GREEN FOOD

My father, God rest his soul, was not a cook. But when he left this earth to “fly away,” which he greatly looked forward to and, in the end, faced with joy, he left a recipe in the family files for all of us to savor.

For reasons known only to him, when forced into kitchen duty due to one of mother’s illnesses, he liked to make green food. Now in the twenty-first century, that might be interpreted as chemically clean; manure fed spring mix and tomatoes, or chickens that freely roam the range. But to Daddy it meant a drop or two of McCormick’s green food coloring.

And you thought it was Dr. Seuss who originated green eggs and ham. Mais non! It was my Papa cheering up two little girls with his green cuisine. And he didn’t stop at green eggs and ham, but introduced us as well to fried green Spam® and mashed potatoes verte washed down with shamrock-green milk. But it’s the green pancakes that Daddy shaped into bigheaded T-Rexes and fat-bellied brontosauruses for which he’ll be remembered.
Just ask our children, godchildren, or any of their children, who invented green dinosaur pancakes and they’ll shout in chorus, “Granddaddy Byron.”

Though not all of them knew him, he lives through his recipe—one part love, one part laughter, generous scoops of artistic insanity, and enough color to make Aunt Jemima smile.

Note to Daddy: You’d be proud that your great-grandchildren, Ada, Cole, and Anne Braxton, carry on the tradition with their imaginative requests for substitute colors, sometimes even two for stripes, and designs of hearts and alphabet letters.