Sunday Dinner Tradition? What do you make?
By Ms Michelle
@lenapoo (678)
United States
February 21, 2010 6:33pm CST
Well I know that a lot of us Southerners have a tradition of cooking a big Sunday dinner. I personally enjoyed them a lot when I was a little kid. In which I continued this tradition as I became an adult. A Southern style traditional dinner would consist of Fried Chicken, Macaroni and Cheese, Potato Salad, Collard Greens and Cornbread. Does that sound familiar to you? Now the same thing is not made every single Sunday some of the items change and some don't. Sometimes we would have BBQ Ribs, Corn on Cob, Mashed Potatoes, Biscuits. Then other times we may have a whole lot of different foods. Whenever my aunt's turn comes around she usually makes Ham,
Chicken, Macaroni and Cheese, String Beans, Yam Casserole, and Cornbread. So what's on the menu for your Southern Style or Northern Style Family Dinner? Any foreign traditions? Do you have a different type of tradition outside of Sunday?
2 people like this
12 responses
@LaurenInLA (2270)
• United States
22 Feb 10
I was born and raised in the midwest and our traditional Sunday dinner was roast beef with potatoes carrots and celery cooked in the pan along with the roast. I live in California now but I've carried on the same traditional Sunday dinner. the only other traditions that we have is that we have ham on Easter and on New Year's Eve we cook up a pot of polish sausage, potatoes and cabbage for everyone to eat after midnight.
@lenapoo (678)
• United States
22 Feb 10
I make that sometimes as well, but you know me when I do it I do it big. So therefore I add corn on the cob, broccoli n cheese, and some biscuits or cornbread. Nine times out of ten we have cornbread. That's just the southern way of doing things.
@LaurenInLA (2270)
• United States
22 Feb 10
You sound like my Aunt. She would invite us over for dinner and she would cook a turkey with dressing, a ham or a roast, string beans, corn, mashed potatoes, candied yams, salad, biscuits and then she would make two or sometimes three different pies (she wanted to make sure that everyone got a piece of their favorite pie). On top of it all, everything was done from scratch. All of that food for four adults and one child. As she got older, we got her out of that habit by treating her and my Uncle to dinner at a restaurant.
@lenapoo (678)
• United States
23 Feb 10
I don't know how it is that I forgot about dessert. We usually have sweet potatoe pie, pecan pie, lemon pound cake, red velvet cake, pineapple upside down cake, apple pie, and cookies.
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
23 Feb 10
We didn't have Sunday Dinners, though we live down here in the south. Growing up we had Friday get togethers that consisted mostly of ordering pizza and Chinese. Unless it was a birthday and their was a special request that is. Though I love Chicken And Dumplings, BBQ Chicken, London Broil, Cube Steak, Country Steak, and all the fixin's like that. Now that my husband and I are married, and living with his parents, we usually have sunday dinner but it always differs. It's not always a lot, sometimes it's just taco's, or just spaghetti, other times we go out to eat, other times it's pizza... sometimes even pizza and chinese!
@lenapoo (678)
• United States
23 Feb 10
Now I know for my family on Fridays we usually have a fish fry or something like that. The meal consists of Fried Fish, Hushpuppies, Coleslaw, Baked Beans, and Cabbage.
@bdugas (3578)
• United States
22 Feb 10
Sundays dinners when I was a kid was always things like fried chicken,mashed potatoes, gravy, or roast and potatoes, and what I would give for granny to make the chicken, she had this way of frying it, now since there is just 2 of us. We kind of settle for whatever we find in the fridge. Some times turns out to be hotdogs, or maybe breakfast later in the day. There is not that big family to sit around the table any more. When I lived in Ky there was always a pot of pinto beans on the table and there was always a big Sunday dinner, I think when the kids grow up and leave home, some of the fun goes out of cooking a big meal.Oh yes and at least once a month we had ham for dinner. And once a month some kind of steak. Now if I was to eat at mom's would probably get hamburger helper, she is not with us any more but I am sure she feels like she has done her years of big time dinner cooking.
@lenapoo (678)
• United States
22 Feb 10
I don't know what it is, but there's just something about grandma's cooking rite? Yeah, those were the good old days. My grandmother could fry the best fried chicken you ever tasted on this side of California. I miss those days.
@Chevee (5905)
• United States
22 Feb 10
My family traditional Sunday dinner is pretty much the same as yours. Fried chicken, collard greens, green beans, yams, etc,. the menu changes too. We have also started doing a 4th Sunday in the month Sunday dinner where each family is responsible for hosting a dinner in their home. Each family is to bring a covered dish. This is just to maintain the closeness and fellowship with each other. To continue and distribute the love for one another.
@lenapoo (678)
• United States
23 Feb 10
We have the Sunday dinner every Sunday except on 4th Sunday. That's youth Sunday at the church so we usually have everyone bring a covered dish and we fellowship with one another that way on the 4th Sunday of every month.
@daliaj (5674)
• India
22 Feb 10
We have the tradition of cooking a big Sunday lunch. We go out for dinner on Sundays or Saturdays. I inherited it from my parents. My parents get beef and chicken on all Sundays, on the way back from church and cook a big meal. Sunday is a day to relax and my husband and I like to cook a big lunch and take a good nap after lunch.
@lenapoo (678)
• United States
22 Feb 10
I know that a lot of people do that. They cook mid-afternoon and then eat later on at their regular dinner time. I don't do that too often unless we all agreed we wanted to go out somewhere to eat together and then I will make a light lunch and rest before we go out to dinner.
@chicago207 (57)
• United States
22 Feb 10
Well in Philippines usually we get together on Sunday. We invited some of our family and close friends to have dinner at home or we do in outside like picnic. We prepare special food like adobo chicken or pork, pancit, buko salad and other delicious food. Just have fun around with family and close friends playing games, music and dance!
@lenapoo (678)
• United States
2 Mar 13
that's similar to mine because we usually have alot of people over to the house and cook a big dinner. I believe that tradition will never die down.
@danishcanadian (28955)
• Canada
22 Feb 10
No particular tradition around here, just whatever we can find in the fridge that looks good to us, or whatever we can afford, if it's getting close to the end of the month. We only get paid once a month. LOL Our tradition, however, is when we eat. There is a Croatian show that we both like from 2 PM to 3:30 PM and a Serbian show from 5-7 PM. So between the two programs I go out and get a cup of coffee. When I come home, my husband, who loves to cook, makes dinner.
@jpso138 (7851)
• Philippines
23 Feb 10
There is not much tradition like this in our place. But I always make it a point that on Sunday, all the members in our family are present and we do eat together during lunch time. We do some barbecue, grill some pork and enjoy. There are also times that we go out to the beach to swim as well as dine. I consider Sunday a family day for us considering that most the weekdays, we are not complete due to work.
@PocketRocketsAA (628)
• Philippines
22 Feb 10
Hello Lena!
In our country Sundays are holy days of obligations are are usually spent with family. In my case my family and I hear mass out first before dining out, that saves my mom time and energy. But when we do prepare at home we usually have lamb with mint jelly, mashed potatoes, corn, and garlic rice. It varies too, sometimes we have steak or roasted chicken with cranberry sauce. We don't usually have this type of dinner outside Sundays, only if there is a special occasion though.
@lenapoo (678)
• United States
22 Feb 10
Wow! That's something totally different. I have had lamb chops before and it tasted just the same as a steak or something. Mashed Potatoes, and Corn are a regular in my household and sometimes we have a flavored rice such as herb and garlic. That's awesome. Now the mint jelly I don't know that I've heard of that before. Always open to soemthing new though.
@julia28 (140)
• India
22 Feb 10
Being an Indian , i like to make Indian food on sundays.Biryani ,pulao ,korma,chicken with curd are high on demand in my household.
Sometimes we have dinner out especially mughlai and chinese.We are strictly non vegetarians .Veggies without meat and chickens are strictly no no.I like to experiment with new dishes on Sundays and a sweet dish like Custard ,pudding ,shahi tukde are my family special.
@melloncollie (661)
• Philippines
23 Feb 10
Most Filipinos are family-oriented people. It is important for families to see, and eat together at least a week. It doesn't necessarily have to be dinner. It usually happens in the afternoon. My parents are know to host the most incredible get-togethers. Since we are engaged in a catering business, it's almost impossible not to see 10 or more dishes at the buffet table. Usually, during these weekly get-togethers, my mom doesn't stick with a theme. Like all pasta, all seafood, french, thai... or filipino. She makes sure that there's a dish for each. There has to be seafoods, beef, pork, veggies and so on... For my mom, those weekly get togethers help us strengthen our family bond.
@priyaxxx85 (108)
• India
3 Mar 13
At our place Sundays mean a lavish and special breakfast which actually turns up being a brunch. There is nothing special about dinner because the feel of Monday already stats creeping in. Everyone tries to relax and not get too worked out at night.
