Did you have 'midnight feasts' when you were young? First please bear in mind that I was born in a country which had food rationing at the time. I used to take some morsels out of the food safe. I'm not sure when refrigerators became commonly commercially available in the UK but I don't recall any friends having one back in the late 1940s when I was a nipper. I would take them to bed and then after lights-out (and after my teeth had been brushed!!) and using a torch I would consume the prized morsels: a midnight feast. Of course they were never a true feast and occurred well before midnight.
I was reminded of them this evening. After I had been out all day (croquet, gym, physio etc etc) and out at a friend's for dinner this evening Wendy, Martin and Richard appeared around 1015 pm, on their way home from being out for dinner, to catch up and find out about my arrangements for going away tomorrow. We all had a wee dram of a nightcap in memory of the Scottish heritage.
So at midnight (I shall cheat: this post will be predated to the time I started it - before midnight!) I got myself some cheese and nuts and am having a midnight feast.
It makes me realise just how lucky we are to be able to eat on a whim when so many of the world's population cannot even eat to sustain themselves. That made me think further about the colossal waste of food due to the discovery of horsemeat in frozen meals in Europe and the fact that obesity is such a major problem in the world. Wouldn't it be wonderful if instead of such a large percentage of the 'first world' being unhealthily obese the excess food being consumed was shared with the starving.
We can but dream.
In the meantime I am exceptionally thankful for my midnight feast and all that it represents.
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What keeps me wondering? When I watch a really bad movie which was made with thousands of dollars, why that money could not have been put to better use like feeding the hungry in the world instead.
ReplyDeleteYou have brought back loving memories of midnight feasts my brother and I used to share while our parents thought we were sleeping.
Also attending Girl Guide sleep aways, feasting late at night was always so much fun, especially with contraband snacks.
I'm not sure whether it was the contraband snack or the fact that I was doing it when I should have been asleep that made it exciting Virginia: possibly a bit of both.
DeleteI can't remember any midnight feasts from childhood, but I'm still young at heart... (LOL)
ReplyDeleteYou can have midnight feasts any time you want Monica!
DeleteThanks for the memory......I can't eat or smoke or anything late at night.
ReplyDeleteMemories is just about nail on head stuff Adrian!
DeleteYou are so, so right about our easy access (or should I say, over-access) to food being a reason for gratitude. Believe it or not, but every time I return from groceries shopping and store my purchases in the fridge etc., I very consciously feel this gratitude. I am very glad about my cautious food management and very, very, very rarely have to throw any food away.
ReplyDeleteMidnight feasts I first came across in books set in English boarding schools - never in my own life. But nowadays, I love sitting in my bed with a good read and some chocolate late at night!
Meike, I am ashamed to say that I am not a good caterer because when I have people for dinner I always over-cater and it's often food that won't keep or re-heat. My late-night love is cheese an biscuits or nuts.
DeleteI'm sure we've all done the same or sneaked out into the kitchen after everybody was in bed. Your story has a much more serious part as we were rationed in the war. We were not rationed quite so much in Canada. Yes. better food distribution would solve many problems. a little more caring and sharing could solve many problems.
ReplyDeleteYes it would Red. We used to get food parcels at Christmas from my Uncle who lived in Canada.
DeleteBoy, there was a time in my twenties when I would eat a full-on breakfast at 10 o'clock at night. Eggs, bacon, toast. It would kill me today!
ReplyDeleteArghhhh. I can't even eat an American full breakfast at breakfast time Lisa. I remember in California when the friend I was with ordered pancakes and a whole stack layered with cream and jam or syrup or something equally sweet appeared. I couldn't face food for the rest of the day.
DeleteMy only memories of late night snacks were from the pie cart after too many drinks on nights out with my girlfriends. I don't think I ever heard of them when I was a child unless it was in a book of fiction and I was always old enough to sort fact from fiction. Fact was there wouldn't be any tasty morsels to be had. Nowadays I'm usually well asleep before it's late enough for a late night snack. :)
ReplyDeleteIn truth Pauline when I was that young I don't think there was much spare food to be had either but I must have found something to nibble to make it so memorable.
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