Old Ways

Old Ways

A reprise of a post from 2014 for All Soul’s Day.

A soul, a soul, a soul cake,
Please good missus a soul cake,
An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry,
Or any good thing to make us merry.
One for Peter, two for Paul,
Three for him who made us all. 

It’s a song I listened to when I was a teenager. Peter, Paul and Mary sang it, and so did many of my friends. We wore our long hair parted in the middle. Birkenstock sandals weren’t around yet, but if they had been, we would have worn them too, along with our bangle bracelets, faded bluejeans (the ones that buttoned up the front), and white flowing peasant shirts. You were really really cool if you had done the embroidery yourself. I started…but never finished. Somewhere in my sewing cartons it still is waiting for me. Do you still have yours?

We loved the idea of  “old ways”. And precisely because they were old, it made them new and fun for us. Buying grains—brown rice, lentils, and beans—in bulk was new…so we thought.  There were no farmers markets then, but the commune in the mountains behind us started its own grocery store, Sunburst Farms Grocery. I loved going there when I moved back to Santa Barbara to care for my mother in her final years. I still have my worn copy of the Sunburst Family Cookbook which has moved from the white to the tan section on my bookshelf. It was one of my first, along with the Tassajara Bread Book that taught me how to cook and bake bread. These books, or the ingredients called for in them, were not mainstream in any way. But, now I see on the shelves cookbooks written by our daughters and sons who did grow up with these ideas. Whole grains, organic, real food…this is now mainstream.

On my way to and from San Francisco, I used to stop at the Sunburst Farm restaurant in Gaviota . My order was always the same—a baked potato and a salad. I meal I still find immensely simple and satisfying. It may be my soul cake.

A soul, a soul, a soul cake,
Please good missus a soul cake…

Tomorrow, November 2nd is All Souls’ Day. Tradition has it that you will want to keep your kitchen warm, and leave a bit of food out on the table tonight for any visiting spirits.

…any good thing to make us merry.