My grandmother's death last week has left me in a reflective mood. She was 97 years old and had lost both her sight and most of her hearing in the last 18 month. Up until that time she was the goingest lady I knew--I want to be like her when I grow up. I'm so grateful that she was a part of my life.
For this blog I want to reflect a little on funerals. Funerals are opportunities to commemorate and celebrate someone's life. When someone dies unexpectedly and at an early age many funerals are sad and the "why?" factor needs to be addressed. When someone has lived a long full life a funeral can be, well. . .if not exactly fun then at least satisfying (I struggled to find the right word and this is the best that I can do).
Following most Utah LDS funerals the local Relief Society Sisters provide a luncheon for the family. The menu is set in stone and is rarely deviated from--ham, funeral potatoes, salad, roll, and cake. I'm willing to bet that if you attended 10 funeral luncheons a week that you would find realitively the same menu at every one. Is there something chemically or emotionally comforting about this food combination or is the menu simply a solid tradition. Don't get me wrong, the food was delicious and I really appreciate the wonderful sisters that prepared it but I wonder how this particular menu came to be designated "funeral luncheon food."
It's interesting that funeral luncheon menus change based on location. My daughter Michelle moved to the Hudson River Valley in New York a few years ago and was called to serve in the Relief Society. During the first funeral she was assigned to organize she started calling sisters and assigning funeral potatoes--they had no idea what she was talking about "what in the world are funeral potatoes?" She soon learned that the standard funeral luncheon menu for that area is spaghetti and garlic bread.
I have a question for all of you: what is the standard funeral luncheon menu in your home area? and do you know what "funeral potatoes" are?
4 comments:
I haven't been to a funeral in about 15 years, with two exceptions. Both were on my mission - at one, we had spaqhetti and garlic bread (bullseye). At the other we enjoyed hoagies and jell-o. I find that funeral potatoes aren't as common as we often joke they are.
I have only been to one funeral ever, and i don't remember the food. But i do know what funeral potatoes are, in our family they are called simply cheesy potatoes, only recently did I learn the real name though. In Oregon we didn't have funeral potatoes often at ward activities.
I went to the funeral of my 18 mos old niece this last summer. We did have funeral potatoes. I have to admit that I like them a lot, but I never eat them outside of funerals which may explain why I like them so much. I have never been to a funeral outside of Utah and potatoes have always been part of the menu.
I am so sorry about the loss of your grandmother. Even though she lived a long and full life it is still really hard when they are not here anymore. It is really interesting that funeral food does change as a result of location.
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