I’ve never understood the fascination with ranch dressing. One day I’d never heard of it, the next day (ca '75 or '76) it was everywhere. Tried it, was unimpressed, and still don’t like it.
Every pot of chili I make gets a heaping tablespoon of cocoa powder…
When my mom and I would “rescue” grandma from the nursing home for a day, all she wanted was mashed potatoes. She was a cheap date. Also didn’t have a tooth in her head.
My parents are 68 and 66, and I can’t get either of them to use anything besides black pepper. Well, black pepper is too spicy for Mom, only Dad uses it. She keeps asking me how to make food flavorful without salt or sugar (Dad’s on a low sugar/sodium diet) and I keep telling her what spices to use and also small amounts of many hot sauces are plenty low in sodium to use. I’ve also told her how to get her palate used to spicier things (just do it, and next time you’re a little more tolerant) and she just won’t do it. I made some lovely and mild chana masala last time she came to visit, and she said she liked it, but it was too spicy. sigh
It’s also a challenge when I visit them, as I don’t eat hydrogenated oils or factory farmed animal products. Last time Mom made dinner, I ended up making a mustard sauce for myself, from what I could find in their cabinets, to top the potatoes and cauliflower and that was my dinner. Neither of them wanted to try the sauce (which turned out pretty good).
With all that said, generalizing what I deal with from them is not fair to “all” older people. I’m sure older folk who grew up with more varied diets do just fine with spicier and more exotic fare. At the same time if it’s “what you grew up with” then I should be eating the same bland as my parents, but I don’t - I moved to the city and embraced the different cuisines, my favorites of which are Thai and Indian, and I keep a bottle of Rooster Sauce in my cabinet. I can’t imagine getting older and not having those things in my diet.
My father, age 76, is the most adventurous eater (and cook) I know. A few weekends ago he cooked a suckling pig.
My late grandfather, on the other hand, had to resort to somewhat of an “old person” diet by the end of his life, largely because he couldn’t chew anything that was too hard. He would eat pretty much any flavor, however.
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar with salt and 3 tbsp olive oil is a much older recipe. But yes, I love mayo on my french fries. Catsup is just to add color.
Some foods in the past were more flavorful and didn’t need as many spices. I’m thinking especially of chicken, pork, and some fish. Fresher and less overbred for leanness and so forth.
I don’t think it’s what you grew up with as a child so much as how you ate when you were in your late teens and 20s. The people I know who eat bland , boring food in their 40s and 50s ate the same way in their 20s and will no doubt be eating that way into their 70s. And the 60 year old sushi eaters were eating sushi in their 20s , they didn’t pick it up in their 60s after a lifetime eating bland food
My grandma is in her mid-70s and has been a health nut for 40 years. She raised us on the health foods of the 60s and 70s and still eats that stuff. That means very little salt, tons of brown rice, vegetables boiled to oblivion, sandpaper-ish whole grain bread, wheat germ, flax seed, and megadose vitamin pills with every meal. Her mother was a professional cook and made delicious Eastern European specialties with every recipe starting with a half pound of lard. Grandma apparently rebelled against this, and I barely got enough calories to survive as a kid. She goes apeshit over my mashed potatoes, because I put sour cream, butter and a decent amount of salt instead of just skim milk. Another reason her cooking is bland is her spices have been in the cabinet for a decade or two, and she can’t taste that they have faded with time. I love her to death and I’m so happy she helped raise me, but she ain’t a great chef.
Sorta different-but Brazilian cuisine has some weird quirks. My wife if Brazilian, and I like most of what she cooks. But one thing puzzles me-her family goes mad for a vegetable called “maxich”(pronounced mash-shish).
It is a tiny squash-like plant-you boil it and then drown it in cheese and milk. To me, its like eating little pieces of Styrofoam-absolutely tasteless.
I never understood it-but she (and her family) love it!
Huh! That’s called christophine in parts of the Caribbean, chayote in Mexico, right?
I love stuffed christophine.
I won’t deny that we eat our share of disgusting shit, but this article disses meatloaf and corn dogs, refers to fatty processed meat sticks as beef jerky, and the person who doesn’t like red vines goes by the moniker “CthulusWhore”. Take that as you will, but I’m not feeling too assailed by international sophistication here.
Oh and mayo is great used appropriately.
My mom has no sense of taste or smell, more or less [hay dust will do rude things to your sense of smell and she grew up on a farm.]
I got tired of the meh spices she had lurking in the cupboard, so for a Christmas present about 10 years ago I went and bought pretty much the entire set at Penzeys and replaced them for her. After that, every year I replaced them as part of her present. [it cost about $125US more or less] even though she stopped cooking about 5 years ago [alzheimers] we keep a smaller set refreshed every Christmas because mrAru and I like to actually cook real food when we visit.
And so, what is your excuse for not giving her a great present of all new spices, and spiffy new salt and pepper grinders?:dubious:
I’ve certainly noticed some of my senior-aged acquaintances like food which I find almost abhorrent (kidneys have no business being in a meat pie, dammit!) but I think the OP might have a point regarding some of the “odd” foods many older people seem to enjoy.
For example, my dad (one of the “Baby Boomer” generation) will not eat steamed rice, because he considers it (and I quote) “Prisoner of War food”. To him, it was the stuff fed to the adults in his life as he was growing up who had the misfortune to be captured by the Japanese during WWII. So, in that sense, I get where he’s coming from.
He also likes his meat turned (almost) to charcoal and his highly suspicious of most spices any more exotic than salt or pepper. The short answer appears to be that (at least in New Zealand’s South Island), no, they didn’t have any spices more exotic than “Salt”, “Pepper”, or “Mustard”.
I grew up in New Zealand in the 80s/90s and don’t recall having Mexican food until I was about 16 (and it certainly wouldn’t be considered proper Mexican food by Mexican or US standards) and I was in high school before I had Sushi. And it wasn’t because I was in some weird remote area or anything - those foods just weren’t readily available. We didn’t even have a Burger King in the city until about 1996 or 1997, IIRC.
So, in short, in addition to the things mentioned by others (changes to taste buds and medical requirements), perhaps the foods older people like are simply reflective of what was available in the simpler times as they were growing up?
Being old is a privilege. A great percentage of people never make it. I’m guessing the OP will be one of those, process of natural selection an’ all…
Agreed, excepting the admittedly rare occasion where one gets near the bottom of a jar and pulls up a condom with one’s butter knife. Cuz that’s gross.
Troutsqueezer, we have a rule against wishing death on another poster. Predicting an early death for someone violates the spirit, if not the letter, of that rule. Dial it back.
If you have a problem with the OP, take it to the Pit.
twickster, Cafe Society moderator
No problem with the OP, he’s just another faceless netizen, slamming old people if not by the letter then certainly the spirit but apparently within the rules. I think I do have a problem with your moderation however, enough to delete Straight Dope from my favorites. Troutsqueezer over and out…
Damn. That’s heartbreaking.
And I was just about to complain about all the Unsqueezed Trout that my grandparents ate…