What are some food/drinks from way back that you associate with certain people? (1 Viewer)

The TaB thread got me thinking about how only peoples’ aunts ever drank it.. Some others I remember are that my PawPaw was diabetic, so always had sugar-free hard candy in the glovebox of his truck, while my MawMaw always had those Brach’s Lemon Drop candies sitting in a dish in the house.. My other MawMaw always had Little Debbie Star Crunches in the pantry.. And every time we went to Taco Bell, my brother would always, always get the ‘Enchirito’- which I’m guessing is Spanish for chemically filled gelatinous gloop.

What you got?
I have not seen the Tab thread but when I saw the title of this i was like “ohhh my aunt Debbie drinking Tab back in the 80’s” LOL.
 
Swamprat reminded me of cinnamon toothpicks
did y’all make cinnamon or red hot toothpicks?

My junior high had a snack bar they would open for afternoon recess. One of the custodians would run it and they sold chips and cokes basically. But they also sold atomic fireballs and little packets of cinnamon toothpicks.

Man, the 80s!
 
I have not seen the Tab thread but when I saw the title of this i was like “ohhh my aunt Debbie drinking Tab back in the 80’s” LOL.




 
My Granny always had homemade rice krispy treats (she would keep them in the freezer and they never got solid, but got extra chewy), K&B ice cream and Sunkist orange soda for us kids during the summer. When she ran out of Sunkist, she always had Tang to make.

My MawMaw always had Tab for herself and occasionally we would sneak one. I still remember that flavor, too.
 
You’ve told this story before yes? (Don’t remember the bfast part) - with each part of the meal, a horrible deja vu began to ooze over me
‘Almost every night’ was the dagger
I grew up with grandparents who grew up on farms in the ozarks. They could cook. It was culture shock for me to be around people who considered salt and pepper to be exotic.

Occasionally, the in laws would order a pizza. To them there was nothing better than a sausage pizza from Domino's. They would eat one piece and make a big deal about how stuffed they were. We're a few miles South of Chicago but I only saw them eat decent pizza one time in 7 years.

We ordered Italian beef sandwiches from a local place once. They wanted them dry. I don't know if you've had a Chicago Italian beef sandwich but we like them with hot giardiniera, maybe some provolone, and we like them dipped in the au jus. The place layed the meat out on paper towels to dry the beef, and then put it on the rolls that are designed to hold up to being dunked. It was like watching Christmas vacation when the family tried to eat the overcooked turkey. They were good to me but they were as vanilla as can be.

When I think of those foods, I think of them. The old man just passed about a month ago. He "lived" a long time eating like that. He outlasted his wife by 25 years, and even his son. I guess that you can't argue with results.
 
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I'm a heavy black pepper user on certain stuff....dumplins is one of them. I actually go a little pepper overboard on everything. I think it's a learned thing because my mom was like that and now my daughter is like that. White beans/cornbread is another one where I can't have too much black pepper.
Your story reminded me of one of my experiences. So my submission to this thread is pepper.

I did a travel assignment in San Francisco. After working a night shift, I went out with the nurses for beer and breakfast.

When we got our food, one of the nurses grabbed the pepper shaker from the middle of the table. She proceeded to ask each one of us, individually, if we were through using the pepper. I found that kind of odd, considering people usually just grab the shaker, apply and set back down without asking.

She then screwed off the top of the shaker, and poured more than half of the pepper all over her food. :nuclear:
 
My grandfather was the most formal guy I've ever known. Hat, suit and leather soled shoes everyday to work. He'd come home and change into different pants, and hat with a different shirt and tie and then put on a sweater. If he was outside, he had a hat on and long sleeves - starched. Really starched.

The man loved having parties. Cocktail hour on Fridays - every Friday. I remember he always had to have some sort of strange theme drink. Green foamy things, pink foamy things....always some theme drink, but he drank whiskey. Old Grand Dad bottled in bond was #1 and I always have it at my house to this day, but the thing I recall most was that he loved fried chicken. His family owned chicken hatcheries. Evidently growing up he never ate chicken. I think his mother decided she'd eaten as much chicken as she was ever going to eat and then banned it from their home when he was very young so he revolted. Some days it was Popeyes. Some days it was other local places, but that man ate fried chicken at least 3 times per week. I can remember as a very young child we'd go to their old house uptown for holidays and he would eat fried chicken while everyone else at ham and turkey. with knife and fork.
 
My grandfather was the most formal guy I've ever known. Hat, suit and leather soled shoes everyday to work. He'd come home and change into different pants, and hat with a different shirt and tie and then put on a sweater. If he was outside, he had a hat on and long sleeves - starched. Really starched.

The man loved having parties. Cocktail hour on Fridays - every Friday. I remember he always had to have some sort of strange theme drink. Green foamy things, pink foamy things....always some theme drink, but he drank whiskey. Old Grand Dad bottled in bond was #1 and I always have it at my house to this day, but the thing I recall most was that he loved fried chicken. His family owned chicken hatcheries. Evidently growing up he never ate chicken. I think his mother decided she'd eaten as much chicken as she was ever going to eat and then banned it from their home when he was very young so he revolted. Some days it was Popeyes. Some days it was other local places, but that man ate fried chicken at least 3 times per week. I can remember as a very young child we'd go to their old house uptown for holidays and he would eat fried chicken while everyone else at ham and turkey. with knife and fork.
Maybe your Grandpa's Mother felt the same way about chicken as my Paternal Grandfather did? He grew up only eating what his family raised, grew, or hunted. They had chickens but he wouldn't eat them because he watched them eat their own feces. Not only would he not eat them, he banned them from the house, and he wouldn't be in a house while they were being cooked. Turkey was banned too. We always had Thanksgiving at my Great Aunt's house.
 
My dad’s mom was always rice and milk for breakfast. Every day. My dad was boiled roast with vegetables. Like twice a freaking week. I hated it then, hate it now.
Uncle Jerry I always remember the Canadian Club whiskey he drank for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner.
My moms mom though, not so much a food but a cooking style. Burned black. Steak was cooked beyond well done. Veggies boiled until you could eat them through a straw. Everything just incinerated or boiled to death. On the opposite is my cousin who likes his steaks thrown on a bbq turn it turns brown, then flipped to turn brown. Wants them still cold in the middle. This guy takes blue to a whole different level.

But, the one that I remember more than any was my wife’s grandma. She’d get up at 3am to make the turkey for thanksgiving and Christmas. She’d get that thing in the oven at 400 degrees by 6 am. And we’d eat at 6-7 pm. If you’ve seen the turkey scene in Family Vacation yup that was it.She’d then always talk about how it tasted so good. I’ve had jerky that wasn’t that dry.
 
One time when my mother was in the hospital, my father and I ate an entire box of fruit slices, those half circles covered with sugar crystals. I can't stand the sight of those things to this day.
 
My dad’s mom was always rice and milk for breakfast. Every day. My dad was boiled roast with vegetables. Like twice a freaking week. I hated it then, hate it now.
Uncle Jerry I always remember the Canadian Club whiskey he drank for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner.
My moms mom though, not so much a food but a cooking style. Burned black. Steak was cooked beyond well done. Veggies boiled until you could eat them through a straw. Everything just incinerated or boiled to death. On the opposite is my cousin who likes his steaks thrown on a bbq turn it turns brown, then flipped to turn brown. Wants them still cold in the middle. This guy takes blue to a whole different level.

But, the one that I remember more than any was my wife’s grandma. She’d get up at 3am to make the turkey for thanksgiving and Christmas. She’d get that thing in the oven at 400 degrees by 6 am. And we’d eat at 6-7 pm. If you’ve seen the turkey scene in Family Vacation yup that was it.She’d then always talk about how it tasted so good. I’ve had jerky that wasn’t that dry.
Beyond well done is how old people cooked. My Paternal Grandfather would grill meat until it had ash on it.
 
One time when my mother was in the hospital, my father and I ate an entire box of fruit slices, those half circles covered with sugar crystals. I can't stand the sight of those things to this day.
Like the orange ones that taste like orange zest?
 
Beyond well done is how old people cooked. My Paternal Grandfather would grill meat until it had ash on it.

Yeah, my mom overcooked chicken and pork chops (later discovered it was due to fear of trickinosis), I avoided pork chops until the first time I ate at my wife's parents (and her mom knew how to cook them), i was so pleasantly surprised to have a juicy delicious pork chop....that is not to say mom was not a good cook, she was, her casseroles were great and she actually learned how to cook seafood in LA (she was from MI) so she did that really well....

My grandfather made the best buttermilk pancakes and sausages on the planet. I'm not a big pancake fan as ive gotten old (er) but I still haven't had any close to his, maybe just a good memory? Cheers all and eat well....
 

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