Family Food History

Richard Foster with the results of his foraging!

Eating locally, learning to can with the Bassetts, and broadening my food horizons has me thinking about my own “food education” - and I have my Mom to thank for that. Food and eating are central to our family life. My Mom, Margaret, has a degree from the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, and she is synonymous with cooking and creativity. When she and my Dad were first married in the 1970s, they established a little antique store in Cochituate, Massachusetts, where I grew up. This store specialized in antique kitchen equipment, and they spent many weekends exploring New England and upstate New York for things to sell in their own shop.

The Kitchen Cabinet - Mom's shop on Main Street in Cochituate, Mass.

She has always had fabulous taste!

Later, after we had lived in France and she was inspired by the culinary delights of the Dordogne Valley, Mom went to cooking school and established her own catering business out of our home. She has some painfully funny stories from those days, but I mostly remember the incredible desserts she brought home and that cool outfit she got to wear! We had a beautiful garden behind the house at 12 Shawmut Ave, where we could pick asparagus, beans, tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, lettuce, tons of raspberries, corn, sour cherries, and other home-grown veggies. Mom kept us in vegetables during the summer, and sometimes surprised us with frozen raspberries in the deep of New England winter. My Dad, Richard, was the forager and often came home with mushrooms he gathered himself. He would sit at the dining room table with the mushroom guides, and I would wait for someone to keel over dead at the dinner table. Homemade bread was - and still is - a staple in our house, and both Mom and Dad have perfected their own baking styles. The smell of baking bread always makes me feel at home.

Mom at cooking school at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts.

Now that she lives on Cape Cod and has a smaller garden, Mom spends more time exploring the locally available vegetable and fruit options. The Cape is home to tomato farms and strawberry fields, and the corn stands are always packed at the end of the summer. She has also joined the local Coonamessett Farm, where she can pick her own hydroponic lettuce (grown in water!), gather eggs from the chicken coop, and pick the fruits and vegetables in season. It has been so fun to get to know her local growers - though the winters are bleak. Of course the freshest fish catch is always available at the Falmouth Fish Market or from the Clam Man, and it’s guaranteed to be local year-round.

As an adult, I can see how this incredible focus on food and home has helped make me who I am. Andrew and I have that in common, and our lives continue to revolve around the kitchen.

To see the Coonamessett Farm, see my upcoming post or visit: http://www.coonamessettfarm.com/