SC - Food for the Grieving

[LadyEbonSwan at aol.com]

     Gunther, we sympathize with your loss as well...

    Having just lost my best friend a couple of weeks ago, I just had to go 
through this process as well.  Because we live next door to each other, I 
stayed with his widow (my *Mother*) throughout the whole funeral arrangement 
ordeal as well.  And yes, the house was packed full in a matter of hours, and 
was for a week solid, till the funeral was over.
    The most popular items we had given to us were lunchmeat trays and potato 
salad.  By the gallon.  I was sending food home to people as they left, to 
keep from wasting it;  I felt so bad about having to throw some of it away 
anyway.  Her refridgerator isn't all that big, and we wound up packing hers 
AND mine full, and having more besides.  
    Other than that, we had the standard fare for get-togethers in this 
region, whether it be for funerals or weddings of reunions:  pierogi, 
halupki, rigatoni, Italian beef, ham, baked beans,  bread stuffing, pasta 
salads of every make, model and description, ditto for jello salads.  
    Thing was...I couldn't get Mom to eat a morsel of it for days.  All I 
could get into her was the peanut soup I always made for her in camp.  She 
asked for it, so of course I went out and got the ingredients and made a 
batch.  It was reasonably heavy and filling, so I didn't worry overmuch that 
that was all she was eating.  

    At any rate, I know what the standard fare was for Pennsylvania Dutch 
houses of mourning, as well as an average farm house in this region, but not 
much further back than the early 1800s....

    We'll be thinking of you....

        Siobhan MacDermott & Dunstan Halfdane