Friday, January 2, 2009
Grocery store, yesterday. Fresh meat case. Pork section. Hams and chops in the bottom case, sausage and bacon on a top shelf. On the shelf between, in the prime display spot, taking up three feet of shelf, eighty four pounds of lard!
Duh?
A few inches over were about 30 jars of horseradish, spread out, lying down, not standing. Obviously a "Here I am!" display.
I stared at it all in disbelief. Very unusual. This little village store never has lard. Is the whole world planning to make Welsh cookies? What's with the horseradish? Horseradish is usually in the meat section, but standing on the top of the case, not laid out. Is it all for some holiday, like just before Thanksgiving when turkeys get the prime spot? Maybe a Jewish or Muslim thing? Isn't lard pork? It's in the pork section, and between the lard and the horseradish, obviously part of the display, were packages of salt pork. Cringe. Ok, not Muslim or Jewish. Kwanzaa? Like 100 pounds of lard, salt pork, and horseradish carefully displayed for the perusal of the maybe five people of African-descent in the village environs? A bit late for Kwanzaa, anyway. Maybe New Year's dinner?
I don't understand.
I asked the checkout kid, and he didn't know, either.
Now I have to visit the meat section in a few days, and see how much of it was sold.
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I was there to pick up kielbasa and sauerkraut. Kielbasa and sauerkraut for New Year's Day dinner is a Polish tradition for luck. My mother and Gramma were 100% Welsh, so I don't know where or how they picked that up, but if I didn't have at least sauerkraut to start the year and something bad happened, their ghosts wouldn't let me off lightly.
(In a pinch, pepperoni or other hot sausage, cabbage, and potatoes boiled together with a bit of caraway is an acceptable and more Welsh-like substitute.)
For The Man, it's Hoppin' John, which involves black-eyed peas, ham hock, rice, and chopped vegetables.
So, is there a New Year's tradition that involves lard, salt pork, and horseradish?
Inviting comments - does your family have a traditional New Year's dinner? What is it? Note - champagne does not qualify as a meal.
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1 comment:
My grandmother used to make everyone have some black-eyed peas. I think it's really supposed to be collard greens (bills) and black-eyed peas (coins), but none of us liked collards. Maybe that's why we weren't rich!
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