Good dads cook up memories for their kids that last a lifetime
SAN DIEGO -- This Father's Day, as I enjoy brunch with my family, I must remember to be grateful for "hunger dishes."
And, as a dad who -- like many other dads -- struggles to provide for his children while still finding time to step away from work and make memories, I hope someday my kids will be just as grateful.
Hunger dishes is the phrase that internationally renowned chef and humanitarian Jose Andres uses to describe those simple meals that made a lasting impression on his childhood.
I recently listened to Andres describe -- on David Axelrod's podcast, "The Ax Files" -- his experience growing up in the small town of Mieres in northern Spain. Like a magic carpet, it transported me back 40 years to my own no-frills upbringing in Sanger, a dusty yet bountiful farm town in Central California.
Then, I thought about my own children -- who are now 8, 11, and 13 and being raised in an affluent neighborhood 10 minutes from the beach -- and how they might be missing out.
"I still remember the end of the month when there was not a lot of food left around home," Andres recalled. "And many of the leftovers will be used for making the meals like croquetas, those chicken fritters that today I cannot believe I charge two or three dollars each."
Anyone who has ever tasted the chef's cooking -- at any one of the more than 30 restaurants he now owns across the country in cities like Washington, Philadelphia and Las Vegas -- would consider that a bargain.
"Those were the hunger dishes," Andres said. "Those were the meals where, when my father was waiting for the next paycheck, my mother would be able to multiply what was left."
And here's the most delicious part of this story.
"It's funny," Andres said. "I never remember the big steak moments. But I remember all the dishes that my mother made in the last week of the month with almost nothing. And those are the dishes that sometimes attach me to my childhood."
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