I was thinking about the fact that while I don't actually eat a "real" roast beef sandwich all that often, I would indeed be bereft if the opportunity to do so at my whim were taken away from me. And that the (perhaps) regional foods like that which I feel similarly about, the things I can't imagine not being able to order for takeout, like a "real" chicken kabob salad or good fried clams, perhaps only have that place in my heart/stomach because I'm used to them. Because I ate them in my formative years, by which I mean to say, before I turned thirty.
So I was thinking that, as life goes on, and I try new things, new favorite foods get added, but the old standbys still delight. Except, that's not true. Some things that delighted me when I was sixteen, I wouldn't eat now. Not to say it's because I have a refined and rarefied palate these days. Original Kraft Macaroni and Cheese still tastes really good about once or twice a year, you know? But somehow, some things just drop off the table as things I want to eat.
When I was sixteen and seventeen, some Saturday nights when his parents went out, my future ex-husband would cook me dinner at his house. The way to a woman's vagina is through her stomach. Or something. And generally the meal, which did delight me, was steak with sauteed onions, potatoes either mashed or home-fried, canned baby peas, and for dessert, Oreos and milk. Mmmm. This was big-time seduction food, and it made me feel very princess-y, happy, and spoiled.
These days, I'd eat the steak and the onions and the potatoes. But the peas would be right out. And while I often have Oreos in my house for the guys, and occasionally may eat a couple if I'm PMSing like crazy or otherwise jonesing for junk food, the fact is, Oreos taste like crap. Even if you dunk 'em in full fat milk, they are not the taste treat I remember from 1979.
So why is that? Have they changed the formula? Has my palate in fact matured, but only in a way that makes Oreos and canned peas untenable but blue box Kraft mac n' cheese acceptable? It's another of life's mysteries, I'll tell you what.
xoxo
9 comments:
They don't put sugar in the Coke anymore, and I'm quite sure the Oreo guys have been cutting corners on their recipes too. I plan to make myself a peanut butter and Fluff sandwich today for lunch (real butter on the bread, too) because it's one of the few things that still tastes enough like it used to that it's worth the effort.
I hope it is/was good.
We're very proud of our one world-famous food product hereabouts, you know ;-)
Never mind de dam sugar, they don't put coke in de Coke no more, the way they did when I was very young and doctors would prescribe it for coughs. That was never a Fluff ingredient, or an Oreo ingredient, but thanks to all this I'm gonna have to do some taste testing.
Question: Is Fluff as good with fresh-ground organic PB as it was with Skippy? Now there's a topic.
Oh, and before I forget...here's a link about real-sugar Coke which will be seasonally appearing very soon now:
http://tinyurl.com/yp9sqv
Don't forget Necco Wafers and Fig Newtons.
Because Mexico doesn't have protective sugar tariffs, they continue to use real sugar in the real Coke (or "Coca", as they would say) in Mexico.
A good thing when you're avoiding drinking the water, as real sugar Coca most definitely does taste better. And you often get it in real glass bottles, too.
You know, I've never found the Kosher for Passover Coke in the US tasting nearly as good as the fully sugared Coke in Europe, and now Mexico. I wonder if Coke has changed the US syrup formula to match up with the high fructose corn syrup they use instead, and doesn't change it back for the KfP versions, just adds sugar instead?
I'll admit, though, that the carbonated beverages that accompanied my evening meals were most often fermented with hops... I found myself especially partial Leon Negra and Modelo Especial.
You've *had* Passover Coke and you didn't share with me? What kind of friend are you? :-)
Anyway, I knew about the Mexican Coke...I think it was my discussion of that with Mr Barma that led me to telling him about KfP, which he hadn't heard about, and then to my posting the link. But that was two weeks ago and my memory is hazy, haha.
I bet the Mexican sugar Coke tastes better than KfP sugar Coke because of the glass bottles, regardless of formula.
I may well not have shared the sugared Coke with you because I was disappointed with the taste, so it was no great culinary revelation. Although in the past I've also never been able to find it in anything other than the big 2-liter bottles, I've ever knowingly seen it in cans.
This year Passover starts the evening of April 19th, so start looking around April 1st.
Speaking of cans, it wasn't just the glass that caused the Mexican sugar Coke to taste better, it most definitely tasted better in cans, too.
Though I didn't have that much of it, as mostly I was guzzling water by the liter full at the sites. I couldn't believe how much water I was going through every day. It was so hot you sure wouldn't want to end up with a [gag] sticky warm Coca when you were in the middle of the jungle.
And, sadly, being in the middle of the jungle much of the trip, I didn't really get to try all those weird Mexican fully sugared sodas, some of which I've heard taste pretty good.
As for Oreos, I believe in 1979 they still contained lard, which they don't have anymore.
That could certainly induce a (crappy) taste change.
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