The Inspiration for the Book Creamed Tuna-Fish & Peas on Toast

Dr. Seuss had Green Eggs and Ham and Sam-I-Am. Dearborn has the late Jack Stead and creamed tuna fish and peas on toast. 

Stead hated tuna fish and peas on toast so much he buried a casserole dish of it in the lawn at 312 Devonshire in Dearborn to forever remove that meal from the family dinner rotation. 

More than 50 years later, the story of Stead burying the family dinner in the lawn inspired his grandson to write a children’s book by the same title, Creamed Tuna Fish & Peas on Toast. 

“My father felt that a burial was the only way my mother (Jane) would get the point,” said Robert Stead of Dearborn. “He hated creamed tuna fish and peas on toast. I was about 7 years old when the event occurred. The night of the burial made quite an impression on me! When my father died in October 2001, we held the funeral lunch at Park Place in Dearborn. The “Creamed Tuna Fish” story was among the many stories told at the luncheon as we all remembered his life.

“My father was well known throughout the West Dearborn area as a very humorous and very spontaneous man. We have been laughing for decades about the casserole dish buried at 312 Devonshire in Dearborn.

“My mother, of course, has a vivid memory of the event. As she says, ‘He buried my favorite casserole dish.'”

Philip Christian Stead, a graduate of Divine Child High School and a former Dearborn resident, at a recent book signing in Ann Arbor.

Creamed Tuna Fish & Peas on Toast was chosen as the Pizza Hut Book-It Program book for the month of November and a Kirkus Review of the book (below) also was very positive.

“Wild Man Jack hates one dish the most, and who can blame him? Creamed tuna fish with peas on toast would turn anyone’s stomach. Wild Man Jack’s children approach him one by one, asking what he’ll do if Mama Jane makes it, and he vows to “wheeze,” “sneeze” and even “brandish a spoon.”

“Stead conjures early-20th-century America in his language, characters and illustrations. Wild Man Jack, a lean, flinty Woody Guthrie–looking character, seems straight out of the Dust Bowl. Children will savor his venomous rants, as they don’t see many adults misbehaving in picture books these days. They will also enjoy spying old newspaper clippings, music scores and letters hiding behind layers of paint and ink drawings. The collages cohere into a sunny patchwork of art and history. He integrates the past into every facet of his storytelling, even hand lettering each word with salvaged rubber letterpress sets. This homage to Americana finds success looking backward, proudly reclaiming the rhythms of old stories and craftsmanship not so common in the digital age.” 

So if you are searching for a unique gift this Christmas with Dearborn roots, you might want to consider Creamed Tuna Fish & Peas on Toast.  For more info on Amazon, click here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 at 8:37 am and is filed under Around Town. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.