Chicken backs and chicken necks, I used to eat left over food. That was all that was left after my brothers and sisters ate all the best parts of the chicken that was all that was left for me. He was an old time Italian, he used to cook all kinds of vegetables: mustard greens, turnip greens, collard greens. That's all we ate, we didn't eat much chicken so I didn't have to eat the backs and necks too often. That's all I had to eat, I had to like it. The point isn't whether you like it or not, the point is whether you want to eat or you want to starve. That's all we had to eat, its what he believed in, nothing but greens, cooked very little meat, had pieces of pickled meat for seasoning. He died of a heart attack, so much for eating all those vegetables. He used to drink a lot, he used to drink that old crow whiskey. That's why he didn't live that long. He had a hardened liver, that's what liquor does to you.
I can't remember going to restaurants, he did have a market though. I can't rembember but he always was in the grocery business. I think the first one he had was in the city on the corner of Josephine and Chipewa. Most people cooked themselves, you know, it was econmical. Oh the 40s and 50s. Well people those days people liked to cook. I mean you cook a pot of beans or what have you and you can feed a couple people for a few days. Spaghetti and gravy, gumbo, they were all economical meals.
