Homeschoolers Have You Tried This?

One of the things I particularly appreciate in a novel is when the author brings it to life by describing what the characters are eating. Agatha Christie does it, Madeleine L'Engle does it, C.S. Lewis does it, even Mary Higgins Clark does it. Among the authors you probably read to your children the one of the ones who does this most extensively is probably Laura Ingalls Wilder. Of course this is why there is a Little House on the Prairie cookbook.

Anyway one of my most enjoyable activities when the kids were younger was to cook up somthing that the characters in the story had been eating. So we had prairie type cornbread (quite different from the New England variety) salt pork with milk gravy, pound cake, and even sourdough. We didn't stop with the Little House books though. We had sardines and toast with Mr. Tumnus, and bacon and mushrooms with the hobbits.

Among other things it's a great way to introduce your children to new foods. It's also fun to learn cooking techniques. One example of this would be making popovers along with the Little Women, or trying to improve on the horrible cooking that the Little Women do without Marmee or Hannah there to help. The same would be true of Anne of Green Gables.

Of course where your food adventures take you will depend on your taste in books. Having never read Penderwicks, I don't know what those girls eat. The Swallows and Amazons have to do a lot of camping type food.

I'll admit that fiction has inticed me to try retsina(I hated it), make poached eggs without the little metal poacher, learn to make plum pudding with hard sauce, make Irish soda bread, use real parmesean cheese instead of the stuff in a can, make Poor Man's Stroganoff (among other things). I remember even when I was in high school eating bread and cheese along with Jane Eyre.

Of course fiction may also intice you to make nine patch quilts, or cloth dolls, or knit socks, or take up piano playing. I guess maybe one of the best things it does is to give your kids actual things to do rather than have them just watching tv or playing video games. I just think it's a great inspiration to get into the kitchen with your kids and start cooking.