Unlike most of you, I think, I have been single most of my life, as I was not married until I was forty-eight years old. During that part of my life, when I got to choose what I had for supper, there were some things that people tend to look upon with disdain, but which I liked. Hamburger Helper Although probably not on any health food lovers top ten, Hamburger Helper was a gift from God. Well, maybe not God, but Betty Crocker comes pretty close, I think. There were (are) different kinds of Hamburger Helper, so it's not all the same, and I liked all of them. Tuna Helper, I didn't care so much for, probably having as much to do with a slight error that I made in the preparation of it once. I was busy with some other things, probably getting ready for an EMT class, so I thought I'd try some Tuna Helper. I think that was the first time I had tried Tuna Helper, although I was quite familiar with its first cousin, Hamburger Helper. I put it on to heat while I busied myself with other things, getting up to stir it every now and then. When it was done, it looked pretty good. Scooping out a plate of it, I sat down to what I hoped would be a good meal. Egad! The stuff was awful, so bad that I had to cough up what I had swallowed, and wash my mouth out with something that didn't taste like the inside of a chemistry set. I threw it away, and found something else to eat. It wasn't until later that I noticed the can of tuna on the table, and realized that I had forgotten the tuna. Still, I couldn't figure out how something that disgusting could have possibly helped anything. It wasn't like eating noodles without any other ingredients. Plain noodles aren't particularly tasty but neither are they disgusting. Anyhow, I haven't gotten to eat much Hamburger Helper in the sixteen years that I've been married. I did try some once while my wife was in San Francisco and, although I did include the hamburger, it was just okay. Not good, not bad, but just okay. Of course, when my wife prepares something new, I'm likely to say, "That's pretty good. Not as good as Hamburger Helper, but not bad." Sardines If I live long enough, I'll probably like sardines again because I decide, about every ten years, that I like sardines again, and will eat them often for a couple of months before going back to not having a taste for them for another ten years. Gaffelbiter Being Swedish, my father always had Gaffelbiter around and, since the whole town was pretty much Swedish, the store carried it. Gaffelbiter is pickled herring. I don't know for sure whether Gaffelbiter is a unique type of pickled herring or whether it's simply the Swedish word for pickled herring. It wasn't cool to eat Gaffelbiter when I was a kid, but I would secretly eat it often, and I liked the taste of it. It has been a while since I have seen anything labeled Gaffelbiter in a store. I can easily find pickled herring but, although I've tried it a few times, it doesn't taste the same to me. Once of these days, perhaps I'll order some online, but I can only find it available in cans while the Gaffelbiter that we had when I was a kid was always in bottles. Pickled Pig's Feet Talking about something that wasn't cool to eat when I was a kid, very little could be higher on the list then pickled pig's feet. My dad often had that in the refrigerator too and I actually liked it if I could avoid thinking about it or looking at it. Yeah, that stuff is still available, and I can find it in stores near me, but I haven't been able to bring myself to buy any of it.
Well, Ken, when I'm on the road I eat sardines every day for lunch. A tin of sardines and some Ritz crackers... and a bottle of water. Makes for a cheap lunch and not terribly unhealthy. As far as foods I enjoyed once and don't have the opportunity to eat anymore.... Beef brains and eggs. My Mother would fix these. When we would have cattle butchered, we had them save the entire animal... brains included. She would mix beef brains with eggs and we'd end up with small "pancake style" patties. Delicious. My wife could never bring herself to fix them. Cold tongue sandwiches. Again, we'd save the beef tongue. Mom would put it in a pressure cooker and when it was cooked clear through it would go in the refrigerator. Sliced cold and put on bread with mayo... Delicious. Liver & Onions.... Very good to eat, but very unhealthy to eat if you have cholesterol issues. Horehound drops... My grandfolks used to buy these as candy. I loved them. Haven't had them in decades.
Some things I love to eat as a child are gone as well too like a chocolate wafer candy that Loacker comes the closest to-forgot the spelling of it but phonetically is Dubaculair. My Mom always says food doesn't taste like it did when she was younger too. There was Liberty House that closed and they had a bakery dept. that made a killer meringue cookie shaped like a giant kisses that was dipped in dark chocolate that was out of this world that's gone now. I can't find the cookie anywhere on island of Oahu. Guess I got to go on memory for some foods.
@Will Lawrence, the Tractor Supply Company store carries horehound drops from time to time, and I think I've seen them in the store section of Cracker Barrel restaurants. Dad bought them a lot too, and I thought they were okay, but not my favorites. About once a month, we had liver and onions because people had the idea that they were good for you at the time. It looked good and it smelled good, but I thought it tasted terrible. Fortunately, I wasn't forced to eat it all, but I did have to eat some of it.
I still like liver and onions with gravy. I also really like fried chicken livers. When DH ran the country store, sardines, crackers, a Pepsi and a big slice of hoop cheese was a dinnertime favorite for all the men folks. I can't eat them.
I never ate liver ever and don't want to try it either. They look terrible in the markets. I just don't care for it. I'm not too adventurist when it comes to food. I love to try different no sugar added pastries today. Got some at the local Times Supermarket that's on sale. No sugar added apple turnovers are just 1.79 for 2 big apple or cherry turnovers!
Mallo Cups As a kid, I loved Mallo Cups, as did all of my friends. They came with Mallo Cup Cards of various denominations. Once you saved 500 points, you could send that in for a box of Mallo Cups. I think there were ten in a box. At some point, I realized that it was unlikely that they had someone counting each of the cards so I shorted them often, and it always worked. They still make Mallo Cups, as I see them in stores every now and then, but they aren't nearly as popular as they were when I was a kid. I bought one a few years ago, and it was only a few clicks short of being awful, sickly sweet. I threw it away after one bite. I don't know if it was me or the Mallo Cups that had changed.
I haven't heard of Mallo Cups so I guess in the region there were different kinds of candies as we were growing up. How about malted malts? I can't find a picture of them, but they came in little bottles and tasted so good! Today I like Crispy M&M and love the silly commercial. image from http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/eats/crispy-m-m-returning-shelves-january-article-1.1961113. I sometimes miss the taste of the candies we grew up with and can't even find a picture of it. I researched it too and no old time candy site has the two candies I mentioned, oh well guess I'll have to stick with Crispy M&M's.
Do you mean malted milk balls? They were great. I imagine they are still around but I haven't seen them lately. I think I would still like them though. I'm sure there are others but I can't think of anything else that I used to like but no longer do.
I love Malteasers. I used to go to a British store in Solana Beach California to buy them but it moved to Carlsbad not too far away. Now they have them at the World Market chain stores. The English Store in Carlsbad California…
Atwoods stores sell many of the old candy brands such as malted milk balls, Neccos, peanut rounders, horehound drops, and others. Our favorite is the Atkinson peanut butter bars. When I start eating them I can't stop. Of the other foods mentioned liver and onions is one of my favorites. Deep fried chicken livers also. I eat sardines quite often. I prefer the expensive King Oscar brand but the cheaper ones are okay, My mother used to cook calf brains & eggs but I haven't had them since I was a kid. Hamburger helper was not bad but I haven't had that in years.
Okay, this is a weird story because it's weird for a kid to like this but I "used to like it" so I'm on topic at least. When I was 11 yrs old my parents gave me 25 yen allowance when we lived in Japan. It would buy a small white bag (like a small french fry bag) at the open market on the street that was filled with smoked (or grilled?) squid strips coated in a sweet red spicy BBQ sauce. Most little girls that age would probably spend their allowance on "My Little Kitty" trinkets but I loved that squid. I've never found it in the US.
I've never seen the Maltesers but Whoppers malted milk balls are still sold everywhere here. I do like them but I can eat too many so never buy them.
I also like sardines but love smoked oysters! Also like liver but only chicken, duck or goose. In Hungary you could get goose liver and it is the BEST. Not cheap though. One thing I liked when young was all the penny candies, wouldn't touch most of them now. Things like pixie sticks, silver dollars, wax bottles with some drink inside, and many others but it's too early for me to remember. These days you can get any candy imaginable, you just have to look online or in one of those candy stores in malls. My favorites now are sour patch kids and that's my only vice candy wise. Japanese and Mexican candy is very big here in California.