Judy Budreau
When we’re hungry, food is food – and so much more.
Judy Budreau
By Megan Rocker
Before it becomes mainstream, we often view the food immigrants bring with them as “exotic” or “trendy.” But what’s new to us is comfort food to them—and the spirit behind its offering is the same.
In 1944, my father‐in‐law left Indiana, by train, for Camp Pendleton. And on his journey along the way, this tall, meat-and-potatoes farm boy experienced spaghetti and pierogi, and somewhere in New Mexico, a bowl of posole.
The food may have been unrecognizable to this 18-year-old far from home, but the comfort was familiar.
For the 25 years I’ve known my father-in-law, a meal is meat, potatoes, maybe a salad; cherry pie if he can get it. But then, I think of him as a new recruit, beginning the train trip that carried him into his adult life, hungry and thirsty for far more than the food and drink he was offered. I think of the people who fed him, who cooked for him, who sat with this stranger from Indiana while he ate, feeding my family into the next generation, and the generation after that…
And I remember, when we’re hungry, food is food – and so much more.
Judy Budreau is a CCE student in the Program for Individualized Learning. After an absence of 25 years, she returned to the University of Minnesota in 2006 to finish a B.A. in creative writing in the Program for Individualized Learning. Judy works for Minnesota Public Radio, for both “The Splendid Table®” and “Speaking of Faith” radio shows.
