There are some foods that I think we accept as a society for children to eat. Strange combinations that somehow are okay as long as the person creating and/or consuming them is under the age of 15. Sometimes, certain foods seem to be prone to certain generations. This last bit became pretty clear to me today through today's big story in the Dining section the New York Times that I immediately tested its claim of recognition on my nearly 12 year old daughter.
"Syd?" I called.
"What?" she replied.
"Have you ever heard of spaghetti tacos?" I inquired because I certainly hadn't.
"Yeah." she mumbled.
"From where?" I continued.
"iCarly." she responded.
A program that has nothing to do with food, on a channel we don't have that also has nothing to do with food is shaping mealtime for kids across the country. According to the article, blogs and websites galore offer a multitude of variations for spaghetti tacos. Here is a link to the full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/dining/06tacos.html?_r=1
In the spirit of this article, I compiled a small list of foods/food combos from my childhood that I just cannot part with:
1. Ketchup on my mac & cheese. Maybe it's because I'm a quarter Canadian, but this combination is a staple for me. Mac & cheese isn't actually ready to be consumed until it is covered in ketchup.
2. Potato chips on a variety of sandwiches. Whether I'm sitting down to a nice PB&J or a deli-type sandwich, it just isn't complete without that extra crunch. (I don't think this deserves an additional category because it just seems to be a variation, but I also put french fries on my burgers as well.)
3. Magic Shell. I'm not sure which of my parents brought this bit of sorcery into my life, but since I was a small child, ice cream (or sherbet) is more exciting with Magic Shell. For those of you not familiar with Magic Shell, it's a chocolate sauce that hardens on your cold ice cream. Magic Shell is also on my list of "Meanest Things Done by an Ex-": #5 She put my Magic Shell in the refrigerator.
4. Dipping Wendy's french fries into Wendy's Frosty's. Once upon a time I used to do that with my chicken nuggets, too, but I've since become allergic to chicken. There really is no point to eating at Wendy's unless you plan to eat your fries and your Frosty together.
5. I love Spaghettio's. Special combinations in my Spaghettio's include, adding crackers, adding cheese, adding hot sauce, adding avocado, or adding all of these things.
I'm so glad you did the independent test of the spaghetti taco "trend"--until reading your post I completely thought the Times was building it up from an overly small sample (something they've been accused of doing in the past). Maybe we should play the childhood taste treat game in class. My personal favorite was ramen noodles with ketchup and soy sauce.
ReplyDeleteMy 11-year-old knew about it, too. Even though I've seen about a billion iCarly episodes, I couldn't remember the spaghetti tacos. This was a fun post (laughed out loud at the "Meanest Things Done by an Ex)! My favorite was plain white rice with a little bit of rice, apparently I was a boring eater.
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