Old people like to eat certain foods that no one else eats. Or at the very least, foods they are stereotyped to eat because it’s a dying food. Like them.
I’ve always wondered why certain foods follow generations and then disappear. Then I wonder, what will by my old food? Generation X’s old food?
Is peanut brittle sold any more? Does anyone under the age of seventy even have a recipe for it? Homemade peanut brittle is one of those candies (if you can call it that) that old people used to give out on Halloween. This was back before razor blades in food existed so getting homemade food on Halloween was acceptable. And peanut brittle was the one and only food in our spooky night’s stash that we’d offer to our parents. Because we didn’t eat it. Just the other day, even Darby Conly made fun of it in his comic strip – Get Fuzzy.
Fruitcake is another one of those foods dying out with the older generation. Thank God. I think I still have one somewhere in the kitchen my grandmother gave me twenty years ago. It’s probably with a pair of red-striped socks she always gave me. Actually, I may have used the fruitcake as part of the foundation when I built the utility shed out back. Either way, it’s guaranteed to still be holding its rectangular brick shape.
Pears are another food I don’t understand. (Go here for more). To me, they have a rancid gritty taste. There’s no appeal to them whatsoever. Why on earth would anyone ever eat a pear?
Then you have prunes, known for their ability to produce the runs in the most constipated person. Wonderful laxative, but to actually eat it as a food? Not so much. Doesn’t do a thing for me.
There are other foods like pig’s feet or giblets I could go into but I won’t.
Instead, I’ll offer a few foods that were born with Generation X. Whether or not they die out with us is up to the rest of you … Hot Pockets. Pizza Bites. Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Twizzlers.