Sunday Brunch

Sunday Brunch: "Your Mother and Mine" by guest writer Albert Gutierrez
May 8, 2011

Author's note: The food and retail industry makes this weekend and other holiday weekends extra busy. Please give a warm welcome to everyone's favorite Saturday Matineer and guest Sunday Bruncher Albert Gutierrez. He takes over Mother's Day weekend at From Screen to Theme and looks at five memorable Disney moms.

In the lieu of a specific look at Disney food, this week's Sunday Brunch is dedicated to mothers everywhere, your mother and mine. During last night's "Saturday in the Park," I decided to quickly poll the WEDfriends for memorable Disney mothers. They gave me a list of ten names, and I hand picked five from the list to share with you. And to keep this food-related, I've also taken the liberty of speculating what their favorite food might be:

Mrs. Jumbo, 1941's Dumbo

Mrs. Jumbo is very protective of her son, Dumbo. She shields him away from the laughing elephants, then literally spanks a little boy who is mocking him, a misinterpreted action that leads her to chained up isolation. Timothy manages to bring Dumbo over for a visit and they share a tender moment before he must leave again. She soon has the last laugh, as Dumbo's amazing flying abilities free her from her prison and is reunited with her son.

Mrs. Jumbo's favorite food is probably the Elvis sandwich. Why the Elvis sandwich? Because each of the ingredients - peanut butter, bananas, and bacon - pertains to Mrs. Jumbo's son, who is her favorite elephant in the world! Dumbo is seen eating peanuts with Timothy, and he later shoots them out of his trunk. Since he didn't have sneeze from allergies, he and his mother probably enjoy a good peanut now and then. Next, bananas have a thick skin that cover and protect the mushy fruit inside. Elephants too have a thick skin, but deep down they are just as mushy and emotional as the rest of us. Finally, bacon seems unlikely to join with peanut butter and bananas, and yet it works. And everyone thought a flying elephant was unlikely, but Dumbo has proved them wrong!

Faline, 1942's Bambi

Faline and Bambi were childhood friends, although she seemed to enjoy teasing him in their youth. When they grew up, Bambi had to fight Ronno in order to be with her, then he saved her later from a pack of hunting dogs. By the movie's end, she had become the Princess of the Forest and bore two yearlings of her own.

Faline's favorite food is something that is both sweet and teasing, just like her: the Chocolate Orange. Not entirely chocolate, and not entirely orange, this treat is similar to bacon in the Elvis sandwich: too strange to go together, yet is remarkably effective and delicious. Faline too probably was an unlikely candidate for Bambi's wife. As kids, he looks completely terrified of her. But thanks to some twitterpating, he saw her in a whole new light.

Winifred Banks, 1964's Mary Poppins

Winifred Banks is a very vocal supporter of the Women's Right to Vote. She goes off on rallies and even throws spoiled eggs at the prime minister. All this time spent at her various causes necessitates a nanny for her two children, Jane and Michael. However, she still manages to spend time with them, especially after the sudden disappearance and reappearance of their father, her husband, George. The family go off to fly a kite together, with a rather unspoken promise that they will always be together from now on.

Thanks to her pioneering efforts in the Suffrage movement, Winifred's favorite food is something that needs an equal amount of effort to free itself from the constraints around it: coconut. Most of us are used to coconut being little white strips of shaved fruit that can be mixed into various recipes. But coconuts themselves take a lot of effort simply to open, and then more effort to turn its meat and juices into something to eat. Mrs. Banks loves coconut, because like her, there is a lot of effort and determination needed to get what you want.

Coral, 2003's Finding Nemo

Coral and Marlin moved to the reef hoping it would be a great place to raise their hundreds of children, and she mused how she wanted one of them to be named Nemo. Marlin promised that one would be, while the rest could be Coral Jr. and Marlin Jr. Sadly, Coral never got to meet and of her children, but Marlin kept his promise and named their surviving child, Nemo.

Coral's favorite food is salad. Why salad? By itself, it can be the most boring thing in the world: a plate of lettuce. However, you can add various greens, other vegetables and food, and top it off with a variety of delicious dressings. A lot of things come together to make each type of salad unique, and yet they all still fall under the umbrella title of "salad." Likewise, Coral and Marlin had only one name that they agreed on for their children:  Nemo. Due to Coral and the other egg's tragic death, Nemo became a lot more than just one son to Marlin. He embodied the lives of all his unborn brothers and sisters, and was a tribute to his mother Coral. I bet you never thought Nemo and salad could be compared like this!

Eudora, 2009's The Princess and the Frog

Eudora is the mother of Tiana, who had always dreamed of owning and operating her own restaurant. She jokingly pesters Tiana about wanting grandkids one day, and we see her again later after Tiana and Naveen have opened "Tiana's Place," the most happening eatery down in New Orleans.

Eudora's favorite food is hard to figure out. After all, with a cook for a daughter, how can she pick just one to call her favorite? Could it be Tiana's gumbo, a family recipe that's been perfected and shared by their community? Or maybe Tiana's beignets, the wonderful fried dough treats that is the best way to a man's stomach? All we know is that after Tiana's adventures, Eudora probably will be avoiding frog legs for a while!

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