Remembering My Dad with Food

So today would have been my dad's 74th birthday. He passed away very unexpectedly on February 22nd this year. I did NOT inherit my "foodie" status from dad. But perhaps because of my foodie-ness, I definitely remember a lot of food facts when I think about Bob Wisley.

Tonight, I grilled up some pork chops. I don't know why, but that's the dinner I associate most with him. This memory comes from adulthood, but it's definitely in there!

For dessert, I made a German chocolate cake. I did a keto version, and I assure you it was not as good as the one my mom would have made for him. It was okay, but I would not recommend that you waste your time re-creating it. That said, I'll eat the remaining half for breakfast tomorrow!

Dad was always telling us the gross origin stories of foods. There were two classics: root beer and mayonnaise. I think he tried some others on us at some point, but we had probably wised up by then.

Root Beer: many years ago, in the forests near Yosemite, there were some Park Rangers who observed some peculiar behavior from the local bears. Often, they would find bears digging up roots and chewing on them (perhaps much like a panda bear would with bamboo). The bears just could not get enough of these roots, sucking out the juices they had generated from their vigorous chewing. Curious about what exactly the bears were experiencing, the rangers dug up some of the roots for themselves. The initial taste they experienced was good enough for them to decide to dig up a bunch more, then figure out how to extract the flavor to be used in a beverage. They boiled the roots, distilled the liquid, and added it to seltzer water to create something very similar to the modern drink we now enjoy. When they shared it with their friends and colleagues, everyone wanted to know where this new drink had come from! The park rangers proclaimed that the beverage should be known as "The Drink of the Root of the Bear". Cooler heads prevailed, knowing that name was too long. But in the shortening, the Bear transfigured to Beer. And that is how we came to have "root beer".

Mayonnaise: honestly, this "story" is far less complex. It was just made known to us as children that mayonnaise was, in fact, the guts of caterpillars. Dad probably told a convoluted story about the gathering and smashing of the creatures, but I honestly don't remember that one in any detail. Fun twist: you might think the grossest part of this is envisioning caterpillars being squeezed and the creamy white innards being gathered to make the classic sandwich spread. But no...the grossest part was seeing Dad add a dollop of the supposed caterpillar guts to his Jello. He says it was "a Texas thing" (from his mom?). I have tried it, and I don't recommend it. But it's not as bad as you're probably thinking. So maybe give it a shot and report back?