What Did You Eat as a Kid?
LA Daddy | August 31
Over the weekend, I ate something I’ve not had in more than… 20 years. I made some meatloaf, for dinner last week, and there were leftovers.
Last Saturday, I cut up a few slices and had a cold meatloaf sandwich with a bit of ketchup on it. About the only difference between the sandwich and what I used to eat as a kid was it was on wheat bread and not the “evil, sugar-death horror” that white bread is now known to be… (Damn, I used to love the Wonder bread!)
It took me back to all the other things I used to eat when I was a youngster. I don’t seem to eat these things much anymore so I ended up being flooded with memories of grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, fried bologna, and assorted canned goodness from Chef Boyardee.
It also got me wondering - what delicious culinary things would my daughter have to look back on? I mean, every kid should eat SpaghettiOs, right? Shouldn’t Jell-O be a part of every child’s life? I’m reasonably certain my daughter has only had Jell-O once in her life. And there’s ALWAYS room for Jell-O? Does that make me a horrible memory-making father in some way?
We all grew up with favorite, if not a little weird, lunch items and snacks… but is it food we should be giving our kids? I don’t know what I’ll do. Some of the junk we ate “way back when” is some seriously nasty and toxic crap. Velveeta Psuedo-Cheese, anyone? Of course, some of the junk food and odd lunch sandwiches I enjoyed never did kill me or cause any major problems. As I recall, I really enjoyed those Mini-Raviolis from the Chef. And… that which does not kill you. Well, it does make you stronger. Unless you walk away with a severe limp.
I looked up the nutritional value of the Mini-Raviolis. It’s got the trans fat and enough sodium to choke a horse. It’s low in cholesterol, but it’s got a fair amount of sugar and something called “Ash”. 3 and a half grams of ash?! What the hell is ash?! Did they scoop up remnants from a Mount St. Helen’s explosion?
But, like I said, I ate a ton of it and it didn’t seem to stunt my growth any.
I’m not sure what to do. L.A. Toddler has a pretty good appetite and she’s not a terribly picky eater for a kid. I don’t think I need to force her to eat any of my old favorites just because I ate ‘em. If the child looks back on hot dogs and chicken teriyaki and maybe some California Roll… that’s not a bad thing, is it?
Maybe I’ll just sneak in a few favorites from my childhood and I’ll see what she thinks about them. I used to really enjoy a fried bologna sandwich and maybe she will, too. But if she doesn’t ask for it… I guess there’s no need for a repeat. This weekend, I’ll give her a first sample of the SpaghettiOs. I bet she likes it…
What did you eat as a youngster that you don’t eat any more?
Cross-posted on L.A. Daddy
Swiss Cake Rolls. Man those were good.
Little Debbie oatmeal creme pies. Unless of course you mean *never* eat, then, uhm - will sh** on a shingle. In the days before microwaves my mom would buy these frozen pouches of food. One was chipped beef. She’d heat the pouch in a pan of boiling water and then dump the hot contents on wheat bread (she was, afterall, a hippie).
For me it was all about marshmallows. Marshmallow fluff and peanut butter sandwiches on good ol’ Wonder bread were the treat of all treats. Nowadays I get my fix of the white stuff from Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food.
Our family likes turkey hot dogs because the wheat buns at our grocery store actually taste pretty good. So far our kids are pretty good at eating whatever; it honestly seems to be more about how fun we make the food versus the food itself. So we make mini-pizzas (whole wheat bagels, tomato sauce, cheese, and turkey sausage…actually really good too) and breakfast for dinner a lot. The only junk food ours really likes are Beenie Weenies, which are kind of bad…we let him have a little can about once a week because he eats so well the rest of the time. Oh, and Skittles, which are probably terrible but they’re fruit-flavored so that’s something, right? Right??
We’re bad… the kid has had Chef Boyardee on more than one occasion.
The only thing I really don’t like him having (other than anything that pretends to be healthy, like “granola on the go” bars) is Mr. Noodle. MSG, anyone? Ick.
Actually, if you read ingredient lists, almost everything turns out to be pretty gross, doesn’t it?
jello pudding pops (do they still even exist?), mini cocktail weenies, tortillas with butter and cinnamon, dipping my finger in kool-aid powder. that’s about as bad as i can remember. except the pudding pops. i really wish those were still around, with that layer of ice that you could nibble off before indulging in the pudding part.
Ahhh, the good old days of Peanut Butter and Butter sandwiches.
Hey, I ate fried bologna, too. Another thing I don’t eat now that I remember having as a kid is Vienna sausages. I used to dip them in applesauce though I have no idea why.
Mmmm, Twinkies! Something I’d never get for my kids now, but I ate them all the time. Is it true that Twinkies have a shelf life of 50 years?
Spam! And fried bologna.
Ahhh, Spaghettios.
My mother would never give me thoose, id bounce of the walls.