On Dias De Los Muertos: Oyster Stew for Omi

Future Farmboy woke up this morning reminding us that this weekend has been set aside by our brothers south of the border as a time to remember loved ones and as a time to face our own mortality. [The powers that be aligned the holiday on Nov. 1 & 2 with All Saints Day and All Souls Day.]

Having just faced our fears on Halloween, Future Farmboy decided he wanted to remember his Omi today by eating her favorite foods and sitting down at supper, holding hands and praying like she did.

I love that boy. It was a great idea. But after more than 10 years knowing Omi before she died last year, I wasn’t sure I knew what her favorite food was. I could think of tons of favorites that she served me and my family over the years.

In fact, she was my number one recipe adviser. I could call her about just about anything I was cooking and she would talk me through her recipes or advise me if I was about to go off the beaten path with substitutions and uncommon flavor combinations.

However, the first thing that came to the iFarmer’s mind was oyster stew. Seems like an odd tradition for a Midwest family. But sure enough, Omi’s relatives have been serving oyster stew for decades…as soon as the last farmer in the family completed the harvest.

The harvest was a competition. And it was never good to be last. No punishment, except the shame of delaying the harvest meal celebration.
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Omi also loved to serve us chili. I learned today that was partly because her Aunt Margaret couldn’t stomach the oyster stew, so chili was served alongside.

Knowing we wouldn’t be able to get the kids to eat oysters, we opted to serve them some of Omi’s comfort foods: the best mac-n-cheese I’ve ever had and the iFarmer’s spin on her salmon patties.

For dessert, a huge tray of pumpkin cream capped with real whipped topping.

Thanks to Farmer Wil for the family history lessons today.

If you have any harvest family traditions to share, please share in the comments or shoot me an email.

[Recipe notes: Farmer Wil confirmed that the basic oyster stew recipe we found was pretty accurate. There wasn’t apparently a single recipe, nor a single cook responsible. For this version, I read through the comments and added potato. I also used my hand mixer after sauteing the veggies so that the soup would be creamier.]