Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[DesertDan]

"Americans still eat a lot of industrial bread — 1.5 billion loaves of it in 2009 — but there has been a marked cultural turn away from the stuff,” Bobrow-Strain, a professor of politics at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash., writes in an e-mail. “Some of that has to do with health consciousness, and a lot of it has to do with changing status consciousness.” He calls white bread “an icon of poverty and narrow choices in the age of yuppie foodie-ism.”

Obviously a professor of idiocy as well a politics, but those subjects are really one in the same so the banality of his pronoucement isn't really surprising.

Butter for me thank you, margarine is vile.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We never had "oleo" in the house -- it was butter, and only butter. And we cooked with lard, not Crisco. And we never had anything on the table but Nissen's white bread. One of my childhood highlights was touring the Nissen plant when I was in the second grade, and being given a complimentary loaf -- which I ate, from heel to heel, on the busride home.

There's nothing more satisfying for a late night snack than three slices of white bread with a thick layer of French's mustard between the slices.

 

[dnjan]

We haven't used margarine in years, but when we used it we always had the tubs of soft-spread.
I don't miss the soft-spread, but I do miss the tubs. They made great containers for left-overs, and held almost exactly two cups.

 

[m0nk]

My wife insists we use butter, it's all we have.

 

[Yeps]

Saying "glad to know you" when introduced to a new person. So much friendlier than "nice to meet you," I feel, because it implies that you're willing to know the person over the long haul.

I think "glad to know you" is a bit presumptuous. If you have just met someone, you don't know them. I rather like, "it's a pleasure (to meet you/make you acquaintance)." Sounds nice to me.

"Americans still eat a lot of industrial bread — 1.5 billion loaves of it in 2009 — but there has been a marked cultural turn away from the stuff,” Bobrow-Strain, a professor of politics at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash., writes in an e-mail. “Some of that has to do with health consciousness, and a lot of it has to do with changing status consciousness.” He calls white bread “an icon of poverty and narrow choices in the age of yuppie foodie-ism.”

Obviously a professor of idiocy as well a politics, but those subjects are really one in the same so the banality of his pronoucement isn't really surprising.

Butter for me thank you, margarine is vile.

Agreed on the margarine. I hope that sliced white bread dies soon. The stuff is just sad.
I have nothing against white bread, in fact I make a couple loaves every week. However, the bread that comes from the bread aisle in the grocery store (not the bakery), is just so flavorless and nutrient free. We used to call it duck bread, because it was best used feeding the ducks.

 

[LizzieMaine]

. However, the bread that comes from the bread aisle in the grocery store (not the bakery), is just so flavorless and nutrient free.

See, I'd much rather have a bread with a neutral flavor -- when I eat bread, I want to taste what's between the slices or on the slices, rather than the slices themselves. All the bread is is something to hold onto.

As far as nutrients go, all manufactured bread sold in the US is required by law to be vitamin fortified, and has been since 1941. It may not be Nature's Most Perfect Food, but it's not nutrient-free either.

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

White bread is like french fries, nothing more than a fat transfer device. You put grease, cheese, chili and catsup on fried potatoes and eat it, you can't taste any potato anyway. Same with white bread, no flavor to cover up that apple butter, strawberry jam, or grape jelly.

later

 

[amador]

I remember my mother had an old Folger's coffee can on the stove. She would collect bacon drippings in it to use later to make flour tortillas and refried bean, exquisite. My father once ate too much of her bacon enhanced food one evening. He reported having a nightmare where he saw "nuves enllamaradas" clouds aflame. No more bacon drippings for supper after that!

 

[LizzieMaine]

There are few breakfasts in the world better than eggs fried in bacon grease. The disappearence of the drippings can is a great loss to American morning cuisine.

 

[1961MJS]

There are few breakfasts in the world better than eggs fried in bacon grease. The disappearence of the drippings can is a great loss to American morning cuisine.

Screw Folgers anyway, we now use empty Ragu jars to hold the bacon grease. Improvise, adapt, overcome. Thank you Mr. Eastwood.

Later

 

[jamespowers]

Screw Folgers anyway, we now use empty Ragu jars to hold the bacon grease. Improvise, adapt, overcome. Thank you Mr. Eastwood.

Later

My wife saves the bacon grease and usues it for an old cornbread recipe. MMMM MMMMMM

 

[Mark D]

There are few breakfasts in the world better than eggs fried in bacon grease. The disappearence of the drippings can is a great loss to American morning cuisine.

I couldn't agree with you more about the eggs. I still do it and I still save my drippings. I suspect that the drippings can is alive and well. People merely keep a low profile now in order to avoid being harassed by the 'health police.' Here's to the bacon underground!

 

[Nikki]

I might be the only one who remembers this fondly but prank phone calls have disappeared. The ones my brothers and I did were harmless such as calling to ask if someone's refrigerator was running or if they had Prince Albert in a can. It was also interesting to see what our friends came up with. Telephone technology makes them impossible now.

We were horrible brats as children but we didn't do any harm besides be annoying.

 

[LizzieMaine]

For that matter, does "Prince Albert in a Can" itself even exist anymore? Do modern pipe smokers even bother with cheap drugstore brands, or is it all upscale foo-foo-smelling stuff?

 

[Nikki]

For that matter, does "Prince Albert in a Can" itself even exist anymore? Do modern pipe smokers even bother with cheap drugstore brands, or is it all upscale foo-foo-smelling stuff?

I got curious enough to look and Found that Prince Albert is still made but it's no longer in a can. The tins are collectibles these days. Amazon is currently advertising Prince Albert in a can. I admit my brothers and I didn't know what it was when we were asking the question.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I still smoke whatever's cheapest at the drug store.

 

[sheeplady]

I might be the only one who remembers this fondly but prank phone calls have disappeared. The ones my brothers and I did were harmless such as calling to ask if someone's refrigerator was running or if they had Prince Albert in a can. It was also interesting to see what our friends came up with. Telephone technology makes them impossible now.

We were horrible brats as children but we didn't do any harm besides be annoying.

Sadly, some kids today do "prank" phone calls, but they aren't so much pranks, but crimes: http://www.kpho.com/story/19084774/tucson-girls-prank-911-call-had-high-cost

 

[jamespowers]

I still smoke whatever's cheapest at the drug store.

I would never have thought.

 

[Nikki]

Sadly, some kids today do "prank" phone calls, but they aren't so much pranks, but crimes: http://www.kpho.com/story/19084774/tucson-girls-prank-911-call-had-high-cost

You're absolutely right when you say that was a crime and not a prank. The type of prank phone calls I'm referring to are the harmless ones my brothers and I made. We would call a random number and ask if their refrigerator was running. If they said yes we would tell them to go catch it. We would tell someone to please let Prince Albert out of his can because he's cramped and stuffy. Those two classics were annoying but otherwise harmless.

 

[sheeplady]

You're absolutely right when you say that was a crime and not a prank. The type of prank phone calls I'm referring to are the harmless ones my brothers and I made. We would call a random number and ask if their refrigerator was running. If they said yes we would tell them to go catch it. We would tell someone to please let Prince Albert out of his can because he's cramped and stuffy. Those two classics were annoying but otherwise harmless.

Yeah, I understand what you meant by pranks. When I was a kid, some of my friends would call up people and ask if they "were TP." (Either not toilet trained or a pregnant teenager.) Which was annoying, but otherwise harmless. Nobody I knew ever even "harassed" anyone- it was always random numbers pulled out of the phone book, not calling the same individual repeatedly on end. And still, everybody got in serious trouble for even doing the random thing.

This other thing isn't a prank, it's just cruel. No one I ever knew of would have called the authorities and tried to prank them about anything (even the TP joke). We grew up in a time when there was one emergency number and we all knew that tying it up for anything but an emergency was a big no-no. This was like a prank phone call on mega-steroids- it's bad enough to fake call an emergency number even with senseless jokes, but five times worse to pretend to be a missing child. It makes me really sad. I think booking those kids and letting them spend a little time at the police station was totally appropriate, although not nearly far enough (they should have to apologize to the family of the missing girl, in both writing and personally, as well as do some major volunteering preferably at a place that searches for missing children). It was totally heartless and I'm a bit disheartened to see anyone in the media say it is a prank and put it in a same category as calling a stranger and asking if their fridge was running. The 11-year old should have known better.