How many of you remember eating cornbread and milk? I certainly do. Many times it was a nighttime snack at our house.

It was a simple mixture made by crumbling leftover cornbread into a tall drinking glass and topping it with milk. My dad preferred buttermilk, although I preferred sweet milk. (There is no way I could partake in buttermilk.)

For the younger generation, the term sweet milk is for regular fresh whole milk. Today you might use 2% milk, which is the milk of choice in our house these days.

Bread and milk was a great snack and I suppose, with the milk, even healthy.

Of course many of us grew up going to the local general store or country grocery store. There were many scattered throughout the area. Every small town had one or even two stores that carried about everything you needed.

I recall going to Slone’s Grocery in Nolan to get fresh sliced baloney (bologna), cheese or spiced ham. That made for a tasty sandwich. Of course, frying the baloney in an iron skillet made it smell and taste even better. A fried piece of baloney, smothered with mustard or mayo between two fresh slices of Betsy Ross bread was a delight. Throw in a slice of onion and it was even better for some taste buds.

Those stores carried other things like potted meat and Vienna sausages. The potted meat came in little aluminum cans and was good if you were heading into the hills for a hike. You could take some saltine crackers and a jar of cold water and that was your lunch. If you were lucky enough, you might have had a fresh water spring coming out of the mountainside. Trust me, there is no better water than that.

I can remember getting a little hungry at night while watching our black-and-white TV – all three channels we got back then. Mom or Dad would make me a peanut butter and jelly or jam sandwich. Or sometimes some cheese on saltine crackers with a glass of milk.

My mom was a great baker and candy maker. So we usually had fresh apple pies or chocolate cakes. Her fudge and other homemade candy were simply heavenly sent. She made everything from scratch. What I wouldn’t give for one of her black walnut brownies now!

Have you ever had cinnamon toast or sugar toast made in the oven? It was simply white bread, with butter and cinnamon or sugar baked in the oven. That was a great snack or even something we ate for breakfast.

I recall mom slicing bananas, putting them in a bowl of cold milk, and sprinkling them with sugar. That was also a breakfast item at my house. Of course the fruit and the milk were a good way to get you started and the sugar may have gotten me out of my sleepy stupor. I wasn’t a morning person, so she had a hard time getting me up for school and sending me on my way.

There were many old-fashioned country dishes you don’t hear much about. Maybe for some of us baby boomers, but not the younger generation.

Nothing is better than a fresh skillet of fried green tomatoes in the summertime. Those golden brown slices are so tasty. It doesn’t get much better than that.

How many of you had killed lettuce and onions? It’s a concoction of fresh lettuce and green onions with bacon grease sprinkled over the mixture. Some people may even have had some other wild greens mixed in with the lettuce if they knew what to look for when out picking the wild green leaves. Some may even put pieces of bacon in with the greens. This was usually served with pinto beans and cornbread.

My mouth is watering as I write this.

Then there was polk salad (or poke salet). I’m not talking about the song “Polk Salad Annie.” Although I am sure that is what inspired the lyrics.

The country dish is so-named because it is made with the wild green or leafy weed. I’ve heard this could even be poisonous if not prepared correctly. Since pokeweed is especially prevalent in the southern Appalachia Mountains, the make-do recipe became a type of foraged staple for some, particularly in rural and impoverished households. They made do with what they had, especially during the depression era. The recipe was similar to killed lettuce and onions.

The wild onion, called ramps, is another green used by mountain people. There is still a ramp festival held every year in Richwood, West Virginia. West Virginians hungrily welcomed the appearance of the wild leek or ramp, one of the first edible plants to ripen in springtime. I think there are several other ramp festivals or weekends in this state and in other southern states.

“Cathead” biscuits are a staple in the country. I heard they are called so because they are homemade hand-shaped or free-form biscuits. (Not with a cookie cutter or mold.) Some of the old-timers called them this because they were thought to resemble cat heads. Once baked, these biscuits are also as large as cat heads – at least, that is what some say.

Appalachian folk have always been gifted at making the best out of anything, such as using leftover mashed potatoes to make old-fashioned potato cakes. My mom also made these. This is something I haven’t had in years, but I think I may try to make some for nostalgia.

Country people can make a meal out of about anything. Much of this came from the hard times and low-income families. My wife Vicki says I can whip up a meal when she thinks there is nothing in the kitchen to cook. I take this compliment proudly.

I hope you enjoy some of the old favorite meals and snacks handed down by our forefathers. Until next time.

(Kyle Lovern is a longtime journalist in the Tug Valley. He is now a retired freelance writer and columnist for the Mountain Citizen.)