The dinner conversation turned to food in general.

“I’ve been wondering what people commonly ate a couple of generations ago that we don’t eat any more,” one hungry person said.

“Rutabagas!” another one said jokingly. Well, did most people ever eat many?

One person said, “When I was growing up, sometimes we would have plain rice with milk and sugar and cinnamon, for dinner.” In 2016 “dinner” is now called “lunch.”

The family was not poor and the mother was a good cook who liked to cook, but some meals were very simple.

In much earlier days in this country, countr...