7 Simple Food Traditions to Start With Your Family

But just what is a family food tradition?

Well, if you’re not familiar with what a food tradition is, lemme explain.

It’s a way of using food to connect with others around us. And sometimes they’re pretty time-intensive like making fry bread for the neighborhood. Other times their the unspoken moments that happen around the table week to week as we share a meal.

These traditions might be made of specific recipes or meals eaten on certain holidays. And maybe they’re not recipes at all – they’re the way someone prepared the food. The way we share it when we’re together.

A family food tradition is little more than the normal family traditions you might be used to. But these always include an element of food. So just like other traditions, they’re another way to strengthen family bonds, create lasting memories, and connect families to their history. You can also use them to create a unique family culture.

While they might be tied to strong religious, ethnic or cultural aspects, they don’t have to be. And they might be passed down over time, but can also be started right here. In your 21st century kitchen with a toddler or two running laps around the dining room table while the baby crawls in & out of your feet.

Whether they’re seasonal or monthly these are little rituals everyone knows about or remembers. Visiting grandparents in the summer. Cookies, cocoa & Motown parties while decorating the Christmas tree (usually in matching pjs).

The typical family tradition stirs up memories. So does a food tradition. Maybe it’s the smell of cardamom that brings to mind a memory or a person. Could be the sound of bacon popping in a skillet.

However those memories come up, they make us giddy with happiness. Anticipation. Excitement for something good.

A family food tradition does the same thing except these sorts of traditions happen more frequently (usually). And they have a taste memory attached to them too. They’re a meal or moment around food that gets repeated again & again & usually signals comfort or belonging.

Family food traditions are lower-lift than extravagant holiday or special occasion-type traditions. And since they’re easier to start & repeat, they have a huge impact on family time around the dinner table.

When I think back on my childhood, I don’t remember perfectly folded napkins or fancy chinaware. Nahh.

I remember begging my mom to make sloppy joe-filled Grands biscuits in the fall. Rushing to get a scoop of her rare broccoli salad dish before she added the raisins in summertime.

I think about making stick-to-ya-ribs pancakes on Saturday mornings with my Dad. Getting to lick the bowl after making cupcakes.

Dinner was never a Michelin star production, but you could smell it from the hallway upstairs. The table wasn’t Martha Stewart staged, but it was bursting with beauty nonetheless.

My point is, family food traditions don’t have to be elaborate. They don’t even have to be inherited. Instead, they’re opportunities to connect on a deeper level. And guess what? It can start with you, girl.

Here are some family traditions around food you might like.

Same meal, same time every week. (Or every other, whichever way you choose.)

And whether you do pancakes, waffles, french toast or muffins – doesn’t matter.

I love this tradition because it gives us all something to look forward to. It’s not always pancakes here – although who can resist a nice stack of thick cakes?!

But celebrating the end of a long week & the start of some extended family time is worthwhile. We often do Saturday breakfasts big. Our next favorite to this is biscuits & bacon – a food tradition my husband & I started in college. (And still do 15 years later!)

You might make your own pancake/waffle mix like I do or maybe you pull down that big ole box of Bisquick from the cabinet & jazz it up like my Dad does.

Whatever graces your table on Saturday’s should feel like an invitation. The rest of the fam will come to learn that they can post up in the kitchen for a good vibe or they can grab a whisk & get to it too.

Play the music loud to wake everyone up. Make a breakfast bar instead & let kids choose their toppings or take turns flipping cakes.

Reflect on the week you had. Dream about the week coming.

And always, double the vanilla. ✨

This one is what it is. When someone’s special day rolls around, ask what they’d like to eat that day. Maybe they get to pick all their meals. Maybe they just choose dinner & a dessert.

What happens when you start a very simple food tradition like this, you’ll see what your family routinely loves to eat. You also show them you’re listening when that meal pops up on the table throughout the rest of the year too.

This is another family tradition my parents started with me as a child. Every year, it was the same question. “What do you want for dinner?” (& dessert too usually). And every year, it was the same response. Olive Garden & ice cream.

I’ve since learned how to make a soulful mac & cheese but at 8 years old I didn’t want anything more than that (& their endless breadsticks, ofc!). The special piece of this memory of that tradition is that my Dad would call me his pet name & say “I could’ve made that at home!”

Now as I entered teenage years, the food changed to one of Red Robin’s signature salads, but I always think back to those times & smile.

So try this one! You’ll tie a moment to a memory instantly.

You don’t have to go out for dinner on these occasions. If you chose to do something special at home instead, you’d never go wrong with a traditional sour cream pound cake. Girl……✋🏽 just…mail me a piece, please.

But if your home has multiple people – you’ve got that many more opportunities to make something special out of a meal or dessert!

If your family is full of adventurous eaters, this one will be exceptionally fun. And if there’s a few picky eaters, it’s a great way to introduce a new food or two at a slow pace.

Maybe your family has a few cultural food traditions – like Kimjang – the communal tradition of making (& sharing!) kimchi in Korea. Or serving Borscht – a Ukrainian beet soup that my kids & I learned about in one of their library books this week.

And you know, if this was passed down to you from generations ago, that’s beautiful. But if not & you feel like traveling a bit, this works too.

Once a month, pick a new-to-you recipe – maybe something from a different region of the world. (Oooooo won’t that spice things up a bit?!) Then make it as a family.

Now, you can do this as often or not as you want. But really pull everyone out their corners for this one.

Maybe that meal means you explore an international market. Or you learn to fry chiles & other spices. What if…you all cooked together?

I know, I know! That one might be a lil radical.

This family food tradition connects the people you love with the food you’ve been curious about in all ways. And if you wanna see this in action, I wrote a story about how I used new recipes to connect with my family.

From the prep & seeing or smelling new foods in a market. To the cook where you hear the sounds of Kitchen Stadium & feel like an Iron Chef forreal forreal. Sweating buckets learning a new skill or using a new tool.

Allllll the way to the table & finally tasting the finished product of your efforts. If done together it’s a great team-building exercise. And one I recommend even if your kitchen is a tiny 2 x 6 galley. (Been there, done that, girl! It’s doable!)

While you’re at the family table with this glorious new meal that everyone may or may not like, laugh about the time you just had. Talk through what you could do next time. Share something you learned about an ingredient or where the recipe originated. Maybe there’s even a story behind why it was chosen!

The food got you to the table. The time you spend there will have you coming back again.

Similar to the last family food tradition, this one is about sharing space in the kitchen & a meal. But it’s different because the featured meal or side this time is familiar. It’s either a total fam fave (the best kinds). Or it’s something Dad grew up eating that he’s finally decided to share with the family.

You can try doing this once a week or once a month. But when you sit down to be together, be sure to tell the story behind the dish.

Make it even better by inviting older family members over to share their versions of the story! I mean c’mon. Dad would probably leave out a few key details anyway, amIright?

Truly nothing goes better with good food than great company. So this is probably my favorite family food tradition we started at our home.

This one doesn’t have a ton of bells & whistles, but it reaches down deeeeeeeeeeep into the soul. My favorite stories have been told around the family gathering table. And since my household family is still very young (just my husband & I with our 3 under 3), the stories are usually peeks into just our pasts.

Making a meal to cherish the past soothes us. Sharing that meal with someone who’s never walked that road prepares them.

These DIY sort of meals are fun for everyone. (Plus they’re also a good way to use up leftovers sometimes.)

Whether it’s a taco bar with all the toppings or loaded baked potatoes. It’s these sort of meals that build independence around food while also making things fun.

Pizza nights are the same way. And you can easily have this sort of night on repeat if you batch the pizza dough & freeze it ahead of time.

I’ve already given you a few common ideas, but here’s 120+ more interactive meal ideas.

Low-lift, low-stress & allllll the excitement. This is one family food tradition that’s sure to spark some conversations.

Slow-cooked meat is tender to the bone. It falls apart with just one glance & the threat of a fork. It’s the type of meal where you almost melt into your bowl eating it.

So using a kitchen gadget like a crock-pot or Instant Pot can not only make it easy for you to have a home cooked meal. It also makes that meal something your family comes running to when dinner’s ready.

The food in this case is less important than the pause.

You may not have the time to stand on the floor making lasagna from scratch every week. And that’s ok!

But if you’re not batch cooking some casserole dishes on a regular, be sure to grab one a’ these from your local thrift store or Facebook Marketplace. It will pay for itself in 5 meals or less.

What I love about this (as an adult now) is that sometimes breakfast as a family isn’t always possible. Even on weekends. But there’s no reason breakfast can’t come to the table in the evening.

Growing up, I always used to love having breakfast for dinner. (Even though I didn’t eat the eggs.) Anytime we could have my Dad’s fam famous pancakes and some sausage or bacon was a good time.

And to this day, whenever we visit my parents for an extended stay – there’s a breakfast spread waiting at some point during the trip. ❤️

There are meals we make that remind us of home. Of special people & special times. This is one of those for me.

So be encouraged girl. If you miss having little moments of specialness at the table, try one of these ideas.

You don’t need a reason to start a tradition. And you don’t need anything fancy. Just start.

After all, it’s not always the food itself that matters. It’s the memories & togetherness we feel sharing meals. It’s the love that goes in every meal coming out that kitchen.

Give yourself & your family something to look forward to every week. The memories you make over these seemingly simple meals will be the ones you all come back to as years pass.