Striped Bass Fishing: The Family that Eats Together....

Sunday, September 27, 2015

The Family that Eats Together....

September is National Family Meals Month. After rolling my eyes at another monthly recognition, I thought about it and realized eating as a family ties in with what we do here and is just another step in the circle of creating the next generation of ethical sportsmen and women.

As a Midwest small-town family of the 60s and 70s, one thing our family most always did together was eat. The dinner table was where you caught up on the day’s activities, whether work or school, where big brothers picked on little sisters, and where my mom was always the last one to finish eating. As most good Midwestern families know, THE meal of the week was Sunday dinner (for non-Midwesterners, “dinner” is the Sunday noon meal - otherwise, dinner and supper are interchangeable as proper evening meal terminology all other days of the week). That’s when mom broke out the cast iron for the pot roast, REAL mashed potatoes, and dark brown gravy made from the roast residue (not from a jar or packet)…oh, and don’t forget the green beans, usually home-canned. As the children aged, and got involved in activities and working, the weekday meals together were less frequent, but there was always the Sunday meal. Even on our camping trips, we sat around the picnic table and ate meals together.

How many people have regular family meals now? According to a 2013 Harris poll, only 30% of American families share a meal every night. We’re busy. Kids are being shuttled here and there for sports and activities at a MUCH younger age than when I was young. Are you setting aside one day or night per week to have a family meal?

Many families that hunt & fish together often gut and fillet together AND enjoy the rewards together later. They enjoy the family time outdoors, then the time around the cooking equipment and the table. From fried panfish to smoked trout to grilled backstraps to venison casseroles and slow cooker wild turkey breasts, the game we hunt and fish is also, more often than not, what we eat, often breaking bread not only with family members, but sharing with friends.

Some families don’t hunt and fish, but still enjoy cooking and having big family meals once in a while. We give you many resources here in this blog for recipes - some easy, some a little more time-consuming - so you can have family meals together more often. Slow cookers, chicken, chowder, meatloaf…there is something for everyone’s taste. Improvise, like we often do. Don’t have venison? Use beef. Don’t have crappie? Use tilapia.

Take the time, teach your kids, commit to one more meal together per week, gather round the table, unplug, eat and communicate. Your mother would be proud of you.