The power of food

15th June 2009

We all know (or should know) that food is much more than a dietetic mishmash of carbohydrates, fat grams, calories and protein. Food defines celebrations, it unites and strengthens family and community bonds, it helps create and reinforce a common identity amongst groups of peoples. An article in Time this week illustrates just how powerful our associations with food can be.

Time’s Postcard feature this week is on Yukio Shige, a retired Japanese police detective and trained counselor who has made it his life’s mission to save as many people he can from plunging to their deaths off Japan’s rocky Tojinbo Cliffs, a popular spot for suicides. Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world at 23.8 per 100,000 (30,000 per year), more than twice the U.S. rate of 11 in 100,000. One in five Japanese men and women have seriously considered taking their own life, according to a recent government survey. With the global economy in a tailspin, that number is rising. From January through April, 11,236 Japanese people killed themselves, up 4.5 percent from the same period last year.

Shige patrols the sheer basalt cliffs two to three times a day looking for potential jumpers with hopes of talking them down. He has set up a nonprofit foundation to aid his work and says he has helped prevent 188 potential suicides. The Japanese government recently committed to supporting his work and similar efforts with about 10 billion yen ($100 million) over the next three years. If he finds someone, he says “hello” and talks to them. Often times, the people he talks to will “burst into tears,” he says. Shige then takes them to his small office to talk. For men, the biggest problems Shige sees are debt and unemployment; for women, health and depression issues. Tea always accompanies the counseling sessions, as well as oroshi-mochi, a dish of pounded sticky rice served with grated radish or daikon. Traditionally the food is prepared to celebrate the New Year, with each family taking its own rice to be mixed with that of its neighbors. “When people come here and eat mochi, they remember their childhood — father, mother, siblings, hometown,” said Shige. “They remember they’re not alone.” Chow.com gives a more detailed rundown of mochi and lists several recipes for it here. For more on Shige’s work, see here.

For some, it’s moshi; for me, it’s a great big steaming bowl of my great-aunt Doris’ chicken ‘n dumplings. Doris lives in eastern Kentucky, about three hours away, so we didn’t see her but maybe once a year. Before each visit my brother and I would start the phone pleas, begging her to brew up a pot. I now make a vegetarian version of chicken ‘n dumplings, but it pales in comparison to my aunt’s recipe. Another childhood favorite would be “Mattie burgers,” made by my grandmother Mattie who served as a volunteer cook at the church camp my siblings and I all attended as kids. Mattie burgers taste kind of like Big Boy burgers, but are first wrapped in foil and then baked so that they’re softer and flatter. We’d be sent home from camp with a dozen leftovers and they’d be gone in a week. My grandmother, who is the only living grandparent I have left, has never been an especially warm grandmotherly type. She’s racist, hardhearted and has always made cruel comments about family members, especially about their weights (and most of that side of our family is fat). In fact, the only time I’ve ever heard her say an approving word about me is during my eating disorder when I lost a significant amount of weight. Yet when I think of Mattie burgers, I think of those languid summer nights beneath an Indiana sky and am reminded of how some people show their love in unconventional ways. What are some of your own favorite childhood recipes, the kind that fill you not only with warm yumminess, but also memories of friends, family and happy times?

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 10:50 am and is filed under Food Culture, Mental Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

1 On June 15th, 2009, spoonfork38 said:

My mother’s mother made this baked chicken dish that she served for company. It was called ‘Tommy’s chicken’ after a cousin who was, legend has it, an extremely picky child—but he would eat this and ask for seconds. That was enough for grandma!

As far as I know, she just cut apart a whole chicken and reassembled it, tetris-like, in a square or rectangular pan, put a lot of Lawry’s seasoned salt on it, and, well, baked it with the skin on (shocking, I know). I’ll have to ask my mother if there was anything else to it.

But what I remember is grandpa holding the chicken legs hostage for a kiss from his grandkids, grandma letting me sprinkle the Lawry’s, and Mom teaching me to use my knife and fork on a bone-in chicken breast (during early lessons, there were chicken bits everywhere as I tended to use my knife as a lever rather than a cutting instrument).

I can still remember how wonderful it smelled. . .I’m going to ask Mom for the recipe. Hope there was one!

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 12:38 pm

2 On June 15th, 2009, Twistie said:

Cookies.

Every year for Christmas, my father would start baking cookies and fruit cakes in about September. He made dozens of kinds: shortbread, speculaus, spritz, two kinds of gingerbread, springerle…almost every kind of cookie you could imagine. Nearly the only one he never made was chocolate chip. But the smell of nearly any kind of cookie takes me right back to childhood and a place of warm fuzzies.

Also, when I was a child, my mother would bake bread for the family every week. It was just a simple, homemade white bread, but it was so good that my brothers and I sneered at Wonder from the very first. We got something more flavorful with a better texture that made the whole house smell divine. The smell of baking bread feels like being in my mother’s arms again.

Good coffee brewing reminds me inevitably of my great aunt. She knew and appreciated a good cup of joe more than anyone I’ve ever known. It’s nice to wake up every morning and think of one of the funniest, warmest people I’ve ever known.

I understand about moshi, too. My mother-in-law was Japanese, so on New Year’s Mr. Twistie and I would visit and bring rice. I haven’t had moshi since she died, but when I read about Yukio Shige’s use of it to help potential suicides, I could taste it again, and I thought of my mother-in-law.

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 1:02 pm

3 On June 15th, 2009, Shell524 said:

Oh, man… So many foods! My grandmother cooked a LOT when I was younger and she was still able to do so. Her homemade biscuits, fudge, tea cakes, Swiss steak, smothered pork chops, Tatom family tacos, etc. etc. are all things that I wish I could make nearly as well. (Well, I have mastered the taco recipe, but the others…) The thing, though, that really takes me back to summers at their place is thinking about a good outdoor catfish fry. One of her friends would bring over pounds and pounds of freshly caught catfish, which we would then scale and fry and serve with homemade hushpuppies, my family’s recipe of potato salad, and homegrown super-sweet seedless orange-fleshed watermelons. What I wouldn’t give to have one of those meals again…

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 1:50 pm

4 On June 15th, 2009, Flower Power said:

The opening story made me tear up. I’m thankful that people like Yugio Shige exist who show compassion to those who feel hopeless. Too verklempt to say anything about food!

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 2:29 pm

5 On June 15th, 2009, JennyRose said:

I too am tearing up at the generosity of spirit of Mr. Shinge. He helps these people by letting them know somebody cares. His efforts have been great but the sticky rice is a subtle but powerful way of reminding people that they are more than just their problems. Food can be powerful indeed.

What an uplifting story.

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 2:37 pm

6 On June 15th, 2009, Karen said:

Mom’s homemade goetta tastes like celebrations, since it was only made for Christmas, Easter, birthdays, and similar such events. Our family’s trademark cream cheese cookies taste like Christmas, although it’s a poignant taste ever since the sister who loved them best passed away. Watermelon tastes like childhood summers, the adults gathered to chat after a cookout while us kids have seed-spitting contests and then run off to play Ghost in the Graveyard among the fireflies. Buffalo-style chicken wings taste like Buffalo Bills football games, and cheering in that desperate but madly devoted way that Bills fans know so well.

Being very sensitive to caffeine, I wasn’t much of a coffee drinker until I married a few months ago. My husband likes making decaf on the weekends, though, so now coffee tastes like leisurely mornings with the man I love.

Ahhh, good times….

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 2:58 pm

7 On June 15th, 2009, Rachel said:

@Karen: If you grew up in Cincy like I did, you could have had goetta whenever you wanted! My aunt moved to Chicago many years ago and whenever she’d return to Cincy for visits, she’d stock up on goetta to take home. There are even two annual goetta festivals here, both of which feature some creative recipes using goetta. Goetta meatloaf, anyone? How about some goetta pie? Check out some of them here.

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 3:18 pm

8 On June 15th, 2009, Charlotte said:

I love my mom’s fried chicken; it’s one of the things I ask for every time I go home. She usually sides it with homemade fries and a tomato and feta cheese salad. I also love the way she prepares collard greens.

I’m so glad you mentioned Mr. Shige’s story. I’ve heard about what he does, and I think it’s incredible.

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 3:59 pm

9 On June 15th, 2009, Kelly said:

Freshly made salsa. Made by anyone, really, because you only eat fresh salsa when the tomatoes are ripe so it’s always summer. You only eat fresh salsa when you’re sitting around a table with nothing more to on the agenda besides eating, talking, drinking. Good friends, good food, good times.

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 4:23 pm

10 On June 15th, 2009, Rachel_in_WY said:

My mom cooked and baked all the time, and almost everything had to be from scratch because she disapproved of the ingredients in mixes. So I have too many food memories to list. One standout is her homemade mac n cheese with about four different kinds of cheese melted in the sauce. And now my kids respond with suspicion when they encounter the bright orange Kraft mac n cheese too. Beyond that, she baked the best gingersnaps you’ve ever had, complete with almond oil and wheat germ hidden inside, incredible biscuits, waffles, and nut breads. I’m always homesick for her pumpkin bread during the holidays. And my grandma always made Russian Tea (totally not Russian, as far as I can tell) to go with my aunt’s homemade butterhorns at Christmas and Thanksgiving.

I can totally see why food would be a great method of connecting with people in an immediate and visceral way in a suicide situation. Makes a lot of sense.

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 4:30 pm

11 On June 15th, 2009, Keira said:

I have three stand-outs.

1. My Vanaemas (grandma in Estonian) “estonian” christmas cookies. As long as I can remember we always got a tub (usually an icecream tub) of cookies. Even when we moved interstate she’d mail them or bring them up on her visits. I don’t know the recipe only that the dough keeps well for several years… I know I can taste cloves and ginger and maybe cinnamon?

2. My mum’s potato salad. It always reminds me of christmas and family get togethers (that didn’t end in a police presence). I have fond memories of sneaking out at 4am Christmas day to get the first taste. It doesn’t have that “tang” to it that the store bought ones have (well at least here in Aus). It’s the one salad all 4 of us would eat.
and..
3. My mum’s “mince and noodles”. Really, its a lasagna made with spiral pasta rather than sheets but there is a secret recipe to the mince sauce. All I know is there is coffee and vegemite in there. It was the one thing my sister would actually eat, well covered in tomato sauce. It reminds me of family dinners together

I love the ‘mystery’ and uniqueness to all these. As my siblings and I got older we still long for our family favourites

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 6:42 pm

12 On June 15th, 2009, i-geek said:

Tamales. My father is first-gen Mexican-American, and when I was a child, he and his siblings (and spouses, kids old enough to help) would get together the weekend before Christmas and churn out dozens and dozens from scratch. Then each sibling would take a kettleful home to steam, and we’d eat them for Christmas breakfast and beyond until they were gone, always with a salsa containing white onion and pickles, among other things. We no longer make them and instead buy them from a tamaleria downtown (made from scratch by little old Mexican women). Still good but not quite the same. However, the smell of those tamales plus the special salsa on my cousin’s Christmas Eve buffet last year was enough to nearly bring me to tears, the nostalgia was so powerful.

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 7:20 pm

13 On June 15th, 2009, Actors Diet said:

Weird, but grilled cheese sandwiches (American on Wonder Bread) and Spaghettios bring me back. That’s what my babysitter made me. I haven’t actually had it since then – more adult versions – but the thought of it brings me right back to that time and makes my tummy rumble.

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 9:37 pm

14 On June 15th, 2009, lowbudgetcyborg said:

One of my strongest childhood food memories is the box of citrus fruits my great-grandparents, and later my grandparents, would send us during the holiday season. I loved opening the boxes and taking out the trays of oranges and grapefruits. The tangy smell was so refreshing in the middle of winter and there was always a tiny moment where it seemed like the box was bottomless.

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 10:09 pm

15 On June 15th, 2009, FatNSassy said:

My Polish American grandmother made the best Paczki I ever had. She had her own unique way of doing it. In fact, she has all kinds of unique recipes that I will never taste again as she never allowed me in the kitchen to help. Kids were too messy for her. Sad!

Unfortunately, mochi reminds me of a time I bought some for my Japanese American ex husband and he refused to eat them. But perhaps my next kitty can be named Mochi. I like naming pets after ethnic food, had a late dog named Pazcki, next dog will be kizka (sp!) But Mochi is cute for someone.

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 10:12 pm

16 On June 15th, 2009, Lucy said:

My mother makes the most perfect chicken soup in the entire world. It’s a staple at every single holiday, at most Friday night dinners, and there’s always enough of it to last for days. Apparently it was my grandmother’s recipe, which I’m sure her mother taught her and so on. (My grandmother gave up cooking long before I was born, but my mom says she was an AMAZING cook.) There are quite a few different dishes I am insisting my mother show me how to make, but the chicken soup is critical. That’s like family history I need to preserve!

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 10:50 pm

17 On June 15th, 2009, Melissa said:

My husbands family is of Norwegian descent and so during special occasions and holidays they make the best baking! There is Scrull which is kind of like waffle cone, made one by one and rolled; lefse, which is a soft thin bread that you butter and sugar and cinnamon; rosettes which are a crispy deep fried delicate cookie sprinkled with sugar, and of course sugar cookies, simply labelled ‘Aunt Mary’s Cookies’ even though no one knows who Aunt Mary is. Now that I am a part of their family the holidays always make me think of spending time making these delicious treats. Everyone helps, from D’s dad to his brothers to his youngest cousins. It is a real connection between everyone to make and eat these treats, and to know that they are the same treats consumed for generations, some so old that the recipes just call for the mix to ‘smell right’ in order to know if enough spices have been added.

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 11:13 pm

18 On June 16th, 2009, E. said:

Just when I am feeling so negative about food, this post comes up, and makes me cry a little bit, and makes me think about all the ways food has the power to convey love–in the best way. Canned Campbell’s chunky soup (beef stew flavor) and Lender’s bagels with cream cheese remind me of my Dad. My parents split up (messily) when my siblings and I were young, and the task of raising us kids fell pretty much solely to my Dad. That man was not much of a cook, but he took SUCH good care of us. We had soup and bagels most nights for dinner over the several months that he was getting his shit together and learning to raise three kids by himself. I got so sick of both of those things that I couldn’t eat either of them for a while, but now the smell or taste of either takes me right back to my Dad’s kitchen, and I can exactly see and feel his kitchen table, and my brother and my sister and I sitting there while my Dad stirred soup on the stove, all of us a little scared and a little shell-shocked but also so glad to be together. Those foods make me feel safe—as safe as I was in that kitchen.

Thanks for this. I loved the original post, and I love hearing other people’s food memories.

posted on June 16th, 2009 at 12:34 am

19 On June 16th, 2009, Marianne from Cali said:

MeMa’s homemade biscuits. I have pictures of me and my brother covered in flour as we helped her make them. She died when I was 13. I still miss her sometimes.

posted on June 16th, 2009 at 1:56 am

20 On June 16th, 2009, Jackie said:

You know, what’s interesting about this is that suicide has never been criminalized in Japan. So, it’s not like the USA where it’s seen as such a horrible thing, I mean it’s seen as horrible in Japan, but it’s not like here where if a guy was going to jump off a roof the police would rush to talk them down.

There is a film called Suicide Circle, that is a very insightful look into the suicide issue in Japan. I wouldn’t recommend it to people who are easily disturbed or upset, since the film does show some rather graphic images of suicide. It’s most famously known for a scene in which school girls hold hands, and then jump in front of a subway train, leaving a lot of blood and gore. If you aren’t disturbed so much by those things, I think it really is interesting in regards to the perspective Japan has regarding suicide.

The film also has a pro-life message towards the end, so it’s not endorsing suicide, rather it’s a statement against it. How pointless committing suicide is, and how much it hurts those who care about you.

posted on June 16th, 2009 at 6:36 am

21 On June 16th, 2009, Marianne said:

I just want to add how much I am enjoying reading the comments on this post…such fabulous stories from everyone!

My dad made the best potato soup in the world, but he would only make it on days that were what he called “soup weather”, meaning sort of chilly and cloudy or raining. Since my whole family lives in the dry Arizona desert, these were rare days indeed.

posted on June 16th, 2009 at 8:50 am

22 On June 16th, 2009, Jackie said:

I just re-watched Suicide Club (some versions it’s Suicide Circle), and it was more disturbing than I remembered it being.

There’s a scene where a guy steps on animals, that’s fake, but they use realistic sound effects to make it sound like he’s harming the animals. The guy is depicted as a sociopath.

Also, within the same scene, it’s hinted that a guy is going to rape a girl, and then he stabs her to death with a knife.

I have the Danger After Dark Unrated version though. I found nothing on IMDB in regards to what is or isn’t included on the rated version.

So, sorry if I upset anyone, but I just wanted to mention this as I recommended the film, and wouldn’t want to find out later there was something that really upset someone I forgot to mention.

BTW, as far as the crushing animals thing goes, it’s a fake blood bag in a pillowcase being stomped on. So, it’s pretty obvious it’s fake.

I accidentally posted this at the wrong blog! I hope the owner forgives me. “-_- <– embarassed

posted on June 16th, 2009 at 9:26 am

23 On June 16th, 2009, Jackie said:

by wrong blog by the way, I meant another blog, I meant to post it here. In case there was any confusion.

24 On June 16th, 2009, Marste said:

Oh, man. My late grandma’s potato salad: boiled potatoes, hard-boiled chopped eggs, mayo, green onions, salt and pepper. We always, always, ALWAYS had it on all the summer holidays, beginning with Easter and ending with Labor Day. Now when I eat it, I’ve been known to cry for missing her.

And boxed Kraft dinner. When I’ve had a really bad day, I’ll still curl up on the couch with a bowl of Kraft mac’n'cheese. It’s like being 5 years old in a bowl.

posted on June 16th, 2009 at 7:04 pm

25 On June 17th, 2009, Rebecca said: