At a certain point in my life, when I was young, my family of origin would get together for the holidays. The group included my sister, 13 years older than I, who was already married and brought her husband and two young children along, my two brothers, me and my parents. It was quite a crowd that was ever expanding as soon others joined us around the table. My mother would always buy the largest turkey she could find. That usually meant a 22 or 24 pound bird. She would always cook winter squash, turnip (she was the only one who would eat that), mashed potatoes, and gravy. She would fuss over making homemade “Parker House” rolls. There would be a condiment tray of pickles and olives, and a can of peanuts for those who liked them. She made her own cranberry relish. If that were not enough for the cranberry lovers, she prepared an appetizer/ drink consisting of a tall glass of cranberry juice with a scoop of orange sherbet, served with an ice tea spoon and a straw. She would have made apple pie, cherry pie, and mincemeat pie, and of course, pumpkin pie!
My mother always delegated the task of cutting up the bird to her son-in-law. He, being fond of “dark meat,” would swiftly plunk the first turkey leg right onto his own plate. Thinking of that idea prompts this mini-anecdote. I wondered when and how we came to differentiate between “dark meat” and “white meat.” Recently, I read that those descriptive words come from Victorian times and are euphemisms for “leg” and “breast,” unacceptable words at the dinner table. Evidently, the Victorians were too shy to utter those suggestive words! Forever amused by little points of information like this, I remain a student of history. By the way, I was not alive during the Age of Queen Victoria and cannot attest to the accuracy of the statement. However, this is a curious topic to ponder!
Patricia Cummings
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