Winter Time Foods
Courtesy of the New York Public Library, Circa 1920
My cooking skills and love of cooking started as college freshmen playing lacrosse and living in my own apartment with a teammate out of necessity. A lot of us called mothers and grandmothers to learn how to cook what we grew up eating at home with family and extended family. “I called my mom to have her walk me through how to cook something,” said Ed Anderson, a basketball player who attended Herkimer County Community College along with me. “I did that until I got to the point where I could cook it on my own.” He said, “I basically cooked southern food because that’s what I grew up in Rochester.” His father came from Florida and his mom from Georgia and both were great cooks. My parents grew up in New York with my grandparents from North Carolina and Virginia. As a result of our de-facto southern child rearing, Ed and I cooked inexpensive southern dishes as rice and cabbage and chicken and pork chops.
