But the Food Was Good: A Look Back at 2020
Finding solace in cooking, recipes and stories during a horrible year
Happy New Year!
We’re entering 2021 with a hope and a prayer that it will be better than the terrible year that just passed. Could it possibly be worse? (Okay, let’s not tempt fate!) In his Washington Post Year in Review column, Dave Barry calls 2020 “a year of nonstop awfulness” in which the only good thing he could say was that “nobody got killed by murder hornets. As far as we know.”
While the coronavirus epidemic has deepened the food insecurity crisis for too many Americans, some of us have been lucky enough to eat well-maybe too well-despite initial runs on grocery stores that led to panic buying, hoarding and scarcity. I count myself in that number.
I started this blog in April as an antidote and distraction to the unfolding horror of the pandemic and our troubling politics. I intended to make it a podcast/newsletter, interviewing family and friends about how they were coping with shopping, cooking and eating in a pandemic. My first interview and post were with my mother-in-law Judy Graham about her Kitchen Refrigerator Pantry Soup, a recipe born of her own imagination based on ingredients she happens to have on hand.
At the time, California was in the middle of its first lockdown, and there were suddenly shortages of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, frozen and canned goods, and essential baker’s products like flour and yeast. Everything reappeared like magic-with higher price tags!-weeks later.
Suddenly stuck at home, people were cooking a lot more and, with time on their hands, becoming interested in more complex cooking and baking projects. One of my first stories on making a sourdough starter garnered a lot of interest (I wonder, are you still making sourdough bread?). A Mother’s Day post on a favorite family fruit tart, Muerbeteig, which conjured up memories of my mom, also provoked comment.
A trip to Oregon-our first vacation during this pandemic-was a balm for our spirits and proof that happiness was possible amid sadness and fear. Along the way, we visited my brave cousin Dalia Mathan, a veterinarian in the Sierra foothills town of Paradise, which experienced the worst fire in California history in November 2018. She showed us the meaning of resilience and shared a cherry crisp recipe.
A post about my friend and neighbor Susie who loves to eat but hates to cook resonated with a lot of people. When I worry about having too many sweets around the house, she always says, “My mouth is wide open.” I take her at her word and often show up at her door with my latest baked goody. She always gives me her candid opinion. Luckily, it’s usually favorable!
After the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I discovered that her husband Marty was a gourmet chef whose recipes and bonhomie brought guests of all political persuasions to the Ginsburg table and resulted in a posthumous cookbook, Chef Supreme, Martin Ginsburg, created by the spouses of the Supreme Court Justices, a rare exercise in bipartisanship! Of course I had to write about it.
Perhaps because my “roots” cuisine is Ashkenazi Jewish, posts on challah, blintzes, honey cake, latkes, and rugelach have been of interest. Jeff helped me make a video for a recent zoom class I taught with my friend Vivian Kalev at our synagogue. You can see it below. I’m hoping for Jeff’s assistance on a future post on hamantaschen!
Well that’s about it for looking back on some highlights of Ruthtalksfood in 2020. There are more, including my daughter-in-law Nagisa Kamae’s artistic blend of Japanese and American cooking, my niece Janna Graham’s take on vegan fare, and my visit with grain and flour guru Roe Sie. I’ve really appreciated your positive comments, shares and interest. It keeps me going.
Along with all the cooking you do, please don’t forget to support your favorite local restaurants by ordering takeout whenever you can. The National Restaurant Assn. said earlier this month that 110,000 restaurants have gone out of business in 2020, with more closures expected. If we want beloved eateries to be there once this pandemic is behind us, we need to do our part.
And finally, to play out the old year and welcome in the new, here’s Jeff’s jazzy version of Auld Lang Syne.
Thanks for reading my latest edition of Ruthtalksfood. If you enjoyed it, please click “like” and send me a comment. What food topics, recipes or interviews would you like to see in 2021? I’d love to hear from you!
I hope I’ll be able to write a post in a few months about how this pandemic is behind us and we can once again dine together in person rather than on Zoom! Meanwhile, don’t forget to subscribe to receive future posts!
A happy, healthy, virus-free 2021 to all of you!
Originally published at https://ruthtalksfood.substack.com.
