It's important to remember that Cristina and I met when we were barely out of high school. We were both 19, in fact. I turned 20 a week after we met. Still kids.
Directly out of high school, I lived in a dorm, Trusler Hall, with Burton Meahl. We had food cards which our parents put money on. They could be used at any of the eating places on campus (this was before there was a proliferation of fast food places on campus...the Reitz Union actually had a cafeteria!) Burt and I almost always ate breakfast in our dorm room (cold cereal, coffee, juice, that sort of thing) and we'd eat lunch and dinner out: burgers or tuna melts from the little restaurant in neighboring Graham Hall, or sandwiches from the Orange and Brew, a cool little bistro at the Reitz Union that used to sell beer (thus the name) before the campus went dry. At the Orange and Brew, you gave your name when you ordered, and when the food was ready, they'd call your name out. We ate there so often that to make things fun, we'd give fake names just to get a laugh out of hearing them called out. "Order for Elmo!"
My parents moved to Gainesville not long after I started college, so I would eat dinner with them sometimes too.
During my second semester, I was feeling the need for some spending money (not to mention I'd blown through my food card too fast) so I got a job at the AMC Theatres in the Oaks Mall. Now popcorn and soda became a significant part of my diet. I spent the summer of 1991 working at the theater (funny to think that I may have sold Cristina some popcorn or torn her ticket during the summer before she moved to Atlanta).
I lived with my parents during summer of 1991. Worked a lot and spent most of my time with new AMC friends. At the theater, the managers would sometimes trade out with nearby restaurants: swap movie passes for food. So during my years at AMC, I ate many meals from Bono's BBQ, The Mill, and an Italian place in the mall that is no longer there.
Fall of 91, Dominick Cecere and I shared an off-campus apartment at Park Place. We fancied ourselves a bit more civilized, more mature, so we cooked more at home. There was still plenty of pizza and eating out, but this was the year I remember grocery shopping for actual meals, albeit highly-processed ones like Banquet frozen entrees and Hamburger Helper. Iceberg lettuce with green olives was a side salad staple. And lots of ramen noodles. Occasionally we'd buy a big bag of frozen chicken wings and fry up our own hot wings.
Summer of 92 was when I met Cristina. One of the first meals I cooked for her was Polish sausage (not that you really cook Polish sausage...you just heat it up). She was just starting her vegetarian period, so it was an odd choice for a meal. As we got closer and closer to marrying, we would cook meals together. I remember lots of packets of flavored rice or pasta, cans of black beans, and boxed frozen veggies, like peas-carrots or broccoli-cauliflower. If we ate out, it was usually Gumby's pizza or Hungry Howie's. We ate a lot at her parents' house, at least once a week. Her dad almost always grilled steaks, so I could get my meat fix.
After the wedding, we lived in Corry Village. Cristina still worked at the Health Department while I started my senior year of college. Food was still mostly vegetarian, still highly-processed. I think she may have eaten Tuna. I vaguely remember Tuna Helper being fairly common. I also don't remember when we got our first rice cooker, but it was probably around this period. Once we got a rice cooker, we cooked more rice from scratch instead of the flavored rice packets and rice-a-roni kind of stuff.
Summer of 94: our first trip to Costa Rica together. It was challenging for Cristina to be a lactose-intolerant vegetarian...but not too challenging. I remember going to a vegetarian restaurant once with her dad, brother, and sister. Elena and Ramon complained about the quality of the food.
Over the years of our marriage, especially when the first pregnancy came along, we tried to eat healthier. I can't pinpoint a specific event that made us try to eat a more whole foods diet. Part of it was spending time with my sister Lynn and longing to emulate her attempts at healthy eating. Part of it was influenced by the circle of friends Cristina made in the natural childbirth/breastfeeding world. I know when we got pregnant with Sofia, we made our first conscientiously-planned weekly menu. We planned breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, with an effort to have a certain number of yellow and orange vegetables every week, the right balance of protein and carbs, etc. Since Cristina was a vegetarian, we paid extra care to getting a balanced diet while pregnant. Carnation Instant Breakfast was a staple.
When Cristina was pregnant with Alex, she had cravings for Thanksgiving turkey, and that was the beginning of the end of her vegetarianism. She still doesn't eat much red meat or pork, but we eat plenty of chicken and turkey.
We had a bread-maker for several years, but it's been a while since Cristina made homemade bread.
Soon after Alex was born, an event that had a big influence on our diet was joining a CSA (community-supported agriculture). We received so much organic produce every week that we had to eat more produce than we ever had before just to keep up with it. Plus, we tried new things that we'd never tried before, like arugula and swiss chard. We gave it up the CSA when we moved to Phoenix, but we would love to get back into a CSA when we can afford it.
In the past few years, menus have come and gone for various reasons of health and budget. A handful of cookbooks have been influential in my own cooking, including my favorite, America's Test Kitchen. I first butterflied and brined a turkey back in 2001 (I think) and I haven't cooked a turkey any other way since. I got my own grill in 2007 and I cook a pretty good steak. But the majority of our meals today are the old standbys: rice and beans, pasta with maranara, homemade quiche, and such. The biggest difference now is that we use fresher ingredients, organic sometimes, but not as often as we'd like. We eat brown rice more, which I prefer to cook in a real pot instead of a rice cooker, and I make my own maranara sauce, with multi-grain pasta.
We're not super-healthy in our eating, but we've come a long way since the packets of Lipton pasta and canned peas. And I think the stuff we make now is not only healthier but a lot tastier.
And what is Alex and Bella's favorite thing to eat? Ramen noodles. Go figure.
