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April Meservy
If Mormons had a mascot, it might have been Mr. Potato Head — at least a few generations ago.
Many a Mormon kid was raised on creatively concocted potatoes garnishing every meal: sliced potatoes fried in bacon fat for breakfast, chilled potato salad with sandwiches for lunch and creamy mashed potatoes drenched in gravy with pot roast for dinner.
Leftover potatoes were always put to good use as shepherd's pie or those "twice-baked" potatoes sprinkled with cheese to mask the recycling.
From birth to death, the potato has been a celebratory staple: A Mormon baby's first solid food was most often mashed potatoes, and cheesy potato casserole provided comfort for mourners at a church dinner after a funeral.
I, myself, was raised by an Idaho farm boy. My dad grew up on a dairy/dry farm near Grace, Idaho, and you can bet our cold storage room always housed a case of enormous Idaho russets.
I even married a boy with impressive potato heritage. Both his parents were born and raised south of Idaho Falls, and his mother was a teen champion potato picker crowned during harvest-time festivities.
So now, as I feed my carb-conscious family, I feel a slight sense of guilt that my kids don't love potatoes. Am I forsaking their religious heritage by serving curly pasta instead of au gratin? Is our camping menu valid if it doesn't include Dutch oven potatoes cooked to tender perfection with garlic, onions and crumbled bacon?
Currently, my kids see a baked potato bar as an insult to the definition of quick dinners. They cringe at slow cookers full of potatoes, carrots and meat. They dip their bread in my potato soup or clam chowder, leaving a pile of cubed potatoes at the bottom of their bowls.
My only consolation is that my family absolutely loves eating reconstituted potato pearls created by food storage specialists. It truly was a tragic day when our local cannery in Missoula stopped offering the pearls.
So just as the church is growing beyond the boundaries of the American West where potatoes burst from rich, cold soil, I'm anxious to recognize any food-theme trends that transcend cultures.
Since it is hard to imagine green Jell-O served in Singapore or frog-eyed salad popular in Poland, maybe my kids will join new generations of good Mormons after all — even without an affinity for potatoes.
Stacie Duce, a magazine editor and columnist who lives in Hamilton, Mont. Her column, "Cub Scout Chronicles," appears Thursdays on MormonTimes.com.
e-mail: sduce@desnews.com
Stacie Duce serves as a Cub Scout den leader in her ward in Hamilton, Mont., and is a magazine editor and columnist. Stacie's column, "Cub Scout Chronicles," appears Thursdays on MormonTimes.com.
E-mail: sduce@desnews.com
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