One of the on-going conversations I often have with reporter Judy Hevrdejs is the joy of cooking, the joy of eating, and the joys of cooking and eating with family.
When Wednesday’s Good Eating schedule had a story written by Judy on the “
” I asked her to write about her interest in the subject.
— James Janega, Trib Nation manager
JUDY:
For several years, stories and surveys have been mourning the loss of family dinner in America and its impact on families.
So the question was: What does family dinner look like today? Pop culture images aside, a whole lot of us do sit down at a table with “family” — whatever that looks like in your home — to eat and share stories.
Sure the food on the table may get an assist from supermarket prepared or frozen foods (though I’m a cheerleader for home cooking), but families (even the time-crunched crowd) value time at the table for the connections they make, much as families have in past generations.
JAMES:
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That was what she emailed me. And then we kept riffing on it in the newsroom, which I’ll recreate here from my notes. I was standing right next to her when I got her email on my Blackberry, and it prompted another thought — it CAN be about the food, I said to her, but it’s not ALWAYS about the food…
JUDY:
The family meal is a place for conversation, a safe place for conversation —
JAMES:
It can be a place where family traditions are made and maintained —
JUDY:
Traditions that succeed, or maybe not! (And that’s okay too!)