The wonderful foods of the Golden Era

[Inkstainedwretch]

I remember eating lots of Liver & onions, meat loaf, spaghetti dinners, Chicken ALA KING with chicken peas & carrots, white gravy served over wide noodles.

Also Chicken & Dumplings , fried chicken livers & gizzards, cow's tongues, cow's brains, beef tripe, tuna & gravy on rice

I always thought chicken a la king must have been made for a pretty undemanding king. Really good chicken & dumplings, though, are fit for anyone. But don't get me started on liver.

 

[HudsonHawk]

The closest town to where I grew up had a very active shopping district. While you didn't always get what you want, you always could find what you needed. Numerous fires and the advent of shopping malls led to it's demise, and by the 90s most of the stores were vacant. Those stores are once again occupied, but I have a limited need for gourmet cupcakes and antiques.

One shouldn't underestimate his/her need for cupcakes.

 

[vitanola]

I always thought chicken a la king must have been made for a pretty undemanding king. Really good chicken & dumplings, though, are fit for anyone. But don't get me started on liver.

Badly prepared liver is an abomination. Quality liver, properly prepared is something else. It can be, though so seldom is, a delicacy of the highest order.

 

[LizzieMaine]

One shouldn't underestimate his/her need for cupcakes.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I always thought chicken a la king must have been made for a pretty undemanding king.

I always figured it was invented by some desperate short order cook named King to use up the soggy leftovers before they spoiled.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Not sure if this goes in here or in the "Things that have disappeared" thread, but I was talking to my mother last night about old family members, and we got talking about how some of them were "dirt eaters". Clay eaters to be more specific. It used to be fairly common in the rural South, but you don't hear much about it anymore, as it was pretty well stigmatized right out of the mainstream. I think there are places that still sell clay for eating, but it's probably labeled as "artisanal" dirt now.

 

[Haversack]

The technical term for the eating of non-nutritionous substances such as white clay or chalk is called Pica. Although classified as an eating disorder, there are some studies that suggest that some forms of it may be an attempt at correcting mineral deficiencies or as way to combat intestinal parasites. (The things one remembers from food and culture classes in the '70s.)

 

[Zombie_61]

I always thought chicken a la king must have been made for a pretty undemanding king...

Yeah, but "Chicken a la Pauper" doesn't have the same ring to it.

 

[scotrace]

Has no one mentioned "shit on a shingle?" I use the word in the sense of the Amish, who say it freely to describe what it is...

It's creamed chipped (usually dried) beef on a piece of toast.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'm quite fond of chipped beef, no matter how it's prepared. I'll often eat the plain meat as a substitute for salty snacks.

 

[Zombie_61]

I like S.O.S. too, but I'm 100% certain I'd grow tired of it very quickly if I were forced to eat it day after day after day.

 

[HudsonHawk]

The technical term for the eating of non-nutritionous substances such as white clay or chalk is called Pica. Although classified as an eating disorder, there are some studies that suggest that some forms of it may be an attempt at correcting mineral deficiencies or as way to combat intestinal parasites. (The things one remembers from food and culture classes in the '70s.)

What I'm referring to is not really pica, as it's not an eating disorder, it's a culinary delicacy. While it doesn't have any nutritional value, it's eaten for taste and flavor, and it's learned cultural behavior, not a psychological or physiological craving.

 

[BlueTrain]

I understand that many of the things we eat have no nutritional value, yet probably would not fall in the category of pica. Such things are usually just called junk food. However, to some people, that even includes hamburgers.

 

[Bolero]

1950's...
Sunday Eve. Roast Beef dinner with Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, Gravy all together in one big dish...
Weekday Lunch Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese sandwich...
Saunder's for Tuna Sandwich with Choclate Milk...

 

[HudsonHawk]

I understand that many of the things we eat have no nutritional value, yet probably would not fall in the category of pica. Such things are usually just called junk food. However, to some people, that even includes hamburgers.

Even junk food provides nutritional value, at least in the sense that your body does metabolize at least part of it. And there are people who have either a psychological or physiological urge to eat things that provide no metabolic energy...dirt, metal, what have you. But there are people, and it used to be common in the South, who chose to eat clay for the same reason you or I would chose to eat ice cream. They simply like it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

What I'm referring to is not really pica, as it's not an eating disorder, it's a culinary delicacy. While it doesn't have any nutritional value, it's eaten for taste and flavor, and it's learned cultural behavior, not a psychological or physiological craving.

I will sometimes, for want of anything else to snack on, eat edible packing foam. No calories, no chloesterol, and the absolute shock value it has on any onlookers is priceless.

 

[BlueTrain]

Didn't know there was such a thing, edible packing foam. However, it doesn't sound much worse than a mayonnaise sandwich (This is, bread and mayonnaise).

 

[Trenchfriend]

I will sometimes, for want of anything else to snack on, eat edible packing foam. No calories, no chloesterol, and the absolute shock value it has on any onlookers is priceless.

Better hold on Haferflocken, All-Bran and so on.

Pellkartoffeln/Potatoes-in-the-skin is still a good, worthy thing, too.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Didn't know there was such a thing, edible packing foam. However, it doesn't sound much worse than a mayonnaise sandwich (This is, bread and mayonnaise).

Make it a mustard sandwich for mine. A generous layering of Gulden's between three slices of white bread is a favorite bedtime snack.

 

[BlueTrain]

In some movie or TV show with Brian Keith, there is a scene in the show (at the very end) of him sitting on the front steps of some city townhouse eating bread with sugar on it, if I remember correctly, with some not very well-off folks he had made friends with earlier in the story or something like that.