LEFSE, ANYONE? Susan Thurin, Chippewa Valley author and former UW-Stout English professor, has crafted her latest collection of stories — rooted in one of the most foundational comforts for all: food. Less Salt, More Sugar, a Little Wine: Cooking in Old Age, edited by Thurin, offers a compilation of regional recipes and even funny stories from inside the kitchen. (Submitted photo)

How do we best preserve the recipes of our loved ones? Recipe cards offer one solution, but Susan Thurin, published author and former UW-Stout English professor, has taken a different, literary approach to share her mother’s favorite desserts and other insights on global food systems.

Less Salt, More Sugar, a Little Wine: Cooking in Old Age, edited by Thurin, offers a compilation of recipes and stories from inside the kitchen. The collection brings together not just one lifetime of cooking experiences, but those of many Chippewa Valley residents whom Thurin has befriended.

Thurin credits much of her curiosity toward food systems and the recipes shared amongst family and friends to her extensive travels and living abroad. Her experiences as an educator in Sweden, China and England exposed her to different cuisines and ingredients.

"Each generation has its cooking shortcuts and idiosyncrasies. Cooking and eating in old age allows for both creativity and individuality."

SUSAN THURIN

AUTHOR

Despite her vast travels and life’s ebbs and flows, one Midwestern truth remained: Food provided a constant point of connection, just as it had in her childhood meals at home.

“Food is the traditional way of getting together — talking around the table and eating a meal,” Thurin said. “Families aren’t as big as they used to be, but people still sit around the table and eat together.

The book cover for Less Salt, More Sugar, a Little Wine: Cooking in Old Age, edited by Susan Thurin.

“Maybe it’s breakfast or maybe it’s the evening meal, but that’s always an important way of families being together: sharing food,” she added.

Less Salt, More Sugar, a Little Wine includes generational recipes and new, improvised creations from dozens of community members; these are complemented by Thurin’s own research on popular ingredients — all spiced up with a bit of humor along the way.

Thurin’s collection also includes reflections about how cooking changes in old age, especially for those cooking for one or two individuals.

“Cooking in old age is complicated by frequent changes in nutrition advice, various dietary restrictions, health warnings, and medications,” Thurin shares in the book’s first chapter.

“Each generation has its cooking shortcuts and idiosyncrasies. Cooking and eating in old age allows for both creativity and individuality.”

From appetizers and snacks such as “Mom Swenson’s Lefse” and “Tortilla Roll-Ups” to main dishes like “Cabbage Casserole” and “The Bean Weiner Thing,” there’s surely a recipe to satisfy all types of palates and cravings.

Amidst these changing times, Less Salt, More Sugar, a Little Wine: Cooking in Old Age acknowledges the universal need for food and the personal, flavorful stories of the meals which define us.

Less Salt, More Sugar, a Little Wine: Cooking in Old Age, edited by Susan Thurin — independently published in September of this year — is available to purchase from The Local Store (205 N Dewey St., Eau Claire).