Best/worst In Convent Food

[Sarah147]

WORST FOOD

* A Benedictine order had some weird seafood mixture (clam, oyster, lobster, maybe squid, etc.) They had some foreign man working in their kitchen. Totally grossed me out!

* Most of the food with the FI Sisters. They are big on poverty. But I can't complain about their great supply of fruits; yummy soups; etc. They had a funny name for their food: something like "Musgo food" for "everything must go" because they just throw everything they have together!

* An order had hot dogs just about all the time. I got soooo sick of them. And sometimes they had lamb; I didn't care for it.


BEST FOOD

* Visitation Sisters had delicious food because I was there on feast days and some celebrations. Pizza was shipped in from out of state; they had steak; cheeses and coldcuts; yummy sticky buns one morning; etc.

* A certain carmelite order had delicious food at one of their convents, as they had a very good lay chef that came in. Yummy chicken, gravy and mashed potato dinners. Beef and gravy. Yummy simple desserts. Yummy breakfasts with meat, eggs, etc. It just felt like I was at home.

[LaPetiteSoeur]

The Fe.lic..ian.s have DELICIOUS soup. O my goodness. So good.

My old teachers made delicious homemade pirogues. And potatoe pancakes. Yum, Polish food.

I know the rectory isn't a convent, but our church garden has the largest, reddest, most delictable tomatoes ever. I could eat them everyday.

[vee]

[quote name='JoyfulLife' timestamp='1296683436' post='2207916']
WORST FOOD

* A Benedictine order had some weird seafood mixture (clam, oyster, lobster, maybe squid, etc.) They had some foreign man working in their kitchen. Totally grossed me out!

[/quote]

Was he Canadian? They gross me out too!

[franciscanheart]

I had the best curry in the whole wide world when I visited the CRFs in NYC. I can't for the life of me remember which of the sisters made it but it was so delish. And the best part was that all the ingredients of course came from the same pantry that feeds the homeless. (Well, most all of them. The sisters do get to use some ingredients that just aren't practical for the pantry.)

[Sarah147]

He was something like Korean, or along those lines.

[franciscanheart]

[quote name='vee8' timestamp='1296684752' post='2207926']
Was he Canadian? They gross me out too!
[/quote]

[Sarah147]

LOL

[vee]

[quote name='JoyfulLife' timestamp='1296684984' post='2207931']
He was something like Korean, or along those lines.
[/quote]

Korean? KIMCHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!! Which reminds me of Laetitia Crucis (who is half Korean) and I wonder how much liver meatloaf she has had to eat?

[Sarah147]

iiiiiick!

[Tally Marx]

I suppose I'm lucky; I have never had bad food.
As for the best... I don't know. Lunch with the local FSPs is great; Sr. Agnes is Sicilian and her bread and sauce and spaghetti was amesome!
But, the SsEWs can [i]coook[/i]!!! Consistently well. Everything I ate while there was great (except the cookies...tough little hockey pucks... but those were pre-packaged donated deals.) It's a tie.

[dominicansoul]

[quote name='vee8' timestamp='1296685775' post='2207940']
Korean? KIMCHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!! Which reminds me of Laetitia Crucis (who is half Korean) and I wonder how much liver meatloaf she has had to eat?
[/quote]

liver meatloaf FTW!!!!!

[ksterling]

Of all the things that scare me about religious life - this is number 1. I am the pickiest eater in the world. My mother was a terrible cook (I'm not speaking out of school - she will admit it herself!). My biggest fear is mac and coagulated milk - the very smell of which turns my stomach. No matter how hard I try or how much I want to "offer it up" I could not eat mac and coagulated milk - or grilled coagulated milk or anything with coagulated milk except pizza (don't ask - I have no idea why). When I visited the cloistered Dominicans a few weeks ago I actually brought some food with me in case I hated theirs. I was in luck - they had very nice food - some choices (sandwiches) so I didn't have to eat anything I didn't like. I didn't even have to offer anything up. I brought them a whole bunch of cookies from Cheryl's (great mail order gifts) as a bribe to not make me eat food I didn't like. Turns out it wasn't necessary - healthy, wholesome, traditional food. Now I worry about the 2 visits I have coming up in a few weeks. Time to order more Cheryl's.

This is so weird - this website changes the word ch**se to "coagulated milk" By ch**se I mean the yellow stuff on pizza

Edited February 5, 2011 by ksterling

[MissScripture]

[quote name='ksterling' timestamp='1296924640' post='2209032']
Of all the things that scare me about religious life - this is number 1. I am the pickiest eater in the world. My mother was a terrible cook (I'm not speaking out of school - she will admit it herself!). My biggest fear is mac and coagulated milk - the very smell of which turns my stomach. No matter how hard I try or how much I want to "offer it up" I could not eat mac and coagulated milk - or grilled coagulated milk or anything with coagulated milk except pizza (don't ask - I have no idea why). When I visited the cloistered Dominicans a few weeks ago I actually brought some food with me in case I hated theirs. I was in luck - they had very nice food - some choices (sandwiches) so I didn't have to eat anything I didn't like. I didn't even have to offer anything up. I brought them a whole bunch of cookies from Cheryl's (great mail order gifts) as a bribe to not make me eat food I didn't like. Turns out it wasn't necessary - healthy, wholesome, traditional food. Now I worry about the 2 visits I have coming up in a few weeks. Time to order more Cheryl's.

This is so weird - this website changes the word ch**se to "coagulated milk" By ch**se I mean the yellow stuff on pizza
[/quote]
My sister is proof that joining the convent changes your taste buds, or you get the grace to eat it or SOMETHING! When she left for the convent, she could not eat lettuce. Something about the texture was just that she couldn't do it, and she never had. She wouldn't eat mushrooms. Seafood made her sick. She couldn't stand tea. That was in August. When I went to visit her in December, she told me she eats salad ever day and enjoys it. She loves mushrooms. They even had a seafood bake one day, and she thought it was delicious. And she drinks (and loves) sweet tea! So, in a nutshell, while it's something to think about, when you join a convent, somehow, it will work! Don't worry about it, too much!

[ksterling]

That is sooooo reassuring, MS - Nashville is on my list although I'm having trouble scheduling a visit. I hate seafood too. If the NDs can turn a seafood hater into a seafood lover, they are truly miracle workers! Thankfully, I like lettuce.


Kat

[dominicansoul]

Alcohol is offered at convents, but of course, in respectable amounts, Sisters aren't lushes...


I discovered some of the best beers while being in the convent.

One of the beer favorites at the DSMME? Labatt Blue I had never had it, and I had never tasted anything like it...those "piney hops" are the best!

[Cherie]

I can't really think of worst, because every convent I've been at has had some great food!

Absolute best was when I first visited the community I later joined - Tortellini Soup made by one of the Sister's moms. BEST. SOUP. EVER. I joked, and the Sisters did with me, that it was[i] that meal [/i]that made me enter the convent.

Surprisingly, though, we didn't have it too often after I entered. But when we did, oh boy! I definitely went back for seconds!

[OnlySunshine]

[quote name='InHisLove726' timestamp='1231871246' post='1750218']
This is a topic I never would have thought of. Good choice!

I have only visited the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus in St. Louis, MO. I went there this past August. I don't remember much about the food, because, well...I was sick with the stomach bug. I mostly ate at the evening meal, because it was like I had morning sickness not accompanied by pregnancy. LOL!

I remember eating the soup they had there, and it was really good! I think it was vegetable soup, which I am a sucker for anyway.

The night we ate in the courtyard in the sisters' garden was the best food that we had. It was one of their meatless nights (they abstain from meat 3 days out of the week), and we had Mexican inspired food. So we ate little flatbreads with melted coagulated milk (it keeps changing it to coagulated milk, but it's ch-eese) (yum!), and they had two different kinds of rice (spicy red rice, and white for the ones who couldn't stomach the spicy stuff), corn, and tortilla chips with salsa. It was really good! I love their lemonade too. I went back for about 3 or 4 cups of that stuff, LOL!


I'm going to be visiting the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus in Milwaukee, WI sometime this year, so I bet the food will be just as good, if not better.
[/quote]

I didn't read the whole thread, but I don't think I posted what the food was like at the Northern Province (the one I was planning to enter in 2009). It was better than the Central Province's offerings, definitely, because there was a little more variety. For breakfast, the other retreatant (who is a novice now) and I were allowed to choose from cereal, grapefruit, orange juice, milk, water, and hot tea. On Sunday, the Sisters placed bacon and sausage on the little buffet for us.

For lunch on Saturday, we shared tuna subs from the Cousin's Cafe. We had just heard a talk from a temporary deacon and we ate lunch with him in the common room. We also had water and grape juice (I mixed both as I noticed that some of the other Sisters said, if you don't, it was too sweet, LOL). We had chips and a veggie platter with dip on the side. It was really yummy.

We were given a snack in the mid-afternoon because Bl. Mother Maria Teresa wanted her Sisters to be well nourished since they participate all day in the apostolates, so the Sisters offered some coffee and cookies.

Saturday night was a very interesting experience because the Sisters ate with the other retreatant and I in the common room instead of the refectory so we could experience a quiet meal with a cassette tape of Archbishop Fulton Sheen playing in the background. That night, we had a really good rice noodle casserole that the Filipino Sisters had made with hard boiled eggs and veggies. I love those thin rice noodles! We also had some salad on the side and some really good hot herbal tea. It didn't need any sugar at all.

[FutureSister2009]

At my retreat with my Order, we had Chinese takeout! And it was delicious!!!

[carmenchristi]

I'm a Franciscan... we always eat well.... especially when I cook . One of my sisters makes the best cakes ever. I've eaten some pretty gross stuff too, but that's when the people in the kitchen have no food-sense... hahahha. I like everything that falls into the "normal" food category though!!

[faithcecelia]

The worst I ever had was spinach whizzed up with a white sauce There is very little I can't stomach but that beat me Im afraid - my NM thankfully knew I wasn't a fussy eater so allowed me to leave it and not take it in future.

The worst I ever had to deal with as a cook was the last carrots from the garden, from about 6 crates I got enough to just about do a portion for the community, but there was an awful lot of orange slimy sludge as well!!!

The best? Well it just has to be the summer fruits - bowls and bowls of raspberries, sweet gooseberries, cherries, blackcurrants etc etc, it was amazing! When I had my retreat (in a caravan in the garden!) it was a boiling hot week and I just scavenged from the garden, it was wonderful. *sigh* those were the days.