thinking back to 9/11 - a meal shared with friends.....
in shock and stunned - the only place to turn to was to each other.... i made a big batch of chicken fricasee with sour cream and paprika .... we could hardly touch it ... but the fact was that we came together to share our pain and to break bread.
can you remember what you shared that night and with who?
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
Start Talking!
Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!
Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.
19 Comments:
i was in college.
my friends and i huddled together, but we couldn't eat a thing.
we attempted to at one point b/c we knew we had to at least try, but it literally tasted like nothing at all-just empty, tasteless cardboard.
gastronomeg at 10:41AM on 09/11/09
One of my girlfriends came over...we'd been watching tv while on the phone. She raided her parent's kitchen. I still remember. Triscuits, Granny Smith Apples, cheddar cheese. We ate it mechanically at some point. I still associate the crunch of triscuits with that sense of disbelief.
BananaMonkey at 11:10AM on 09/11/09
i was in high school english class. we brought the television into the classroom and watched in disbelief. i'm pretty sure i didn't eat that day but rather stayed glued to the news.
food normally being something that comforts me in times of hardship was tasteless as gastro points out. i remember being greatful and wishing i didnt take a lot of things for granted that day. though i have no personal-direct relationship with the event: i plan to take a moment of silence this evening to reflect.
hungrychristel at 11:15AM on 09/11/09
What I remember most was how quiet it was in the grocery store. People seemed a bit dazed; I know I certainly was. We had a simple dinner of scrambled eggs and toast that night as we waited to hear from my husband's parents who were supposed to be flying into NYC from London that night.
dhorst at 11:16AM on 09/11/09
I don't remember what we ate, but the meal was shared with my three young children. My only goal was to protect them from the horrendous news. I attended a prayer service for the victims and hustled them off to bed so I could sit down and cry in front of the tv. My husband, a commercial airline pilot, was stranded in Mexico with limited access to news coverage. In the worst of times, a family meal is something we can cling to and perhaps find a ray of hope.
50fish at 11:17AM on 09/11/09
I was in college at the time, unable to afford an apartment of my own and living with my parents. My comfort food has always been Kraft Mac+Cheese. I ate it for dinner on 9/11, 9/12, 9/13 and 9/14 while glued to CNN. Eventually I was able to extricate myself from obsessive news-watching and comfort-seeking.
Kerosena at 11:52AM on 09/11/09
My kids were 5 and 7 and I remember making them a kid friendly meal of some sort and my husband and myself couldn't eat a thing. I did not let them near the TV those first few days, so any watching of the horrific events were done with them out of the room, or asleep. It took a while for food to be reintroduced in any meaningful way other than needed nourishment.
radley24 at 12:07PM on 09/11/09
I remember going for sandwiches - my then-boyfriend had an appointment we couldn't miss - and being nearly incapable of choosing one. I ended up with turkey, and it was incredibly delicious, which just made me sadder. I was in Somerville/Cambridge MA and everyone was crying as they drove.
wellred at 12:29PM on 09/11/09
Our kids were 12 and 13 at the time so they were well aware of the magnitude of the situation. About 6:30 that night my husband said he was going out for a few minutes and came home with a package of hot dogs and buns from the local convenience store. Whatever it was I had planned for dinner was put away. We all sat on the couch munching hot dogs and watching TV. The food was not important. Just sitting with my family, just being together was what was important. It was not until the weekend when I began cooking in earnest and stopped watching the news all day. I do remember the first meal I cooked on Saturday--lasagna--the ultimate comfort food for our family.
finsbigfan at 12:54PM on 09/11/09
I had just finished teaching a step class when the next teacher came in and announced that a plane had hit the Trade Tower. We all were surprised, but thought it was an accident. I left the studio and went out to the gym area and watched the TV coverage and suddenly another plane hit the 2nd tower. It was at this point we all concurred that it couldn't have been an accident.
I began trying to get a hold of my grown children and husband and we all decided that we should have gas in our cars in case we needed to get mobile quickly. It began to occur to me that this may not be the end of the terrorism and when I get nervous I get going. I went to the store and stocked up on staples and headed home, turned the TV on and started cleaning and doing laundry. I didn't know what would happen next, but my home would be clean and I could cook for someone if needed. I don't recall if we did anything in particular (sr. brain fade), but I recall a real, palpable pall at the health club and gathering places for the next few weeks.
janaatwg at 1:13PM on 09/11/09
I was downtown in Manhattan on 9/11. Maybe a quarter/ third of a mile from the towers. I remember during lunch I ate at this little deli with seating that had a small old TV with the news on. I had a cheeseburger with fries which was served in this cheap little Styrofoam container. My memory is of dipping my fries in ketchup in the Styrofoam while watching the news of the attacks on the little TV - while at the same time watching guys covered in soot from the collapse streaming by the deli outside trying to make their way uptown.
EliEats at 1:30PM on 09/11/09
I was in college and had just moved into apartment with two roommates, no TV and our only radio couldn't pick up a signal.
We went down to the local diner to watch the news on their TV. I think we all ordered grilled cheese and tomato soup, but mostly kept our eyes on the news for updates. It was horrible. We all thought our town would be next.
yayfood at 1:32PM on 09/11/09
I was sitting in Spanish class when we heard. My high school was 2 blocks away. yeah.... I watched tower 2 fall from my 10th floor drafting class. When they evacuated us, we were told to just walk AWAY. Go north and east. So I walked east, to my church in Chinatown. When I got there, a bunch of other people had arrived. The GM had made a big wok of fried rice. I ate quietly, in a daze. I wasn't hungry, it was the middle of the morning. But there was nothing else to do, really. The rest of the day felt like a fog. Couldn't get on a train to go home until 5ish.
engmcmuffin at 1:49PM on 09/11/09
I was in high school English class when I heard. In each and every class I had that day, the teacher pulled a television into the room and let us watch. I remember sitting in history and eating edamame for the first time. My teacher ate it everyday and he passed a big bag of it around as a snack while we watched the news together as a class.
PumpkinBear at 3:09PM on 09/11/09
I'm pretty sure I didn't eat that day. Spent the day watching the coverage, went to a community-wide church service that night. I can remember what a comfort the Food Network was in the weeks and months afterward - one of the few places you could go on the teevee and not see video of the towers falling, over and over.
lemonfair at 3:23PM on 09/11/09
too weird @PumpkinBear. we cook and crave meatballs on the same day and we were both in high school English during this event.
hungrychristel at 3:50PM on 09/11/09
I don't remember the food or what I did in the evening. All I remember was the morning when it happened, I was in high school walking into my second class of the day and the TV was on. We all just stood there watching.
Chew on That at 3:57PM on 09/11/09
It means a lot to me that people take the time today to reflect and remember. There are multiple benefits to sharing a meal, a snack, a coffee... Comfort food - a powerful antidote and restorative.
50fish at 1:50AM on 09/12/09
Sushi. After hours and hours of trying to get home from class in Manhattan (I lived in Queens at the time), I was starving and stressed out. My roommate and I walked to a local sushi joint, ordered some Diet Cokes and pigged out. I just remember being happy to just be eating. I can't even remember what I had exactly, but it was good...
meem21 at 10:36AM on 09/14/09