# What's with the nasty-ass food old people eat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239 "2013-10-14T18:35:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/41 "2013-10-15T04:12:48Z")
Both my parents are super boring eaters now that they’re in their 60s. Mom has a problem with a hiatal hernia and takes “a purple pill” every day. Now dad has to take the same thing. Neither of them really can go out to eat anymore because weird things give them heartburn and keeps them up at night. Not “weird” like weird foods but “weird” as in “pretty normal pedestrian ingredients that you wouldn’t suspect would upset your stomach.” Even though they take the meds they still have to be careful. They’re not slopping around in mayo or anything, but the list of foods (and food preparations) they can/will eat as they get older has definitely got smaller. And more cautious. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/42 "2013-10-15T04:14:21Z")
My husband eats all the giblets that come with a turkey: liver, heart (?) whatever’s in those packets. He says it’s his “treat.” ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/43 "2013-10-15T04:47:10Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > Actually, sense of taste seems to go as you age. I now shake enough pepper on my food to make me sneeze. That’s how I know it’s enough. See, I thought old peoplew gave up on spices altogether when they got old. Which would explain the food at Luby’s or Furrs and why it’s always packed with old people. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/44 "2013-10-15T07:22:28Z")
I’m 76 and I eat what I damn well please. Provided it comes from the frozen food section. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/45 "2013-10-15T17:18:58Z")
I always stereotyped ‘old people food’ as stuff that was bland and easy to chew; nothing with any strong, complex flavors or textures. Of course this depends on the culture too- I think the OP is referring to 'Old white people food" since other cultures/ethnicities will have their own fare. But reading cookbooks from 50 years ago, I do gotta wonder, did they not have spices back then? There’s only so much you can do with Salt and Black Pepper; its kind of a shame people were shackled by such bland flavors back then…though I guess they never knew what they were missing out on? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/46 "2013-10-15T17:45:01Z")
Anyone familiar with midwestern cooking from Nebraska through Nort’akota knows that the spice rack holds salt, pepper and a bottle of brown powder that’s never used for anything. Turns out northeast cooking isn’t much better but at least it has clams and lobsters sometimes. A lot of the now-60-80 generation came out of small towns and the midwest because of the war. That would explain the general choice of food for those ages. Then again, I worked for a mid-20-something who was at the time a little younger than me, and no one in his entire family and circle of friends could eat plain, out of the wrapper Taco Bell without fanning their mouths and gulping soda. This was in California ca. 1990. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/47 "2013-10-15T18:30:35Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > See, I thought old peoplew gave up on spices altogether when they got old. Which would explain the food at Luby’s or Furrs and why it’s always packed with old people. I started cooking Indian food at age 65. It doesn’t get much spicier than that. I eat what I want and pity people who can’t or won’t try new things. The stereotypes of seniors annoys the hell out of me, particularly when it’s stated like the OP has done. It violates the board tenet of “don’t be a jerk”, but is ignored by all the mods. All of you will be older some day (with any luck); I hope your lives are as perfect as you believe ours should be. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/48 "2013-10-15T18:54:13Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I started cooking Indian food at age 65. It doesn’t get much spicier than that. I eat what I want and pity people who can’t or won’t try new things. The stereotypes of seniors annoys the hell out of me, particularly when it’s stated like the OP has done. It violates the board tenet of “don’t be a jerk”, but is ignored by all the mods. All of you will be older some day (with any luck); I hope your lives are as perfect as you believe ours should be. Hear, hear (or, as those youngsters say today, +1)! You sound like my kind of old guy, **Chefguy** , even if you do live in the city I escaped from. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/49 "2013-10-15T18:55:03Z")
Since this is mainly food-related, nasty-ass or otherwise, I’m moving it to Cafe Society. From IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/50 "2013-10-15T19:14:37Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > Ranch dressing is delicious. So is mayonnaise. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/51 "2013-10-15T19:15:27Z")
mrAru and I have been expanding our meal choices - we decided we were getting 1950s boring [you know, every wednesday is prince spaghetti day… meatloaf on monday, roast chicken on sunday] We deliberately do most of the week trying different recipes, then we decide which ones to add to the rotation. Probably 2 meals a week are old standards and the rest are something different. We figure when we have a stable of 100 main courses, 100 veggies, 100 starches we will drop the experimental stuff to twice a week or so. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/52 "2013-10-15T19:53:47Z")
The OP is simply idiotic. I saw two ancients at the Chinese buffet today getting food in pints to go. Granted they didn’t order the spiciest stuff, but it was most certainly not mayo or ranch dressing based. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/53 "2013-10-15T20:20:34Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Since this is mainly food-related, nasty-ass or otherwise, I’m moving it to Cafe Society. From IMHO. I think it should go to the PIT. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/54 "2013-10-15T20:27:15Z")
> [@Incubus](#): > > . . .But reading cookbooks from 50 years ago, I do gotta wonder, did they not have spices back then? . . . Well someone might have had them. In our extended family, there was salt and pepper. If you wanted more you added diced raw onions, unless is was taco night (a rarish, get together meal) then you could also add diced green peppers (canned) and/or taco sauce. There was pumpkin pie spice, for pumpkin pies, and mexican spice mix for sitting in the cupboard until there was very little taste left and if you were very daring, you could add some to the home-made spaghetti sauce. And Mom and Dad added dried garlic to things. (Not garlic salt. Salt was the devil.) ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/55 "2013-10-15T21:20:54Z")
My mum used to eat all sorts of shit…think brains, tripe, kidneys etc. I was always prepared to try something _once_, but after that, no thanks. As I’ve mentioned before on this board, it’s a wonder my sibs and I didn’t starve to death, but as soon as I was able to light a stove, problem solved. One of mum’s other fave things was **broad beans**. Come early spring when bb season was on, out would come the beans. I know other folks raved about them as well, but couldn’t figure out how these bastard nuggets of dried-out cardboard could be considered at all edible. My mum died a couple of months ago, and I was getting a bit nostalgic for all her weird culinary thingies, so I bought some fresh broad beans…and followed the recipe that\*\* involved blanching the inner beans and removing the outer husk until you have these beautiful sweet tender beans inside. \*\* Added to my infamous potato, bacon and egg salad, they were a delight! Bit bloody different to mum’s efforts, I swear she could massacre just about anything. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/56 "2013-10-15T21:22:35Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Well someone might have had them. In our extended family, there was salt and pepper. If you wanted more you added diced raw onions, unless is was taco night (a rarish, get together meal) then you could also add diced green peppers (canned) and/or taco sauce. There was pumpkin pie spice, for pumpkin pies, and mexican spice mix for sitting in the cupboard until there was very little taste left and if you were very daring, you could add some to the home-made spaghetti sauce. > > And Mom and Dad added dried garlic to things. (Not garlic salt. Salt was the devil.) No, not much. Salt, Pepper, and then Paprika was _exotic_. :eek: Lawry’s seasoning salt was _THE_ thing. As Yllaria sez, there were also seasonal spices such as poultry seasoning for Turkey day. Unless you lived in CA or Fla, oranges were a treat. Meat, potatoes, canned veggies. Yes, food was boring back then. Storage and shipping costs. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/57 "2013-10-15T21:55:20Z")
I’ve got cook books from the early 20th century, some of those recipes would seem downright alien to a millennial. Hell, I have cook books from the 1940s~1950s that have dishes that you’d never see these days. Anthony Bourdain did an episode of _No Reservations_ titled “Disappearing New York” of maybe “Disappearing Manhattan” where they ate in one of the last of the truly epic old school French restaurants in Manhattan. I think one of the deserts was a Floating Island, it’s in the Custard Desserts section of one of my favorite 1950s cook books. They said nobody outside of French culinary school makes them anymore, and that it was delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/58 "2013-10-15T22:28:08Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_Rat](#): > > Anthony Bourdain did an episode of _No Reservations_ titled “Disappearing New York” of maybe “Disappearing Manhattan” where they ate in one of the last of the truly epic old school French restaurants in Manhattan. I think one of the deserts was a Floating Island, it’s in the Custard Desserts section of one of my favorite 1950s cook books. They said nobody outside of French culinary school makes them anymore, and that it was delicious. Ile Flottante. I think I’ve seen Alton Brown make it. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/59 "2013-10-15T22:30:29Z")
This old fart has a pot of chili simmering on the cook top guaranteed to raise a bead of sweat on your forehead. Maybe I should serve it with a nice Jello salad. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239/60 "2013-10-15T22:34:17Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > This old fart has a pot of chili simmering on the cook top guaranteed to raise a bead of sweat on your forehead. > > Maybe I should serve it with a nice Jello salad. Y’know, a dollop of ranch dressing in chili is delicious. I’m not making that up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-nasty-ass-food-old-people-eat/671239.md?page=4)