions, when visiting our daughters, and of course, when traveling. We enjoy eating at places that have organic food and good farming practices. We like all kinds of cuisine, but especially Italian and Mediterranean food—any place where we can get a good serving of fresh greens.

What are your memories of eating out with family?

#52Ancestors-Week 19: Food & Drink—Eating Out with Family

This is my fifth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe. I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

Copyright © 2022 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.