To wonder why DM put mushroom soup on the chips.

My DP makes himself some strange food combinations replicating what his mum made them as kids, often involves cans of condensed mushroom soup. I think it's quite common.

Oh that sounds grim. I always find the soup used as a sauce thing very odd and worryingly high in salt a lot of the time.

Chips n gravy is a thing, but mushroom soup 🤢

It's potentially concerning if it's unusual behaviour for the DM and especially if she shores it up with an anecdote that the OP has good reason to think is untrue.

When somebody has been a good cook and they forget that skill, it's not unusual for it to be an early symptom. Brain changes that occur in dementia often impair the mental abilities necessary for cooking. Moreover dementia can damage taste and smell so this might result in food combinations that the person hasn't done before.

As you say its out of character

I would be a bit concerned that she is reverting to what was normal in her childhood (if that was actually the case with her mother and the mushroom soup). One of the first things that looking back in hindsight was the initial signs of my MIL's dementia was that she suddenly started to recreating things from her childhood - and it did start with cooking too.

Yes, gravy on chips is a thing.
Mushroom soup and an Oxo cube isn't gravy though 😕🙂

I get the out of character side of things. DM recently made bacon sandwiches for us all. Then asked if we'd like tinned tomatoes on it. We all looked at her with a wtf expression. She went on to insist that she ALWAYS makes bacon sarnies with tinned Tomatos. She doesn't, and never has in my presence.

By the by, but you’ve never had gravy on chips before?! You’ve missed out

It's not just the using condensed soup that's alarming is it, it's all out of character. That's why people are mentioning dementia. I have a mother with advanced dementia and often little things like this can be early indicators.

Agree with this. It's more likely an outdated recipe rather than dementia! Condensed soup was a staple for this sort of thing not that long ago.

Yes, seems a bit strange.
OP, was it a thing your Gran used to make, has your mum only just started doing this/never mentioned it before?
If it was a family tradition surely you'd have grown up with it yourself or heard of it
Maybe sounds paranoid but just keep an eye on her in case.

What did it taste like?

Sounds lovely!

Condensed soup was often used for gravy, pies, and sauces. I'm surprised people have mentioned dementia and called her behaviour worrying! Maybe she was just feeling nostalgic. It was probably perfectly normal for her

A really popular city centre chip shop in my home city’s post-club bestseller was chips with mushroom sauce. The queue often got fairly rough, and I have memories of people just stepping over a recumbent body to order.

I guess it depends on her age, but this sounds like something my grandma would have done (she was born in 1920-ish). Soup was used as a base for sauces.

It doesn't sound too bad to me, tbh... I like mushroom soup, I like chips, they're both savoury...

@Funkyslippers Much as I love a bit of Meatloaf, the singer, the idea of smothering him on oxtail soup just had me spit out my coffee 😂

Cambells condensed mushroom soup is used as a Base for dauces. I think there used to be receipes on the tin. I know I used it when the kids were at primary school as part of quck meals for tea time.
What us odd is your mums behaviour if she's never acted like this before.

In my family this would just reflect our tendency to eat random food combos, in conjunction with my mother's macular degeneration.

However if your mother has previously been a good cook who made conventional food choices and plated them in a normal layout, I would be slightly concerned. No need to leap into action, but just keep an eye on it.

Cambells condensed mushroom soup is used as a Base for dauces. I think there used to be receipes on the tin. I know I used it when the kids were at primary school as part of quck meals for tea time.
What us odd is your mums behaviour if she's never acted like this before.

To be honest I think that sounds nice... steak cut chips, mixed veg and (veggie) sausages with mushroom gravy. I'd just need to track down some of the vegan beef oxo cubes.
I wonder if my children and husband would think I'm nuts...

My step mum would always cover meatloaf (the food, not the singer) with oxtail soup. It was bloody lovely! Not sure I'd really fancy mushroom soup on chips but if I didn't know any better it might be nice!

Soup (especially the condensed sort) being used a a sauce base is nothing new. Perhaps your mum was thinking about your grandma and a particular meal and tried to recreate it as she was feeling nostalgic.

If this is new for your DM but harks back to her own mother, I too would suspect the beginnings of dementia.

My gran started to put orange juice on her cornflakes and in her tea…