Stories 2019
(Click on the photo to read a story.)
Miss Mittie's Sweet Potato Pie
Janie Braxton
A woman whose birth was considered to be a stain on the family’s name was given one tool in life: how to cook.
One More Day
Phyllis Paul
A daughter remembers an amazing cook and a generation of women who spent hours in the kitchen with no complaints (and no leftovers).
Top Ten
Carol Brooks
Tackling her mother’s recipes this holiday season, a daughter follows the cooking guidelines that were passed down, including: Don’t be afraid to try.
Lessons in Generosity
Kylie Mazon-Chambers
At holiday time, Mom loves sharing something homemade with others—who might include anyone from the clerk at Target to the gas station attendant.
Hip-Hop and Hoisin Sauce
Aimee Lee Ball
Learning from Mom how to live in the moment and embrace change.
The Worst Cook in the World
Dana Klosner-Wehner
Mom could often be found at the kitchen table, lost in a book about the rich and famous, while her daughters ate spaghetti with ketchup.
Packing For Treatment
Sioban Twomey
When a beloved daughter succumbed to the worship of thinness, her mother had to get her help.
T'was the Night Before Thanksgiving
Ne’Untae Brown
Mama ruled in the kitchen, and her daughter admired everything about her. Then she decided, with no experience, to make one of Mama's famous recipes.
Tweaking
Bex Brian
One reason Mother never cleaned is that things weren't changed, merely brought back to their original state. But she liked to tweak things, including food.
Not Another Sad Dinner
Patricia Becker-Spellman
Mom was a beauty queen in Mexico, and cooking never interested her, so her holiday meals were inedible. One Thanksgiving, her daughter took over.
Bittersweet
Rose Bianco
Cooking lessons created a loving bond between mother and rebellious daughter. This year, a new Thanksgiving tradition became necessary.
Always
Amy Fischer Smith
Mom had lots of advice, especially about restaurants, like having a private Michelin inspector. Her advice lives on, even after she's gone.
Strawberry Preserves
Cristina Perez Edmunds
A daughter who learned to cook from her mom fantasized about carrying on those traditions with her own child. But other plans became necessary.
Big
Linda JohnPierre
Mum dished out large portions of meals she'd prepared with so much love, but then criticized her daughter's weight.
She Fed Me
Nina Ferrari
What she got from her mother wasn’t enough, or was too much. Her food tasted like love strained through a cheesecloth of resentment.
A Bumpy Road to Vegan-ville
Angela Lambru
While her classmates were eating bologna, it took a long time to appreciate her Costa Rican mother's bean sandwiches.
Lessons From My Daughter
Eleni Pisano
An Italian mother teaches her daughter that food is knowledge, language, history, power—but takes her advice too.
Improv
Sophy Mesa Bejarano
While Mom stirred the pots, she helped with learning the multiplication tables. But the aroma of her fried plantains was distracting.
The Rock
Layce Lynne Kieu
Most of the important things she wanted to say were said while her mom was cooking—never more important than as she recovered from a trauma.
The Dinnertime Wars
JP Sebastian
The ultimate threat from Mom was, "If you don’t eat your meat, you can’t have any dessert." Professional advice was necessary.
Love/Hate
Rachael Leigh
An occasional treat from a foster mother's kitchen was the only measure of caring.
Punch-Drunk With Freedom
Bex Brian
With a mother who had a stellar career, a daughter assumed the responsibilities of running a household, which was a grand game—until it wasn’t.
Fish Bake
Audrey Molloy
An Irish poet remembers her mother's lists of the things she hated to eat and the things she liked.
Safe Harbor
Latonya Black Gilliard
Mom worked long days and came home tired, but dinner was a must, at a long kitchen table that always had place mats on it.
Bambi and Bullwinkle Stew
Mary Jones
A cooking competition was exhilarating for a young girl, with most of the recipes passed down from her mother, and her mother’s mother, and so on.
Gumbo By Moonlight
Robin Winzenread Fritz
An imaginative mother, barely beyond her own childhood, fills her daughters' mealtimes with wonder and mischief.
Whatever, Betty Crocker
Hannah Artman
When Mom said, "Get out of the kitchen," her daughter got out of the kitchen. But it was still the coolest hang-out house in the neighborhood.
The Wanderer
Toby Poser
During a beloved daughter's year abroad, she and her mother converse in a language they both love: food.
Mushy Stuff
Kristal Damron
Mom taught so many life lessons: a strong work ethic, the importance of character, kindness, and courage. But when it came to cooking, Granny ruled.
A Slowly Sinking Ship
Barbara Ballinger
Food used to be a comforting connection between mother and daughter. How do you re-jigger a relationship when one person’s filter goes awry?
Front Door Open
Andrea Cherkerzian Dennigan
Bringing an ordad—a non-Armenian—into the family was a big deal. Mom knew the way to an Armenian's heart was through the stomach.
Bitch Soup
Thylias Moss
Mama wanted meat cooked like shoe leather, burnt, the way she felt about herself, the way life had treated her, and also about her daughter.
Must Be Gorgeous
Jillian Van Hefty
Mom was a “cigarette girl” with a strawberry-blond beehive. These days, people stare for different reasons.
Spoiled
Silvia Luque
Mom said it was easier to advise her students than to talk to her three daughters, but her food always made them feel loved.
Water Baby
Aimee Lee Ball
The rule was:: No swimming for an hour after eating. But Mom's fried green tomatoes were worth the wait.
Superpowers
Katherine King
Mom was disappointed if someone showed up well fed because it was hard for her not to cook something.
Big Girl Boots
Souwaila Mamou
For a young woman from Cameroon, Mom is the ultimate culinary teacher, but sometimes the student becomes the master.
A Little Blue Around the Edges
Bex Brian
Mum survived wartime deprivation, but later seemed to be at war with food, held by an iron grip of guilt and the private scold in her head.
Through Compassionate Eyes
Shabnam Curtis
Released from the confinement of a childhood in Iran, a daughter comes to terms with both a dictator regime and traditional strict parenting.
Hers
Jane Clarke
A poetic tribute to a mother who shared her tricks of the trade.
Radio Days
Nicole Gray
All kinds of music helped mother and daughter bond and get rid of negativity, until the day the music stopped.
Baby Food
Elissa Altman
Mom stopped eating—it was a form of grief. Just as her appetite was returning, her daughter introduced the love of her life.
To The Moon And Back
Jordan Reed
From toxic to tender: With patience and therapy, a mother and daughter change the channel of their relationship.
What Not To Do
Anna Tierney
A daughter regrets that her mother did not enjoy life more without the words “I am fat” constantly playing in her head.
Appreciation
Juliet Fessel
Friends gush over Mama's Thai food, but she won't make it for her own daughter.
Next Time
Tamara Dey-Venturella
Mom’s kitchen M.O.: messy.
Daughter’s kitchen M.O.: OCD.
But deep, insightful conversations went on there.
Yamato Spirit
Kyoko Era
A traditional Japanese mother teaches the value of "longevity food" and living with conviction.
My Mother Makes Pies
Dana Aber
Joining the family to enjoy, and really taste, Mom's sweet or savory treats again marked a triumph over trauma.
The Firecracker
Daijaha Davis
Knowing how to cook and play with flavors was passed down from great-grandmother to grandmother to mother. Then it skipped a generation.
Better Than Nothing
Karen Karatz Gonzalez
One night when she was six years old, her mother whispered happily in her ear, “It’s time to go to the United States.”
Unicorns
Kelly Wells
A young daughter teaches her mother to be more open to bliss, and to make time for rainbow waffles.
Dinner From Dented Cans
Nancy DeRosa
For a child of divorce, Mom's meals conveyed love, comfort, and consistency, no matter where the food came from.
Sleep-away Camp
Aimee Lee Ball
The only child of an older mother longs for sisters. Summer with a bunk-ful of girls is the answer—except for the dreadful food.
Mom Can Cook
Silentia Slaboch
Apparently Mom always knew how to cook, but why should she if there was someone in the house more passionate about it?
Her Ladyship
Patricia Fieldsteel
Mother was horrified when her larger-than-life grandmother ate a dozen deviled eggs.
The Poetry of Food
Stephanie Raffelock
Mom and daughter were “the girls,” hanging out over slow simmering sauces, avoiding the subject that was heaviest in their hearts.
Culinary Boot Camp
Jessie Oleson Moore
With one of Mom's cupcakes in hand, all is right with the world.
The French Connection
Ileana Canlas
Shoes and purse had to match; perfume had to come from Grasse; and coq au vin was a dish to be savored with family history.
Cookies, Bok Choy, and A Lot of Love
Cheryl BryantBruce
A daughter leaves home early to salvage her own psyche, finally coming to understand her mother, and that understanding unfolded around food.
Sinatra and Sauce
Alexandra Izzo
Mom: a combo of red lipstick, Opium perfume, shoulder-padded dresses, a big pouf of dark hair, and a pot of marinara simmering on the stove all day.
Estée Lauder Of The Kitchen
Sondra Lee Bolton
A bargain hunter with a flair for creativity and rules about good manners left a kitchen legacy.
Go Fix Yourselves A Snack
Hanna Takashige
After a day in her studio, she returned to the mid-century responsibilities of motherhood. Much later her daughters realized what she had given up for art.
Sneaking Out To See Mum
Nicola Asare
A daughter is forbidden to see her mother as a child, but the two make a remarkable rediscovery of love and support (and British food.)
Raised Like A Soldier
JoAnn Andrus
In a military family, Dad was in charge of the kitchen, but Mom "cooked" his uniforms in a large pot with starch.
Clones
Emily Yavitch
A similarity between mother and daughter extends to the kitchen, where they share the joy of finishing bags of food and then reorganizing the pantry.
A Ring God Placed On My Finger
Lachi
Newly arrived in America, Mom made sure all of her children could cook Nigerian food and were independent, especially her handicapped child.
A Continuous Lesson In Letting Go
Sara Rounsavall
A long line of Kentucky homemakers helped form an image of what motherhood would be like. But sometimes there is a different set of circumstances.
Mom's Way
Yuliyah Mills
When Mom says “time to eat,” you must eat. Never eat outside the house. (Other places are not clean.) And in the kitchen, always wear your hair up.
Scary Green Dots
Jess Maiuro
Fond memories of a family-run restaurant where Mom worked long hours but always found time for the drive-through at Burger King.
Step Away From the Stove
Khaleelah Jones
There are different ways of showing love; one way is to stay out of the kitchen.
House of Miracles
Trina Tjersland
Mom embraced convenience foods with a passion—why toil in the kitchen when the grocery store is full of fun and easy shortcuts?
Losing A Piece of Myself
Ngoma Evelyn Moghalu
A Nigerian daughter transports memories of Africa and her mother's kitchen to Texas.
A Twist On Tradition
Barbara Ballinger
The splendid table of past Passovers becomes a sweet memory, and new traditions with an older mother take shape.
An American Story
Dawna Lee Heising
Forced to live in a U.S. internment camp during World War II, Japanese-Americans put soy sauce on Spam to remind them of their heritage.
Something Extra
Amanda Hernandez
Mom's usual volume was somewhere in between yelling and a loving scold, especially if anyone dipped into the cookie dough before it was "set."
Family Business
Erica Pressberg
For a mother and daughter who work together, the rule is: Leave work at work.
The Tornado
Autumn Simmons
A mother's adventures are legendary, as is her reputation for drama at home.
And She Never Looked Back
Sophie Nau
A daughter tries to understand her mother's decision to leave satisfying work for a more traditional gender role.
Love In A Jar of Jif
Autumn Silvas
Mother and daughter counted calories together, demonized carbs, and dreamed of svelte bodies. But something broke along the way.
Coming to America
Ela Bobak
A Polish immigrant in Chicago wants a better life for her daughter, while instilling the native culture: the language, the church, and the foods.
Beauty and the Beets
Jessie Loeb
Imagine a naughty Snow White. What emerged from her kitchen seemed just as magical.
Uniting the World with
Mac and Cheese
Sandra Bilu
Three daughters, who each describe their mom differently, are agreed about her iconic dish.
Finding Fault
Patty Bologna and Susan Cipollaro
A Portuguese avó taught her daughter to cook. But “good enough” was never enough, which made Mom sensitive to criticism from her own daughters.
What Women Did
Maryll Botula
Mom was a beautiful woman without the confidence to model. But while she ironed, she watched Julia Child, nudging her towards her true self.
Stay-a-bed Stew & Snapper Blues
Patricia Fieldsteel
There was a mother who took French cooking lessons and a grandmother whose food was reliably awful. But Nana was the one who cared
Curves
Jennifer Ammann
A mother and daughter who become vegetarian rejoice in a trip to India, but still wrestle with body image.
Where's the Food?
Madalena Sangossango
On the southwest coast of Africa, lunch is a party of colors, and after the meal, there is family history.
Keds
Kerry Cameron
Pancakes bring back countless memories with Mom in the maroon pleather seat of the Holiday House restaurant.
No-Drama Mama
Casey McDougal
Mother joins daughter in exploring a new diet, and becomes even more badass at clean, healthy living.
Wild Thyme
Nina Tretiakova
Thanks to a clever Soviet mother, a challenging life of sleeping in the car and foraging for food seemed like the best kind of childhood.
Amazing Grace
Lisa Burton
Mothers are not supposed to bury their daughters. But sometimes with grief comes inspiration.
A Chance to Rise
Tamala Coleman
A mother-daughter relationship is a lot like baking a cake; each ingredient changes the final product.
No Pantyhose, No Bra
Jackie Schifalacqua Atkins
Though rarely in the kitchen, an Italian mother had definite ideas about how a young lady should comport herself.
A Clear Sign
Sara Strati
A hearty appetite from the time she was born leads inevitably to a talent in the kitchen.
Culinary Calligraphy
A box of handwritten recipes was assembled for a new bride, by a mother who talked to herself as she stirred at the stove.
Que Sera Sera
Jessica Jacob
Singing in the kitchen with a matriarch who held a diverse Middle Eastern and European family together.
Work With What You've Got
Priyanka Lalwani
Mom's philosophy about savoring the joy of what's available extends from the kitchen to life.