Rethinking the family meal
With four kids under 10 at home, PR pro Tat Read tells us how she decided to take a pleasure-focused approach to diffuse dinnertime drama
“Food has always been one of my passions. Growing up, we had big family meals sitting at the table. That’s actually a large part of why my husband Joe (Callaghan) and I live about a minute away from my sister. Before the pandemic, we had big dinners with her and my parents at least once a week, no matter what. Now, like so many other families, we are missing that so dearly.
“We generally have four kids running around, so with no extra hands to help keep our oneyear-old entertained in his high chair while we are cooking and trying to get the other kids to the table, Joe and I are left to divide and conquer. To manage as best we can, we’ve decided to focus on creating moments around food, rather than trying to swing the long family dinners we once had. Luckily, Joe is very logical since he’s a mathematician, so he doesn’t worry about those kinds of potential guilt traps.
“I’m very quality conscious and don’t like the idea of too much processed food, so we focus on pared-down foods. We love a charcuterie-style dinner that’s based around a sampling of simple but delicious ingredients. When we have a few more minutes, we often make panseared salmon with lemon and garlic and broccoli topped with sesame seeds. It’s so delicious and a winner with all the kids — even if they’re eating at a few stools we’ve pulled into the kitchen.
“But as a parent, especially in lockdown, it’s important to know that there is at least one meal you can rely on when absolute chaos is raging. For us, that meal is General Assembly Pizza. I’ve been working with them since they launched in 2017. Then, when COVID-19 hit, the team started to innovate and came up with the world’s first pizza subscription service. It’s an interesting way to scale a restaurant that would traditionally be challenging, and a great way to explore ecommerce.
“Personally, it also means that we know we have backup ready when Joe is heading to the kitchen to start preparing dinner with that look on his face — every parent knows that ‘what am I going to do about dinner’ look.
“He blasts Poison or Elvis, pops a few of the frozen pizzas into the oven and rocks out with the kids for a few minutes. My stepson, Clifford, 9, likes the margherita; Ksenija, 5, loves the pepperoni; Cash, 2, likes both but picks off the toppings; and baby Ro, 1, chews on the crusts.
“Then, the kids and I will bake together: The older ones set up the ingredients and the younger ones do the mixing. It’s messy when our two-year-old gets into it, but it’s so fun. We have mastered a perfectly traditional chocolate chip cookie — and we sometimes add extra cocoa or peanut butter. The most important part for the kids, of course, is calling which cookie they want before they go into the oven.
“When we’re finished, the kitchen is a disaster and Joe comes in to do the cleanup. The kitchen has become his sanctuary.
“He cares for the kids during the day while I’m working so being on dish duty means he gets to spend half an hour alone, listening to an audio book in peace and preparing the kitchen for the next bout of chaos.”