As the Kitchen Turns

By Julie

Recently, the Pioneer Woman mentioned clementines (or Cuties as they’re often branded), and how they seem to have displaced other, harder to peel oranges in her house. And it got me thinking about how clementines (or Picnics as they’re known in my house since they were introduced to us at a picnic) are the orange-colored citrus of choice in my house as well, and that my kids have no idea how hard it is to peel a regular orange. But what else would be unfamiliar in the kitchen to the next generation as time goes on?

My children have never seen me pop popcorn without the use of a microwave (yes, I know it’s still done, particularly at movie theatres, but go with me here). They have never opened a soda can where the pop top comes off completely and does not flip back attached to the can. In their world, juice has always been available in boxes with little straws. Diet Coke has always been a carbonated beverage option.

Then, I took it a little further, and asked my parents what else has gone by the culinary wayside. My kids have never seen coffee made in a percolator, and those old Maxwell House commercials make exactly no sense to them. They have no idea what Fizzies were, and they won’t find gum wrapped up with baseball cards.  Pressure cookers, while still around, are not exactly de rigueur in today’s home kitchen, so they wouldn’t know what to do with one. We don’t have to sterilize baby formula in the bottle anymore, and there’s a rainbow of sweeteners on every restaurant table, not just sugar.

And so the world changes. So I ask you: what do you remember from your childhood that’s now foodie folklore?

Comments

[Elsha]

Probably the big one for me is pressure cookers. My mom used to can tomatoes, tomato sauce, peaches, pears, etc. Who cans anymore?

However, my mom likes to tell the story of the first time she and my dad ever used a microwave- after they were married! In a gas station! That always seems crazy to me.

[Angela]

I remember when my grandpa got a microwave- we used to boil water in a cup because it was so cool to see it heat up so fast!

My son is shocked when a restaurant doesn't have a drive thru. I don't know if that is a product of his age or our eating too much fast food!

[Jen L.]

My mom still has a percolator! I play with it sometimes when I visit her. Remember the big foam boxes McDonald's sandwiches used to come in?

[Michelle Smiles]

The microwave - my kids will not know how to reheat things on the stove. (I lived without a microwave for a couple weeks not too long ago and I have to say it was hard!)

And my kids will never know what it means to HAVE to eat fruits and veggies that are in season. When I was a kid, we bought produce at the grocery store or farmer market but it was only what was in season. Now we get things shipped from every where all times of the year. Yes, I tell them that blueberries are too expensive some months of the year but mostly they can have what they want when they want.

[Wendi]

I still remember when my mom got her first microwave -- I was around 18, just about to move out on my own. It kind of scared all of us! :-)

I remember her making toast in the oven -- pats of butter on top that would melt and give you a really yummy hit of butter in that one place. We didn't have a toaster for quite a while.

Pop came in glass bottles. Jiffy pop cooked on the gas stove. (They still have this and I squeal every time I see it in the grocery store!) Milk delivered from the milkman.

My mom never used a pressure cooker but I just got one, and I feel like it's newfangled! LOL

[erica]

I remember as a kid my dad wouldn't let us kids stand any where near the microwave when it was on... he thought we would get radation.