The early health food industry in the 1970’s touted various wonder foods (as in if you eat a lot of this one thing and you’ll be SUPER healthy). One such food I recall was wheat germ. It’s still available of course, but no longer enjoys the rock star super food association that it did 40 years ago.
Well of course not, now that gluten is TEH EVUHL.
My wife ADORES nonpariels. I think of them as simply a source of the infinite supply of tiny white things under the cushions of our couch.
Our standard movie-candy choice is a box of Sno-Caps for her and Raisinettes for me…ideally purchased at a local drug store for a half the price of the theatre, and smuggled in her purse.
Smuggled and of course free things taste better, don’t they?
Therein lies the sole appeal of moonshine.
My mother loves nonpareils from Sarris.
I loved those things! They were like the Chinese food version of pizza rolls.
So you’re a gay fish?
Is it really accurate to call things you can find in any supermarket like fish sticks or sloppy joe mix ‘out of style’? Or things like Vienna sausage that you can get at any supermarket or convenience store that has some groceries? I get calling it for stuff like Shrimp Cocktails, that used to be ubiquitous and now are mostly served on cruise ships, but I don’t think it’s a reasonable label for something that’s a standard grocery store (and maybe convenience store) staple.
Alfalfa Sprouts: in the 80’s you would see them on every buffet. But due to (I think) Salmonella you just don’t see them on the tables much … I did see some at the local grocery chain but I am hesitant to buy them as I am the salad mixes this time of year (which at this time of year means Imports which means less Quality Control or less Bathroom Time).
I’ve thought about buying some seed because sprouts for me= Yum and I bet my cats and dogs would eat both the sprouts and the germinated beyond sprouts stuff since they eat “cat grass” (red oats sprouted) which is another type of sprouted plants but additional research showed that Alfalfa is bad for pets… which makes me wonder if it is bad for me despite tasting so yummy with or without some salad dressing on it.
I guess I will need to look into bean sprouts for me and stick with rye/oat/etc sprouts for the cats and dogs.
Recently, I had to look at diner menus from the WWII era as research for something I’m writing (from the links, it looks as if a few other people had to do the same kind of thing.) Quite a few of the things I noticed on the menus have already been listed (sweetbreads, for example) but there were a few other things that I don’t ever recall seeing, nor have I run into them anywhere.
Stewed vegetables and fruits - stewed prunes, stewed tomatoes, etc. Maybe people still fix them, but I’ve never encountered them. Thankfully.
Postum. I saw this on any number of menus, and (thank goodness) never seen it. Or want to experience it. Ground grain coffee substitute? No, thank you.
Egg and olive sandwich. I’ll pass.
Brains and eggs. Apparently, there used to be canned brains and milk gravy, too. Maybe that’s still around; I have no idea.
Lima beans. I still love them, but it’s not easy to find them.
Spam. It’s not entirely gone – my better half, for example, has an unhealthy fondness for Spam and fried egg sandwiches – but it’s fallen in popularity. I’ve been through piles of vintage magazines (again, for research) and there used to be recipe after recipe for Spam.
Shirred eggs. I saw this on a number of menus, too, and I’ve never run into them myself.
Also, all of the sour cream/marshmallow/canned fruit/Cool Whip ‘salad’ creations that used to be popular. My grandmother used to make something for holidays called 5 cup salad (shredded coconut, canned mandarin oranges, baby marshmallows, sour cream and diced pineapple), and my great-aunt used to make something that was (I think?) called ambrosia. Not sure what was in it except for Cool Whip and canned cherry pie filling. Loved them both as a kid, but I don’t see that kind of thing anymore, either.
I think some of it has to do with what part of the country you’re in. When I lived in the Midwest, things like braunschweiger were common. Where I am now, people are likely to say ‘bless you’ if you ask for it. 
That takes me back. There was a time when alfalfa sprouts infested nearly every restaurant sandwich. I remember comments about them being nature’s pubic hair.
Especially in Hawaii… They can do things with SPAM that are unholy like SPAM musubi that is found in most convenience stores and even fancy restaurants. It is a holdover from the WWII era but now deeply en grained in Hawaiian culture.
Oh, yeah, haven’t seen those around as much as I used to. That reminds me, how about kiwi fruit? Seemed to be a bit of craze here in the late 80s or so, and now I rarely see it.
Wow, I haven’t thought of Ambrosia in forever! My father loved it, he’d ask for it as part of his birthday dinner every year. From memory the recipe was:
‘perfection’ oranges (if that’s not a common name, it was orange segments cut out so you leave the skin of the segments behind) or else canned mandarins.
pineapple chunks
mini marshmallows
shredded coconut
pecans
halved maraschino cherries (red! always red)
No idea on amounts, – it’s a salad, just wing it – but mostly oranges/pineapples/marshmallows with the rest as accents.
The dressing was a mix of sweet and sour cream with just a little sugar. My mom would add a sprinkling of some spice, but I can’t remember for sure. Cardamom maybe? Or cinnamon?
Just mix it all together, but not too long before serving because the marshmallows start to dissolve and the cherries will turn the whole thing pink.
This is kind of off topic, but…
Along with the missing sprouts on salad bars, include celery. Sometimes I need a half a cup of celery and head for the salad bar. There are red and green peppers, onions, garbanzo beans, beets, hard boiled eggs, four kinds of lettuce, but no chopped celery. Yes, I know its over in the produce but I don’t need a big honking armful that will go bad within a week.
OK, how about Armour Treet then?
If you keep it in a crisper, I find celery will usually last about 2-3 weeks, though I usually do not chop it stalk by stalk, but rather all the ribs from the top downward, if that makes any sense. (ETA: Here’s a picture of what I mean.) I suspect that may keep it fresh longer. (Online, it looks like people have success up to a month, but I’ve never had celery last that long in this house before being used up.) Also, if you cook a lot, you can chop it up and freeze it for mirepoix or stews or anywhere where you might want to use celery as a base flavor and the texture doesn’t matter.
From that article:
*As Spam lands on more restaurant menus, researchers at Hormel are watching closely to see how culinary trends can influence new Spam flavor profiles. In recent years, Hormel has launched new flavors like Black Pepper, Jalapeño, and most recently, Chorizo and Teriyaki varieties to “jazz up our Spam a little bit,” Spam brand manager Nicole Behne says. (The Spam lineup also includes previously launched products like Spam with Bacon, Hickory Smoke-flavored Spam, and Hot & Spicy, Spam dotted with Tabasco sauce.)
“Hormel has a big portion of our business that goes to the food-service side, so we look at restaurant trends,” Behne says. “Through our consumer insights team we were looking at trends in restaurants, trends in the foodie world.” (With that in mind, Sriracha Spam can’t be too far off.) Behne notes that Teriyaki Spam, which launched in Hawaii in Fall 2013, is “already the number four variety of Spam on the island.” Jalapeño Spam, she notes, sells particularly well in Texas, with its large Hispanic population.*
Yeah, Spam hasn’t gone anywhere but up. The other meat products, like the Treet mentioned by puly, never were to begin with. They were truly just left-overs from the WW2 canned meat boom. After rationing ended in Britain and elsewhere, those sorry substitutes for Spam gradually disappeared.
I’m getting a hankering for some Spam now!
I’m a bit afraid of that “chorizo” Spam, though. (Although it gets 5 stars on Amazon with 6 reviews.)If I see it, though, I will buy it and report back.
We always keep Spam in the pantry. Run it through a meat grinder with an equal amount of velveeta cheese and the spices of your choice, it makes a wonderful meat spread on bread, for quick broiling. Nice and hot and tasty!