I read a fellow blogger’s post about Ketchup sandwiches (for more please visit Jumping in Mud Puddles). I can’t say that I’ve ever eaten a Ketchup sandwich but I do remember dipping toast in ketchup and only having that – toast and ketchup – as a snack.
bread dough image from goodhousekeeping.com
As a kid, one of my favorite times was whenever my mother baked bread and with 5 kids, she baked every week. Because I was the youngest and usually hanging around her anyways, she’d often give me some of my very own dough to make into something. Most often we made “dough gods.” What you do is take a round ball of dough about an inch thick and fry it in butter, browning on both sides until it’s cooked throughout. Press down with a spatula as it’s cooking, like a pancake. Slather with more butter and some home-made jam, chokecherry was my preference. Heaven! *Hey I was 6, what can I say.
Another favorite kid food was Dill pickle dip. I think it’s only available in Canada, because I’ve never seen it in a Michigan store. Yes it is just as it sounds but as a kid, it was fantastic. It was the perfect accompaniment to Old Dutch ripple potato chips and, even better, if both were smuggled out of the kitchen in stealth mode and then rushed to the backyard tent for a sleepover with my cousin! I can only imagine our breath the next morning. Good Lord!
Speaking of pickles, I loved (and still love) dill pickles. A favorite childhood lunch-time sandwich was Cheez Whiz + dill pickle. That’s it. Weird I know.
Can we talk bologna? I actually liked bologna on a sandwich but only if it was accompanied by regular yellow mustard. I would not touch that gnarly pimento-infused stuff that my Grandmother always wanted me to try. Gag-a-roonie. Don’t even ask me to try Lutefisk.
Liver. Believe it or not I was that kid who would eat liver and onions. Don’t touch the stuff now.. something about ingesting organs freaks me out a little bit.
Beets and spinach. Two vegetables that most kids will not eat and yes, I loved them. Still do. Fresh steamed garden beets with a little butter & salt? Divine.
When we went to the summer fair (in Canada it’s called the “Exhibition” or the “Ex” if you’re 14 and trying to sound cool), in addition to the midway jam-packed full of rides, the horse shows and live performances, there was all that food to look forward to. Saskatoon is a multi-cultural city and embraces the foods of many ethnicities. As a result, we were exposed to many childhood delights. Even though some were not really “kid-friendly,” the ones that made my mouth water were the pierogies (sold out of Little Baba’s kitchen and served with sour cream and fried onions), the heavenly smelling Doukhobor bread, Greektown’s chicken souvlaki (served on a stick with cucumber sauce and shredded vegetables) and the deep fried ice cream (and ice cream bar dipped in chocolate and peanuts then flash fried). No elephant ears for me, give me the good stuff!
Thinking back on all of these foods, I realize I was reasonably adventurous. However, I never could embrace Grandpa’s love of sour cream slathered on his bread, my Dad’s sprinkling sugar over his popcorn, or my brother’s love of red hot fireballs.
I guess I’m weird like that.
What about you? What weird foods did you like as a kid and do you still eat them today?
mmmm… i loved cockles!!!
Dear Tink: I have no idea what that is? Help? MJ
Believe it or not I likes Spam (meat-like substance) and now I’m strictly organic, LOL!
I do believe it! I didn’t mind fried spam as a kid but now the thought of it makes me shiver.. Great comment, thanks! MJ
I enjoy your stories. I sense a uplifting personality behind them.
Thank you LeRoy. I am a cup half full kinda girl, mostly anyways
. Cheers MJ
As a kid, I spent summers at Amherst Shore, Nova Scotia, We’d walk to a local mom n’pop grocer, Craigs. There we’d load up on chocolate milk (the creamiest chocolate milk I’ve ever had to this very day), salt and vinegar chips, ketchup chips (yes, ketchup chips), corn twists (fried puffed goodness) and my all-time favorite… Jos. Louis snack cakes. As an adult, when I travel to the shore for the summer, I still load up on the same goodies. In fact, if you were to check our freezer, you would find frozen Jos. Louis’ snack cakes. Brought to us last Summer (we live in GA). Mmmm mmmm good!
How fun! I think we called the chocolate milk you reference, “Vico.” Yummy, creamy deliciousness. I still love salt & vinegar chips, although no one in my family does. Great post and how fun that you can still find your favorite items!! Thanks for visiting, MJ
Ok, those are some odd combinations of foods! Definitely adventurous tastes for a kid!
Let’s see, I liked (and still like)a sprinkling of salt on watermelon and tomatoes; a whole banana mashed and stirred into creamy peanut butter and spread on white sandwich bread (has to be white bread for this!) – the mixture is this lovely caramel color and oh so gooey; sunny-side up eggs with runny middles…can’t do that as an adult! Where do we lose these tastes along the way? Fun post, made me think about foods from long ago! Sheila
I remember seeing people put salt on Watermelon but never understood why! Isn’t it fun to think of (and remember) those foods that we loved as kids? And, for the record, I can’t eat a runny egg any more either. Thanks Sheila
, MJ
Gag-a-roonie! That made me laugh. The dill pickle stuff sounds really good, too. As for my favorite things … nothing rare comes to mind. Speaking of rare, how about a rare steak? I have always eaten steak rare-rare. That’s all I can think of
Gag-a-roonie is one we said as kids and I still say, obviously, and my kids laugh at me for it. Never could eat a steak rare but medium rare is ok with me. Now I’m hungry! Thanks CM’s wife
. MJ
Growing up just outside of Philadelphia, we ate a lot of scrapple when I was a kid. (Scrapple is a spiced pork “bits” ensemble that is pressed into a loaf. The loaf is sliced and fried in a skillet — in its own considerable amount of fat.)
It’s hard to get other places, but I still get it when I’m back in that area.
You know, believe it or not, I have heard of this .. but I didn’t quite know what it is. Thanks for the lesson
… and for visiting. MJ
Buttered macaroni noodles mixed with ketchup,
Velveeta cheese and Miracle Whip sandwiches,
those were my really strange foods. I also liked beets if my grandma prepared them, and I liked liver and onions too.
Interesting combos, Terri! I can imagine that tangy Miracle Whip & creamy Velveeta would make a fun kid’s sandwich
. Thanks for sharing your story! MJ
I like your blog – random, insightful, thought provoking. As women we are not just one dimensional, so our blogs shouldn’t be either. As for the weird food I liked as a kid, potted ham on crackers. Perfect for a tea party. Then one day we read the ingredients and … no more potted ham. Yikes!
Thank you very much for your kind words. I am not sure I know what “potted ham” is but I suspect it might be some type of ham spread i.e. Spam? Do tell!! Thanks .. MJ
Beets, I can’t stand beets. The only good thing about beets is they are the perfect food to give up for Lent!
Enjoy your postings.
Hey I thought you were supposed to give up something you liked for Lent?
Those are the things that make life worth living!
Choose Happiness!
Jennifer
Visit my latest post re:sandwiches.
Spinach, little garlic, little oil, salt pepper… yum. Beets..well..let’s say the only ones i’ve ever had are the pickled kind and I could live without those. And now with folks like Kelloggs/Kashi genetically modifying sugar beets for their uses I may not get to try them any other way…
Cooper, I will check out your sandwich post b/c there’s nothing like a good sandwich
Beets … mmmm:) MJ
Well reading your part of story was fun ! As a kid I used to eat all kinds of food which I eat even now . I don’t remember having eaten any weird food.Yeah I used to enjoy having bread with jam only after totally mixing it up with milk cream. Only because of growing calorie conscious after growing up is the reason why I don’ eat it now:)
What’s Your True Age?
Are you as old as you feel or as what the calendar says?
http://www.3smartcubes.com/pages/tests/true_age/true_age_instructions.asp
Interesting! I do remember putting Devonshire (clotted) cream on toast and topping it with jam. Wonder if that’s the same thing? As kids we were conscious of calories in a different way – with 5 kids it was a fight to get enough of all the good foods my mother made! Thanks for visiting
MJ
Oh my… weird foods I ate as a kid = one of my fave subjects!
Mac & Cheese w/ ketchup
Miracle Whip and PB sandwiches (only on white bread)
Top Ramen (beef flavor only) and hot dogs
Mashed potato sandwiches w/ ketchup (only on white bread)
I may or may not still indulge in some of these every once in a while even as an adult.
Michelle – I have to say that I have never heard of putting mayo OR Miracle whip on a PB sandwich! I’ll bet that’s tangy
. Thanks for your comments, MJ 