AuntiePam - Kroger usually carries corned beef briskets, too (more often at St. Patrick’s Day, of course). They’re pre-packaged with little spice packets and are often located with the sort of “specialty” meats, not with the slabs 'o beef on styrofoam trays. I’m sure if you ask at the meat counter they can help with the treasure hunt. I love corned beef. Since it’s often on sale in March, buy a couple and freeze them.
StG
Zippy’s chili in Hawaii over rice. Yum!
Blancmanges? Please explain, I’ve never heard of it…
A yesteryear food I just thought of the other day is Deviled Ham. I can’t remember the brand name but I remember commercials with a wierd looking red headed kid that made whatever brand it was popular…now deviled ham seems to be a forgotten food.
My mom used to have some kind of meat grinder thingee where she would grind up the ham and make the stuff, spread it on white bread for my dad’s lunches.
That’s exactly what I buy at Publix.
Only question is: how do you know when you’re done chewing? 
I’ve never had tongue but would be willing to try it. After all, it’s just muscle, like “regular” meat, isn’t it?
Akin to the Sloppy Joe is American chop suey, which I don’t see mentioned in this list of foods of yesteryear. I remember it from my school cafeteria days as being sort of like Beefaroni (meatsauce and macaroni).
Speaking of forgotten foods, it’s my impression that people don’t generally eat tater tots as much as they used to, but I could be wrong.
I don’t understand why meatloaf gets such a bad rap…it’s really good! (If you like burgers, then why wouldn’t you like meatloaf?)
Have you ever been to the Royal Pheasant? (Just around the corner from where I live…)
That would be “Underwood Deviled Ham.” The “weird looking red headed kid” I believe was a little red devil. At least that’s what’s on the label. You can still get it at grocery stores, in the canned meat aisle. Next to the Spaghettios and Chef Boy R Dee Ravioli!
I live in Washington State and, as you might guess, there aren’t too many traditional New York Jewish-style delis in this part of the country. There is an excellent Italian-style deli and sandwich shop were I live that always loads its sandwiches with mountains of selected meats and cheeses but, so far, tongue isn’t one of them.
If I may ask a question that I think is related enough to the thread to not be a hijack: have the dishes of yesteryear really disappeared because they are terrible, or because they involved preparation and effort, in a time when a lot fewer people prepare meals at all?
It would be interesting to know what these gross meals have been replaced with. I have a feeling the answer in many cases is Dominos and McDonalds.
My father brought an idea back from when he was in the army before I was born - chili over rice , with finely chopped onion & shredded cheddar cheese over the top . MMMMMMMMMMMM … that is YUMMY !!
I don’t think most of this stuff is gross at all (with the exception of that Red Devil ham…oy), it just looks gross today because fashions have changed. I’ll offer a couple of guesses here and someone with more authority can tell me if I’m on the right track…
I’m sorry, on rereading, I wasn’t clear. I should have put “gross” in quotation marks. I do not think those foods are particularly gross either. I actually think that though we have different forms of “specialty” restaurants (sushi, etc.) today, in general those foods taste gross to us because we’ve narrowed our palates considerably in general. Again, eating similar types of fast food, and every third meal being pizza as examples.
Sloppy joes? My mother used the recipe for those to make tacos, because she has the most delicate stomach in the world, and any little hint of spices make her sick as a dog. Now though, even the sloppy joes make her sick.
Funny, someone mentioned pretzel salad-my neighbor just brought over some to my mother. It’s got strawberries, jello, cream cheese whipped cream and crushed pretzels. It’s not bad, a bit salty, but tasty.
Mmmm…that pretzel salad is dang tasty! It sounds disgusting, but the blend of the sweet and the salty is heavenly!
My mom used to make this awful stuff she called Swiss Steak. She’d take the cheapest, toughest cuts of chuck steak and simmer them for what seemed like hours with tomato sauce and onions. It was still very hard to chew (for me at least).
My family obviously has very traditional tastes. We eat most of these things on a regular basis. Chicken and Dumplings is, and always will be, my favorite food. My mom makes the best, but I’ve found that Cracker Barrel actually does have pretty good ones. The few times I’ve tried, my dumplings have been pitiful.
-Lil
I was about to ask the same thing. If nobody’s eating this stuff, then what are they eating?
Funny, I eat almost all of these food on a regular basis. My family is from Central America and these are things that are still made, although we call them much different things.
I think it is a question of time for preparation (my mother is a stay-at-home), health (you cannot package most of these meals at lite). Nowadays people spend a lot of money for the privilege of eating tasteless, calorie-less, preparation-less foods. Pot roast in a bag is just not as good as the real thing.
The one things I did not grow up with were Jell-O molds. That is a very peculiar thing. I mean, some things do not belong in Jell-O. Cabbage, mayo? I cannot wrap my mind around it.
I don’t know if people still eat them or not, but mom used to buy chicken pot pies all the time, and they seemed to be chicken a la king, in a pastry pie crust. I hated them, and would spend most of my time picking out the peas. The crust really bothered me. The crust was to my mouth, the equivalent of dragging your fingernails across a chalkboard.