Ginger Cake Recipe
How I Fed My Mother: Alzheimer’s Took My Mother’s Appetite, so I Searched for New Foods to Bring it Back by L.A. Nelson
Being a New Yorker, born and bred, I am always amazed by the abundance of food we have in this city – all kinds of food, from all kinds of places. No doubt, this is due largely to the influx of more immigrants in the last 40 years, from places as far away as India, to as close as the Caribbean. I am grateful for this abundance, this manna from so many heavens on earth.
When my mother developed Alzheimer’s disease, she lost her appetite. Maybe forgetfulness and depression caused her to lose her taste for food – even for what we would have, at one time, called “normal” food. My mother just stopped eating and the pounds dropped off. She wasn’t overweight to begin with, and was now becoming skin and bones. As her primary caregiver, it was my responsibility to make sure she received her proper nutrition. As her daughter, it was my duty to feed her as she once fed me. Even more, I had to try and tempt her taste buds. To do that, I decided to look at foods outside of her comfort zone, foods that are non-traditional, non-American.
When I was a kid, we didn’t have all the exotic fare you find in the city today. We ate everything from Yankee beans to southern-fried anything. Ethnic food was a slice of Sicilian pizza for lunch or Italian spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. We learned the word “pasta” much later. Our Puerto Rican neighbors made arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) and arroz con habichuelas (rice and beans). A handsome old Romanian neighbor would make us honey Cakes. “For the children, missus,” he would tell my mom. I learned much later that he had a crush on her.
We ate fish on Fridays. My mother would take me to the local fish market where – sawdust underfoot -we chose our evening meal. For us, exotic food was Chinese – you either opened a can of La Choy, whose jingle claimed they made Chinese food “swing American,” or you went to a restaurant. There was no take-out in my neighborhood, as I recall.
As a young adult, I discovered more foods – everything from Texas barbecue to Tex-Mex to real Mexican. I’ve eaten Caribbean cooking from several islands, exotic fare from Thailand and India, and eastern standards like Chinese and Japanese. I’ve had it “sushi-ed,” “sashimi-ed” and “tempura-ed.” Steamed, stuffed, baked, broiled, grilled and fused. And, of course, I am well familiar with the continental favorites like crepes, croques, tapas and hearty Tuscan dishes.
My mom also tried these different cuisines. She was the one who introduced me to Japanese tempura. I tried to acquaint her with sushi. We compromised on spicy Thai – the spicier the better, until her ulcers kicked in!
She gradually made her way back to her normal, comfort food. Then she forgot to eat it. Chicken, steak, fish, fruits and vegetable, rice and pasta – food that was so familiar – no longer appealed to her. She would push away a barely touched plate of food, claiming to be full. Her evening ritual of having fresh fruit while watching TV had suddenly vanished.
In my search to find a way to help her, I learned about African food on the internet (thank God for the internet!). I had once tried couscous, and eaten goat something-or-other at an African friend’s party. But I wasn’t really familiar with the cuisine. I started to research and learned that couscous is a low-fat grain loaded with B vitamins. That should be good for mom, right?
I found that African cooking incorporates many fresh, healthy ingredients including green bananas, limes, olives, groundnuts, staples like cassava and yams, millet and sorghum, and spices such as cloves, cinnamon, ginger and saffron.
Armed with this new information, I searched for Recipes to try. Ones that would maybe, hopefully, awaken mom’s taste buds. I found very few cookbooks on the subject. Most were limited to Ethiopian or Moroccan cuisines, probably because we are somewhat familiar with them in the west. But West African cookery? Southern Africa? Central? There was a dearth of information on these diverse regions.
A few recipes can be found on the big websites like Epicurious.com, and I recently discovered an App called “A Cook’s Tour of Africa” that has loads of recipes from all over the continent. Like Chicken Yassa from Senegal, made with minced chili, lemon and peanut oil, or Ghana Shrimp made with ground ginger and cayenne pepper and red wine, or Bobotie – a baked beef curry casserole with a custard topping – made with almonds, raisins and lemon juice. Who could resist the sweetness of a pan of Liberian Plantain Gingerbread made with only a half cup of sugar? What could be healthier or tastier?
I tried a few of the recipes on mom, taking care not to over spice her meals – to avoid an ulcer flare up. She has taken a new interest in food. Perhaps, I imagine, she is reliving her more adventurous days!
Now, I have a world of food from one continent right at my fingertips. And, more importantly, my mother is eating again. And I’m enjoying that almost as much as I’m enjoying this “new” cuisine.
About the Author
L.A. Nelson is a freelance writer and copy editor, and is a former member of the Writer’s Guild of America, East.
How to make gingerbread
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