The Cross and the Cleaver… Context Matters!!!
There is a ham story that I occasionally tell at church. In fact, I told it not so long ago. Then I was told the story features in a school curriculum as an illustration for the understanding of context. Quick Google© search shows the story is quite common! Who knew?
In case you don’t know the story and you don’t feel like looking for it, here it is …
… A woman cuts off the end of the ham before baking it. Her husband asks why. The wife responds that her mother always did it, and so did her grandmother. Since “that’s the way it’s supposed to be” was not sufficient, the husband calls around to find out more. He finds out that the baking pan was small, and that was the only way to get the ham to fit.
The phrase “that’s the way we’ve always done it” suddenly gains perspective and context. Such dynamics is ever present in our lives, in our relationships, AND in our kitchens. It is our choice to engage with it, or not. It comes down to asking ourselves a question … “why do we do what we do?” or better still “why do we cook the way what we do?”
Let’s take it outside of the kitchen for a moment. What is the context of the sacred texts within our respectable faith traditions? What is the context of our political associations? Are we aware of the social, historical, or cultural elements of what shaped the reality we are a part of? Let’s face it. We no longer function, worship, or eat, like our ancestors did. Be it within religious realm, or otherwise.
I would like us to extend the asking of: ‘why do we cut the ends of the ham” to asking ourselves: “why is it here?”, “why am I asked to believe this or that?” or “why do I believe this or that?” The food on the table is the invitation to be a community. It is, therefore, an invitation to asking questions, to storytelling, to honesty and to vulnerability. Ask yourself how easy it would be, for anyone, to admit their pan is not big enough to accommodate a ham…think about it. Just as there is a context for why the hams’ ends are cut off, there is a context, and story, for the “why?” of our faith, our family dynamics, or our political allegiance. All I ask of you is …. NEVER TIRE OF ASKING “WHY?”
Well, writing of context and thinking of food, my mind often wonders towards those dishes that I consider “waste not-want not” put into action. Yes, think “fridge stew” if you must😉. There is a dish, with no name, which I ate for several years while living in a monastery. We called it a “hand grenade.” The context of the dish is that nothing should be wasted, and the ladies in the kitchen made sure of that!
In case you don’t have leftovers in your fridge, I tweaked a recipe a bit😉.
5 mid-size potatoes, boiled (peeled or not – your choice)
5 mid size potatoes, raw, peeled and grated as fine as you can manage, then squeeze s much water as you can manage
1 cup of whatever veggies, chopped, cubed, frozen, leftovers … you get the drift
1 cup of chopped whatever leftover meat you have, or of cooked sausage, finely cubed
1 large egg (optional)
2 tbsp of flour
Generous sprinkle of leftovers of your spices (just keep curry powder and pumpkin pie seasoning out of it😉)
Mix both potatoes, egg, flour, and spices until you have a thick smooth paste (too thick – add water, too thin – add flour)
Gently fold in your meat and vegetables
Make egg-size balls and drop them in pot of boiling water. Once they float, give them 1-2 min. and then serve with fried onion and bacon, or with sour cream, or with gravy (yeah powdered or canned is just fine) … or with all three …. Yumm!
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