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Family Sunday 2.0

Sam Wilson tries to revive the traditional Sunday lunch. With a few twists.

By Sam Wilson

Pic: Tammy Gardner

Now that the boys are getting bigger, we’re trying to build more ritual into their lives. I’ve already told you about Wednesday Pizza Party night, and Monday Night Kick-a-ball… but the one we are working on at the moment is the big one. The one mythologised by generations before us, stamped on all manner of morally-fibered merchandise and Betty Crockered way into the heart of modern mommy guilt.

The Sunday Family Lunch

It’s no mean feat resurrecting the Sunday lunch, as it comes with all sorts of unexpected expectations. For example, you need to both own a white table cloth and be confident in your ability to get red wine stains out of it. You need a hot tray. You need a slotted spoon, serving dishes, a dining room table, a whole bunch of relatives… it’s all a little traumatic.

Or you can just say… sod it; we’ll figure out our own Sunday ritual. And so far I feel we’re on the right track.

First off, as neither of our parents or any of our siblings live near us, we labelled our best friends Bryan and Terry as family and got them to commit to coming over for the day at least every second Sunday. (It wasn’t very hard. It seems everyone’s starved for a little family ritual these days.)

Next, we all piled into the kitchen to figure out how to make a roast. Those of you who have already mastered this art – I salute you. For the rest, I need to let you know that, sadly, it’s harder than Mom made it look. Bunging the meat in the oven is the easy bit; all the white-sauced cauliflower and crispy roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings – that’s the bitch.

And while we’ve all got good at our own bit of the traditional Sunday roast – Bryan’s Yorkshire puds are gloriously puffy, Terry’s apple pie is cinnamon-tastic and we all bow down to Jamie Oliver’s gravy prowess – we found, as the world’s first ‘dial-a-meal-any-meal’ generation, we’re not that geared to eating the same thing over and over.

So we’ve settled instead on Spectacular Sundays, where the rule is we can make whatever we want for lunch as long as a) it’s hot; b) there’s far too much of it and c) It had to take hours of communal cooking. (Because that’s the fun bit. Everyone in aprons flicking flour at each other.)

We seem to tend towards international cooking… we’ve had Mexican Sunday, with nachos, burritos, tacos and lashings of guacamole. We’ve had Chinese Sunday, with cashew nut chicken and sizzling beef and vegetable chow mein and shrimp crackers and sticky pork ribs. (Actually, that turned into more of a Chinese WEEK.) We’ve gone Indian, Italian and I think we’re almost ready for another good old British roast with all the trimmings.

But while we are all very proud of ourselves, and this cooking together lark, there is one element of our own family Sundays we’ve been unable to re-create. It’s all too shaming, but the truth is… the Google Generation SUCKS at trivial pursuit.

As Bryan put it so succinctly just last Sunday, after a humiliating 2-hour Trivial Pursuit bout with nary a pie slice in sight:
“Loved ones, while we may have reclaimed our right to the slotted spoon, I am afraid we have – collectively it appears – outsourced our general knowledge to Wikipedia. Please, please can we stop this and have a Wii Tennis Challenge instead?”

Love my family, with both its traditional and not so traditional bits.

What are your Sunday traditions? Do you go by the book or have you tailor made them?

Read more by Sam Wilson

Article originally in

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Nathalie

1/7/2010 5:21 PM

Ok so I've tried the Yorkshire pudding thing THRICE! The first time I nearly set the kitchen alight and you don't want to know about the rest. Could Bryan please please share his secret on how to actually get it nice and puffy if he has one?

Tina

11/20/2009 12:20 PM

Ha, I come from a huge Portuguese family, and I am so used to the EVERY Sunday big family lunch, that I can't imagine my life without that crazy traumatic experience of squashing a ton of relatives into a small yard with loud voices, loud traditional music, way too much wine and even more food. Everyone should get a taste of what its like to have somewhere to go on a Sunday, where you can pig out and take an afternoon nap afterwards.

Gabriele

11/20/2009 8:53 AM

Yes, I could not agree more with this relation building, old fashion and wholesome ritual. When last have we embraced, or created a family tradition in the comfort of our own home. It is scary to see how artificial our lives have become. All of us running of to the mall for a cup of coffee, a meal, a quick snack. When last did we invite a friend, a daughter in law for a tea party into our home to meet our intimate friends too. It is frightening to see all of us rushing somewhere to meet someone. All of us long for rest and loving relationship, lets do it, the old ways have not been as bad as our generation makes it out to be. I join you in this loving and real way of relationship building, lets cook, eat and gather around the kitchen table once again. Invite an aunt, a granny and share family stories, lets laugh at our own eccentricity and allow the next generation to belong to a line of ancestors who have many gifts to offer. Gabriele

Cindy Cullen

11/19/2009 8:36 AM

Congrats Sam! You have really given me an idea and though my family all live far away as well, I already have a friend or 2 in mind to commit to a Sunday Lunch. Thanks for the great ideas!

mdc

11/19/2009 7:33 AM

Sunday lunch ROCKS! Pity I have to cook it myself these days (and it's fun to have KFC at the dining room table!). I do thank my mom every day for teaching me the good Afrikaans female tradition of cooking up a storm! I HATED it as a kid, but she made my brothers cook as well and between us we can now pack a mean sunday lunch! Thanks for a great article!

Chez

11/18/2009 9:40 PM

We've got a stunning dining room table - which we bought about four years ago when we moved into our house. I think we've used it about 15 times to eat at ... As far as Sunday lunches go, only when my mom or mom-in-law cook do we have that. Otherwise it's KFC or nothing or something similar ... But I think I want to start something like that - my little one is a year, and it would be nice to have that for him when he's older ...

Michelle

11/18/2009 8:02 PM

LOL! Love it! Our dining room table is covered in laptops & homework but we try to clear it every few days! Easy roast potatoes - slice them into 1-2cm slices, pour some oil in yr roasting pan/Pyrex, sprinkle both sides some herbs (Ina Paarman's potato spice is also good), cook till done at 180. I also add the chicken pieces and some veges - the best, and so easy! And, yes, patience.. they take a while but are oh so worth the wait!

Zola

11/18/2009 3:47 PM

I actually bought a dinning room set to try and revive Sunday lunch as well. I'm sad to say, i have not eaten on my beautiful purchase since i bought it. Thanks for a great article, i will certainly start cooking this sunday.

Pebbles

11/18/2009 3:30 PM

Sounds bloody amazing! Super idea, keep at it! P.S. the secret to those divine roast potatoes is loads of oil, and ages lying in the oil at about 180 degrees. Impatience and roast potatoes don't go together.

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