Ready To Eat Nostalgia

[rubyred]

To me, being a grown up means I can do things I was told not to do as a child. Like eating a bag of Jelly Bellys for dinner. And especially buying things my parents forbade / rarely gave into when I was young.

This probably explains how a girl raised in a Kosher home developed such a passion for bacon, but that's between me and my therapist!

I read the McRib thread and was compelled to buy one. It was, in a word, McDonalds. I surmised there that the draw for the McRibbers is nostalgia. Which got me to thinking about stuff I bought based on my childhood palate (cuz I could!) that I later regretted. Or, conversely, that was positively delightful!

Off the top of my head, here's what I came up with:

Cap'n Crunch. The stuff of childhood dreams. So delicious out of the box! My sister and I were lactose intolerant (before it was fashionable - how avant-garde of us!) so cereal was almost always eaten 'raw' (we were ahead of the raw craze too!) But now? Dear god, Cap'n you are nasty!

Mae West. I think it's only available in Canada. This is a snack cake, kind of like a Hostess Cupcake, but with white cake and a more buttery filling. I had high hopes for this cuz my Mom liked them too when I was a kid. But the experience was not to be matched. The cake tasted stale, and the filling was grainy. Another horrible waste of money! Story of my life...

Rice Krispie Squares. Sheer perfection. Yesterday and today. Need I say more?

Jelly Bellys. My aforementioned dinner delight! Again, perfection! Notable childhood story: My favourite flavour was Strawberry Daiquiri. At my neighbourhood candy shop the clerk scooped the candy for you. So a 9 year old me, not knowing anything about alcoholic bevvies, or how to pronounce them (just that the flavour rocked!) asked for 100 grams of Strawberry Day-Queery. I remember being SO embarrassed being corrected by the pretty teenaged clerk! lol! Day-Queery is still awesome, for the record. I even tried to work in a trip to the Jelly Belly factory on my honeymoon! Alas, it didn't pan out. Then again, neither did my marriage. Coincidence?

Do you think maybe the formulas have changed and some things just aren't the same? Or is my gourmet palate simply far too evolved to tolerate such chemically-enhanced crap?

What about the rest of you? Dish!

[fiftydollars]

...Or is my gourmet palate simply far too evolved to tolerate such chemically-enhanced crap?...

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Yeah, that's probably it...

[feedmec00kies]

To me, being a grown up means I can do things I was told not to do as a child.  Like eating a bag of Jelly Bellys for dinner.  And especially buying things my parents forbade / rarely gave into when I was young.

This probably explains how a girl raised in a Kosher home developed such a passion for bacon, but that's between me and my therapist!

I read the McRib thread and was compelled to buy one.  It was, in a word, McDonalds.  I surmised there that the draw for the McRibbers is nostalgia.  Which got me to thinking about stuff I bought based on my childhood palate (cuz I could!) that I later regretted.  Or, conversely, that was positively delightful!

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I understand completely. I craved that same kind of stuff as a child, and was interested in it when I grew up and could buy it myself. I didn't grow up in a kosher home, though my dad does avoid pork and mixing meat and dairy together (well, he will eat pork if it's chinese food once in a while... but I still didn't get much bacon!). My mom wanted the best for my sister and I, so she maintained control on our diet at home. Junk food and processed food was a rare occurrence. Also, it seemed to me that everyone else - who were not like me, the biracial, first-generation-American whose family didn't have as much money - had those things pretty regularly. So those things became to me, in my mind, a huge treat. Like baloney sandwiches, and fruit roll-ups. I mean, if everyone else is eating those things, they must be AWESOME, right?

Once I got older, I started getting those things for myself. In high school, I didn't have the opportunity to really pig out on that stuff that much, so it was still pretty good. Then, college was my chance to eat all the processed, sugary, salty food I rarely got to eat. Well, it didn't last long after that. About a month in I got it all out of my system, and had them enough to determine that most of that stuff really wasn't that good at all. Especially not as a regular part of my diet.

I think my parents probably laid a foundation for me as far as eating habits and my palate are concerned. Also, I just start feeling gross after eating too many chips or too much candy.

Aaaanyway, I think there's a combination of things going on when you try those things and think, "Yuck, why did I like this so much?" Yeah, I think some things might change, but I think that's few and far between. It's hard for companies to change formulas for those things, I think, because the people who buy them regularly will realize something's off and complain (like with Coke). But I do think that for the majority of those products, there is definitely a psychological element to why they seemed so good, and I think that's especially true when it comes to people who didn't necessarily get to eat those things much as children. Throw in the fact that your palate changes over time, and there you go.

But yes, Jelly Bellies are wonderful. I don't bother with other jelly beans, because they just don't have the same vivid, and usually accurate flavor.

One thing I know has changed, that isn't quite junk food but I loved it anyway, is Orangina. They started making it with corn syrup here in the US and otherwise messed around with the recipe, and it tastes awful. My boyfriend, who will eat chips for dinner, is really upset about this fact, because he is nostalgic for the Orangina of his childhood - his French grandparents would always give it to him. He takes the opportunity to drink it when we're somewhere where it doesn't suck (like in Europe, or, more likely due to cost, Canada). He also likes to drink San Pellegrino Aranciata, because it's pretty close to what he remembers.

I have more, but I have to get back to work!

[DTBarton]

While some products have changed their recipes some, (and corn syrup has emerged as the villain du jour, justified? I don't know) I think it really is that tastes change as you mature. Just as those really tooth achingly sweet things you loved as a child don't appeal any more, as an adult, you've probably learned to love many things you hated as a child.

Veggies of all sorts usually lead these lists, along with other more challenging foods like organ meats.

I've read that there are actual physiological differences in many people that lead to these changes in taste. The bottom line is that in many children, the taste buds that pick up bitter flavors can be very sensitive and they become less so as we age. When that kid says the broccoli tastes terrible, he means it, he's not just rejecting the vegetable. The opposite happens with the taste buds that pick up sweet flavors, they can become more sensitive as you age so that the sweet childhood stuff doesn't appeal any more.

There is also the peer pressure of childhood. Anyone who's been on a playground knows that vegetables are yucky and cookies are good!

[rubyred]

I think you're all onto something. Totally makes sense. In a very Dr. Freud meets Captain Obvious kind of way. Like my girl Diane says, 'Common sense is not too common'.

This makes me wonder even more about the treats that DO make the cut. Jelly Bellys can't possibly be it! Especially since they're a so-called "gourmet" product in the first place - says so right on the bag, dontcha know?

My immaturity disease implores you! I need something to hold on to! Do you think my corn syrup-pickled brain has altered my memory?

[markemorse]

I had a huge portion of this potential nostalgia ruined for me by moving to Europe and getting used to "real chocolate". So all manner of childhood staples, from a simple Hershey's Kiss to the, eh...also pretty simple Reese's PBC, KitKat, even Russell Stover...it's all kind of nasty tasting to me these days. Bummer.

Things that make the cut: Fritos. Oreos. Snickers is pretty much the only US candy bar I can still enjoy. I had a Charleston Chew last time I was back, and that wasn't too bad. And I just ate a rum-raisin caramel here in Amsterdam that reminded EXACTLY of something I used to eat all the time as a kid in America but I have no idea what. Don't think it was Kraft Caramels, though. Incredibly nostalgic, nonetheless.

Now you've got me going...I need a Fresca and a bag of Fritos, stat.

Edited March 26, 2008 by markemorse (log)

[cathrynapple]

I never got to eat a Hershey bar as a kid until I was about eight. My parents only bought nice dark chocolate.

I was so disgusted when I finally tasted one. I've never liked gross chocolate. Fruit Rool-Ups were also longed for as a child. And Twizzlers.

Both of those are gross. But I thought so even as a kid.

[Katie Meadow]

Can it ever be as good as I remember? Almost never. I didn't eat a lot of fast food or junk food growing up, but I certainly ate my modest share of chips, oreos, coke, hamburgers, fries and street pizza. Since I got a Weber grill I've never looked back when it comes to commercial burgers. I don't eat at fast-food restaurants, but even rarely do the fries at upscale bistros seem as good as they should. I find that in order to meet my nostalgia criteria I have to remake most stuff from scratch--then it tastes as good as I remember.

Oreos? No. The chocolate cookie isn't bad, but the cream filling tastes like palm oil and corn syrup or something and is far too sweet. I find that I like Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers; they taste a bit like the cookie part of the Oreo--not too sweet.

Skippy and Jif? Awful. Tastes like sugar and plastic.

Campbell's Tomato Soup? Bad. I've got a recipe that does the trick using canned Italian tomatoes and good chicken broth.

Thomas' English Muffins? Nothing to write home about. There's far too much great bread out there now.

Sugar Pops? Didn't they used to taste like sweet corn? Now they taste like styrofoam and and who knows what else.

Hershey's Chocolate? It no longer tastes even a little like chocolate.

And here's the big category: Chinese restaurant food. It's what my family ate almost every Sunday night. I've tried, but I've given up and started to shop in Chinatown and make my own. I just can't find any Chinese food that doesn't seem like a salt lick or that isn't swimming in oil. Vietnamese restaurants function for my family--especially when my daughter was growing up--like Chinese did way back when.

Cheetos? Yes, I have to admit, they still taste fantastic to me. I try to restrict my salt, so this is forbidden fruit, but every once in a while they are perfect, just as they always were. I could never duplicate them, nor do any imitators come close. Add a Bloody Mary and it's a complete meal.

I don't believe these products are much different now than they were fifty years ago. I'm sure it's me; most stuff that tastes good to many ten year olds just doesn't taste good to me.

[feedmec00kies]

Veggies of all sorts usually lead these lists, along with other more challenging foods like organ meats.

Well, actually... I always liked organ meats and offal in general, even as a child (veggies, too, because my mother usually only cooked things until they were barely cooked and still crisp). Two of my favorite food memories were the spicy beef tendons my mom would buy at an Asian market in the next town (I know my sister loved that stuff too, and she was the one who always wanted "normal" food at restaurants, like ravioli at an Italian restaurant), and watching my dad make chopped liver. In fact, any day with liver was a good day! I would have never missed the chance at some new and unusual meat, at least if I was dining with my family. If it was at school, or with peers in general...well, probably not. That's changed since college, where I decided everyone who thought those things were weird and gross could go suck it.

I find that for me, the nostalgia and desire is more a matter of the psychological aspect... almost completely so. There are one or two things I can think of (congee, because my mother would make me eat it when I was sick, and a few scattered vegetables that I disliked my mother's preparation methods of) that I didn't like eating as a child but will eat now, but they're pretty few and far between.

I thought of something a few days ago, actually, and failed to mention it here earlier. I decided to buy a bag of those "Grandma's" sandwich cookies (I think they're made by Frito Lay), since they called out to me (damn vending machine) as something I always wished I could buy for snack in my elementary school cafeteria. Waaaaaay too sweet (though I have a low tolerance for sugar unless balanced with sour), and the filling was a bit grainy.

Mmmmm, I want some tripe now. I don't think that's what I was supposed to crave reading this thread, though. Hehe.

Twizzlers I kind of like. Yeah, they taste mostly like wax, but they also don't taste as much like pure sugar as some other candies.

(edited to make myself a little more clear)

Edited March 27, 2008 by feedmec00kies (log)

[Mrs.Geraci]

Is it me or has the Hersheys Dark chocolate changed? I remember scouring my Halloween candy bag for those little guys and chowing them down first. Now they just don't seem to taste the same to me anymore. Maybe because my taste for good, darn chocolate has changed to a higher standard?

[petite tête de chou]

I loved ice cream as a child and love it even more now. As a kid I had no concerns with cholesterol, weight or acne and ate it with sticky-faced abandon. And now? Well, I consider it a national treasure and relish every cold, creamy spoonful.

[JimH]

Tastykakes taste as good now as they did when I was young. It took about 20 years for them to get here but it was worth the wait. Mmmmmm butterscotch Krimpets... <insert Homer drooling here>

[Rebecca263]

I truly miss Hydrox, the treasured store bought cookie of my childhood.

Oreos are terrible pretenders. The outside isn't so awful, it's the filling, I can't stomach it, or stand to have it in my mouth!

I agree about ice cream, still amazing in it's cold and melty, sweet and icy goodness!