Spätzle - food and memories


Food is a wonderful way to link us to memories - to people, to places, to experiences, to cultures. I have a number of such linkages in my life, and I'm grateful for all of them. On Saturday evening, it was a joy for me to experience one of them again.
My German grandmother (who had immigrated to Utah after WWII) was an important figure in my childhood. She would visit us frequently, sometimes staying with us for months at a time. (I wrote previously about her remarkable life and faith.) But another aspect I recall so fondly was the food she helped prepare for us - she was a wonderful cook, trained in the specialties of southern Germany.
Among the sweet memories I have of her is a dish called spätzle - or spaetzle in anglicized spelling. This specialty of southwest Germany is a kind of homemade noodle made from a thick sticky dough of eggs and flour, squeezed through a hand press to form the noodles, which are dropped into boiling water. Oma usually covered them with a traditional lentil sauce. The sight, smell, and taste of this dish all send me right back to my childhood.
My older sister Doris learned the recipe from our Oma; she and my other oldest sister Angie are now is the family specialists in helping pass on this tradition. Since Angie is visiting Utah this week with two of her children who live out of the country, it was a great opportunity to gather extended family to share in the feast. We had 16 adults and 11 children in our home to share in our memory! How fun to gather with family who share a common heritage, and pass on something meaningful to those of us who have memories not shared by the younger ones.
I #GiveThanks for the memories of my childhood, for the heritage that is a part of me, for the food that brings it alive to me, and for the privilege of passing on a portion of that heritage to the next generations.

 


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