What Is This Stuff?

Sometimes the food God provides isn’t very appetizing. But it’s just what we need.

There are probably some older folks in your congregation who grew up in homes where mystery meat of dubious provenance showed up on the dinner table with clocklike regularity. Today’s Gen Alpha kids — who have grown up with gentle parenting and high-level nutritional awareness — might consider these meals child abuse, to put it mildly.

Liver and onions come to mind immediately. Or creamed chipped beef on toast. Or anything involving gelatin with objects suspended inside it that didn’t appear to belong there. These weren’t occasional culinary experiments. They were cheap staples that were not only filling, but — according to the insane parents of that era — unquestionably good for you.

Even today, many an enfant terrible seated at the dinner table and contemplating the nutritional value of green food like broccoli, Brussels sprouts or asparagus will utter the timeless protest: “What is this stuff?”

It’s not really a request ...