Cronkhite - Return to Sunday dinner: the simple delight of family, friends, and food

2012 by Russell Cronkhite

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Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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Photographs on pages 7, 20, 36, 65, 67, 99, 109, 141, 154, 158, 181, 187, 190, 201, 203, 206, 267 taken by Ron Manville and styled by Teresa Blackburn

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Page design by Walter Petrie

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cronkhite, Russell.

Return to Sunday dinner : the simple delight of family, friends, and food / Russell Cronkhite. Revised & updated.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-4016-0480-6 (hardback)

1. Dinners and dining. I. Title.

TX737.C76 2012

641.5'4dc23

2012019229

Printed in the United States of America

12 13 14 15 16 QGF 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

R emember Sunday dinner? Just hearing the words can take you backperhaps to a well-loved dining room in your grandparents house, where a stately oak table is laid with lace and hand-painted china. The table overflows with its Sunday bounty... bowls of steaming, garden-fresh vegetables, crocks of sweet butter and homemade jam, and the succulent Sunday roast, juicy and brown. Incomparable aromas fill the house, laden with the promise of freshly baked, light-as-a-feather biscuits or warm-from-the-oven peach cobbler.

Perhaps your memories of Sunday dinner are something else entirely. I found this to be the case when I brought up the subject at a recent gathering of friends. Everyone, it seemed, had a favorite Sunday-dinner memory to relateand everyone was fiercely committed to his or her memory. The delightful sharing soon turned into a debate over whose mother made the best fried chicken, whether or not pot roast should be cooked with turnips, what kind of cheese goes best with macaroni, and whether mashed potatoes should have lumps!

Why did we get so worked up? I think its because the subject of Sunday dinner taps into something deep within us. Its about family and faith and meaning and memoriesand something even deeper. Can you feel it? Whether your passions are equal to my friendsor even if Sunday dinner isnt part of your personal past at allsurely you know the tug of longing for a special day, a weekly refuge of love and laughter, peace and plenty, comfort and tradition.

Sunday dinner was once an American institution, a strong, familiar thread running deeply through our national fabric. I believe it can be that way again. A return to Sunday dinner can help bring us back to a time of craftsmanship, honor, values, and care. It can show us once again that time spent with those we loveenjoying games, listening to tales, sharing our dreams

and disappointments, and simply enjoying time togetherfar outweighs the amusements of the hectic, impersonal world that presses in all around us.

And now is the time to build those traditions anew. The book you hold in your hands is a call to launch your own Sunday dinner heritage, creating fresh and indelible memories for generations to come.

Its a call to rediscover Sunday dinner in your own life.

In a sense, Sunday dinner is a gift we can give to one another and pass on to our children and our childrens children. Its a much-needed respite of rest, celebration, and inspiration.

In years gone by, whether in small towns, on the farm, or in great cities, most Americans took Sunday off. And rested. Shops and markets closed their doors. Twenty-four-hour groceries, shopping malls, and so-called convenience stores belonged to the unimaginable future. Life slowed for one day a week: a day for worship and quiet reflection, a day for relaxation and restoration, a day for family, a day apart from the everyday bustle.

Even in past centuries, setting apart a weekly day of rest required a certain discipline. Families worked hard to plan and prepare for the day when work would be laid aside. And unfortunately, religious curmudgeons sometimes made this special day feel like a day of repression, as though day of rest meant day of no fun. But surely this was a corruption of the original intentiona misuse of the gift of Sunday rest.

In my experience, at least, such joyless legalism was never the norm for Sunday dinner. Sunday was different, yes, but different in a way that made things better for everyone. It was a day of rest, to be sure, but it was also a true day of celebrationa time to delight in the company of loved ones, to review and rebuild the unwritten customs of our past, and to enjoy together a bounty of wholesome foods. This includes the scrumptious traditional meals our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents brought to this country, for foodalong with language, religion, and artis one of the essential pillars of any culture.

Throughout history, special meals have come to symbolize special times, and such meals mark our family lives as well: birthday dinners, reunion picnics, weddings, anniversaries. When other details of past events fade, the flavors of the food we shared together linger in the memory. And year after year, as holidays approach, we relish with anticipation the savory tastes and aromas weve come to associate with those annual festivities.

The Sunday table, too, has always been a center for family celebrations. Restful Sundays provide us with unhurried hours for enjoying our shared livesexploring our heritage, remembering the sacrifices of those who made our lives possible, and giving thanks for Gods kindness and blessings.

But the Sunday dinner offers even more than true rest and joyful celebration. It also provides something often overlooked in this casual age: the gift of encouragement and inspiration. It helps us remember that there is indeed something beyond and above our commonplace world.

When architects created the great cathedrals of Europe, they sought to inspireand they succeeded. The grand arches draw our eyes up and away from everyday life to contemplate the very heights of heaven. They mark a space and a time that is special and set apart.

The Sunday table has the ability to lift us up as well, to remind us that there is more to life than just daily bread. Thats why Sunday dinner has always been a time to break out our very bestto set our finest table, elegant or cheerful with beautiful linens and dishes, bright with flowers, and bountiful with platters of our favorite foods.

And what an inspiring transformation Sunday can bring! The everyday table, rushed with kids, piled with homework, where we read the morning paper, is transformed and set apart. A tablecloth covers the ordinary wood. The china may not be showpiece quality, but it gleams with meaning and memories. The centerpiece flowers give humble testimony to the beauty of creation. We dress in our nicest clothes, put on our company manners.