Where`s My Meat and Potatoes?

Growing up in the country I`ve grown accustomed to many things. Including conservative, grumpy old men. And what do old men like to complain about? Food that their wives make for them every single day (and have been for fifty odd years or so) half-willingly. (I use the word willingly rather lightly.) Meat and potatoes is every old man`s favourite. When there aren`t meat and potatoes on the table that night, there will probably be some complaining. And when there are meat and potatoes there`s probably something wrong with how you cooked them.

It`s not like my town is entirely populated with grumpy white men either. There are many Sikhs in our community including many of my peers. I`ve grown up having bites to eat from my Indian friends` lunchboxes. In fact, I had the honour of making one of my peer`s her first cup of  ``white person tea``. We have an Indian and a Thai restaurant that are both very good. I love my pasta, enchiladas, french pastries, flat breads and curries. Yet, my uncles and grandpa still can`t figure out why anyone would even want to eat a bowl of curry.

The problem with this anti-ethnic taste is that I have become too accustomed with Grandma`s country cooking. And I`ve gone far too long without my country cooking. I was away at camp for a few weeks earlier this month and everything we ate seemed to be on some sort of bun or wrap. Now, I`m in the city and I`m trying various ethnic foods and my relatives are constantly cooking me Medditeranean and Middle-Eastern eats. All I have eaten since I stepped off the plane is rice, pitas, hummus, curries, shrawma, poutine, french pastries and coffee. And now, despite my love of ethnic food, all I want to do is crawl back to my Grandma`s kitchen and eat roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy and some asparagus or greens or something other than ethnic food.