Family, food, history

Family history isn’t all dusty books and blurry microfilms.

Lately, I have re-discovered salsiccia.

Salsiccia is an Italian sausage. My memory of it is that my Grandpa Renaud would always cook it as part of his big Christmas breakfast spread each year. I remember as a kid not being thrilled with the taste of it.

Well, it was on sale at Schnucks a few weeks back. Because of the family connection, I thought I’d give it another try after many years. And it turns out we all liked it quite a bit. It wasn’t too spicy that the girls complained (which they sometimes do depending on the variety of sausage).

So we got another batch this week. We ate some today as part of a simple meal: some salsiccia, broccoli, and corn on the cob.

Tonight I was reminded in an article on St. Louis-style barbecue on Wikipedia that salsiccia is pronounced locally as “suh-zee-tsa.” I had been saying “sahl-see-cha,” which is similar to the Spanish word for sausage (salchicha).

As soon as I read that, it was like lightning resonating in my brain. It was as if I could hear the voice of my Grandpa or my Aunt Carol using that pronunciation in my mind.

Anyway, please share your food-related family stories. I’m sure there are quite a few!