But have we ever thought about the lunch that started it all, that lunch being the very first one that you can remember. Surely there are hundreds, if not thousands, of lunches you had when you were little, but simply can’t recall. Somewhere in that brain of ours is the first lunch. Like all early memories it should appear in soft focus, with the latest Enya album playing softly in the background, and everything moves a bit slower.
For me it was in an elementary school cafeteria. I got served a fish sandwich with some goo on it. I asked the lunch-lady man what it was, and he said it was tartar sauce, and I had better eat it. I took a bite, and that tartar sauce was greeted as an alien invader, I quickly gagged and spit out my bite. I didn’t touch tartar sauce again until my 20’s. I suppose I remember that tartar sauce experience due to the horrible traumatic effect.
Another early lunch I can recall had nothing to do with lunch itself, but I know it was in the cafeteria during lunch-time. A spider was dangling from the ceiling over my friend’s head, and when I told him to “Watch out!!” he looked up and the spider dropped right into his mouth. It seems to good to be true, but that’s what my head remembers having happened.
Those early lunches were a time of wide-eyed wonderment, when every meal involved taking a big risk, so you had better strap in and take the G's.
What is the first lunch that you can remember? What about other exciting “first” lunches? And pretend you have amnesia, what’s your “original” lunch going to be today?
42 comments:
The first lunch I can remember clearly was in First grade. I had just moved to Michigan from Mexico and it was burrito day in the cafeteria. (lunch was 85 cents and after school me and sister #2 would go to the 5 & dime and use the left over 15 cents from our dollar to buy 1 fireball and 1 2-pack of hubba bubba) Well, I remember the salsa they served with the burritos. I remember the locals saying to be careful of it because it was really hot. I tried it and to my tastebuds which had been tuned to Mexican standards, it was basically ketchup with a few square chunks of green bell peppers. It was nowhere near hot, in fact, it needed a huge kick just to make it to 'mild' status. It made me feel both superior to and seperate from the rest of the population.
I also remember a lunch on a field trip to the zoo in Mexico, but I only remember the juice and the game we played, not the meal, so it doesn't count as a memory of lunch.
It is fitting because of today's topic, but lunch today will be my first visit to the cafeteria here at the Brookings Institution. I hope the cool kids will let me sit with them. (am listening to NPR so that I can hold my own if conversation about smart stuff breaks out.)
Nice post, WD! I remember eating bologna when I was younger by biting out two eyes & a mouth of it. I have vague memories of my brother & I then putting the slices on our faces like masks. We were weird. I'm sure my mom loved having her kids smell like bologna. Ah, good times. I haven't had bologna in years.
Today I'm having this wonderful pastiche of turkey, yams, mashed taters (I think like 1 bite), stuffing & globs & globs of solidified gravy! Uh, in the spirit of the post - I have no idea where they came from. It's like someone had a feast and sent me home with gladware of leftovers. Odd, that.
The first lunch in my mini-uni memory is a lettuce, mayo and american cheese sandwich, a bag of chips and a hostess/little debbie snack cake of some sort.
Today I am going to have to wander out for lunch, probably subway because it is close by. I'm in a weird locale, surrounded by hotels really and not too many eateries in sight. I did take the bus too far today and wound up getting off in Georgetown which enabled me to spot a little joint that claims to be the "King of Falafel"...I may have to check that out one day.
Great post dawg.
My first lunch memory comes from pre-school at Children's Inn a joint that was right here in Washington, DC. I can't tell you what I ate for lunch, but I distinctly remember that the teacher or whomever would ring a bell come lunch time. Like Pavlov's dog all the kids would immediately begin a mad dash to the lunch area which was at the far end of the school (right next to the naptime area I think).
My first lunch memory is of one of these days at Children's Inn, the lunch bell rang and all of the kids in my reading group, (the Czar was a child prodigy and read at age 2, he stopped reading at age 12), dropped our Richard Scarry books and began to race from the 2nd floor reading room to the first floor lunch area. I had the early lead but could feel on of those other young bastards close behind me. The trick to winning the race was how you took the turns. The first turn was at the top of the stairwell and I had mastered planting my left foot at the closest possible point so I could maintain the inside track for the final 50 ft of the race down the home stretch straight away. On this particular day I cut the turn a little too close and cought my ear on the corner of the brick wall and tore it nearly in half. I continued running, and screaming and bleeding all the way to the lunch area. I don't think I ate anything that day, but I did get a trip to the Doctor's office for stiches and I still sport a scar on my right ear. My first lunch induced red badge of courage.
I'm really hungry today.
Thinking about a club sandwich and chili.
Uni, that reminds me of the onion article
"Owner of Mr. Falafel, doesn't actually like being referred to as 'Mr. Falafel'"
Oh, and I hope you're feeling better WD! I'm planning on having mulled cider on Saturday - rum optional. Doesn't that sound nice & soothing?
Aww. Richard Scary. Those books were great. My dad used to play a game with us where we would get to look at a page in one of Mr. Scary's books for a minute or two, then he would ask us questions about the page. (Who is on top of the barn? The owl. Who is in the bath tub? Umm... the pig?)
And he keeps trying to tell us that he was not in the CIA. That is like CIA Jr. Training if ever I've seen it.
Dude, it's Scarry, 2 i's. Clearly that CIA training didn't take.
ha ha! 'r's, not 'i's!
hmmm...cider with rum sounds great. Captain Morgans works great!
Lady A, I know the king of falafel well. Not sure if he's the true "king", but its worth going there.
Hey, there's a Sultan Kebab right near my house. It sucks. He's the Sultan of Crapistan.
i don’t know what it is about today but i'm pretty sure i'm losing it...
i laughed out loud at almost every one of those stories...
ripped ears, bologna Mexican wrestling masks, ketchup and peppers...
now people are looking at me and i have to explain why a child almost losing an ear is hilarious.
i think the first lunch you remember is simply the first lunch where there was some type of trauma associated with it... I remember that i had to get a chair to climb up on to the counter to get all my ingredients so i had to be young yet nimble. i remember that i was making a butter and honey sandwich (yeah... weird right? shead's spread and honey on whitebread.. it's a wonder i never became more obese)...
and i remember getting extra honey on one of my fingers and sitting up to lick it off and then falling off the counter. then there was something about regaining consciousness and being worried that my parents heard my little body's impact with the ground.
they'd be pissed.
but they didn't
so they weren't
and that is how i may or may not have ended up with permanent brain damage.
er, 12:48... whatever, it's still bad. I'm disappointed in each and every one of you.
First comment at 12:49? For shame HT. Where you been all morning?
i had another one of those sodium saturated "italian" (having salami on a sandwich does not make it italian) "panini" (i don't have any clue where they got the idea it was a panini) for lunch and it was heartstoppingly satisfactory.
Also, I just learned that mandarin for lunch is “ooo fan.” I’m not 100% on the pronunciation but it was pretty exciting to learn how to say lunch finally.
Well, just like it's hard out there for a pimp, Whoring is hard work.
Watching Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars, and Nip/Tuck from last night, MS. But I've been reading, checking in on all yinz's first lunches.
My memory doesn't work like yinz all's seem to, though. I don't have concrete memories of specific lunch instances. Instead it's memories like, "Tomato Soup" or "Tom Tucker Mint Ginger Ale" or "Scooter Crunch" or "Ice Cream Sandwich" or "Johnny Marzetti" (blecch) or of teachers who were often on "lunch duty" (Mr. Slovick comes to mind - he was mean, but also an old drinking buddy of my mom's)
Lunch today was leftover Greek salad - definitely not as good on day two.
Indeed it is, Mikey. Indeed it is.
What I wouldn't do for a saltine right about now, though...
About to head to market to market for some of their buffet. Realized that I haven't been there in 2 weeks which HAS to be a record for me.
Sigh. I'm eating my leftovers and they taste just fine, but my god. Someone got General Tso's for lunch & was eating it right in front of me. Oh my god, it smelled good. So good I almost abandoned my leftovers & went out & got some. I might have to go do that tomorrow, though.
it would have been easier to wrestle the chopsticks from their hands, lobotomize them and take the tso now.
maybe not easier but a whole lot more fulfilling.
Dammit! You're totally right M! Where are my homicidal tendencies when I need them . . . sigh.
Oh god. Now I can smell indian. Smells so good!!
indian food doesn't come with chopsticks..
this may require more planning
Wow, Mikey, you maybe shouldn't come to my party on Saturday. There is a shit-ton of rosemary.
I like rosemary on my lamb and goat.
Nowhere else.
Not even focaccia??? Mmmm . . . yummy focaccia with whole rosemary leaves and big chunks of sea salt . . . mmmmmm.
Oh my goodness. this is like being the rookie cop fresh out of the accademy; and you find out that all the cops you are working with are crooked.
I feel betrayed by the people I thought I was supposed to trust.
Rosemary is a blight on this blog like cocaine and cash are a blight on the beat.
It is tearing us apart.
i work with a woman named rosemary. she smells a bit like pinesol too.
turkey and rosemary are quite a wonderful pair.
Wait, is that 'it' is tearing us apart or (lowercase) 'LT' is tearing us apart? I hope it's 'it' & not 'LT'. Because I'm sure there are others who feel as I do.
Man, I picked a bad moniker. I'm never sure if I'm being referred to or if someone is just actually using caps.
it (rosemary) is tearing us apart. LT you're a uniter, not a divider.
If I am able to make it to your place this weekend, I'll be late... and drunk.
...and not eating anything that is flavored with pine-sol
Phew!
There will also be drinks available at my house, Sunshine. You don't have to frontload!
Ok, so I'm scratching the piney cookies, the pinesol meatballs, the pine-n-chocolate bark . . . .
Oh, I know that I don't have to frontload, but I'll be with the Gator Nation watching the SEC championship game, and the Gator Nation does not support sobriety.
Peep, they found my thong in the locker room. I was helpless to disuade them of how I prefer things.
Sunshine's got dumps like a truck, truck, truck, thighs like what, what, what.
Rosemary is the shizzle, you haters are freakazoids.
Sunshine, I hate to break it to you but i am sure at some point you have eaten rosemary in some dish that I have made at home or camping and I don't recall ever hearing you protest.
Lunch today was turkey subway. Eh, it did the job. I never have high expectations of the place so I am never disappointed!
Quote of the year:
"Pope Pushes Turkey To Protect Christians" -- CBS News.
jesus, i haven't been able to stop laughing for the last five minutes...
gobble gobble.
"Hey Pope. Don't push me!"
-Turkey
Turkey Buys Glock, Vows Christian Safety. Pope Takes Credit
Fuckity fuck! I hate it when I'm away from a 'puter all day!
I don't remember the first lunch I remember. There was a time, however, when I carried a yellow plastic Garfield lunchbox with the matching Thermos. My brother had a cooler construction-worker-format Snoopy lunchbox that I never got to use. There was also a Dukes of Hazzard one in the rotation at some point, but I don't know if I ever got to use that either.
I vaguely recall that most of my lunchbox lunches consisted of deli turkey on white bread. Even then, I didn't take to mayonnaise, although I've always been a big cheese fan. Although I think it may be revisionistic history, I occasionally fix myself a turkey and American single on white and convince myself that I'm reliving my childhood. Of course, I'm pretty sure my mom never would have permitted any American singles in the house.
That's why I buy them now. Take that, Ma!
MS, I also only learned to identify rosemary in the past couple of years. I only really accept it on pork, although I'm sure it crops up elsewhere. I do not react as violently to it as you do.
Because you're an herb pussy. So, smarten up and keep your mouth shut before you have a little "accident."
LT, I will come to your party whether there is rosemary or not. While there, I may sing a rendition of Corey Hart's Sunglasses at Night or perhaps Pat Benatar's We Belong. I've been listening to both on your tape lately.
HT, I just bought one of those really big boxes of saltines...if you know what I mean.
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