Then and Now

[karadekoolaid]

I made pasta tonight, with sundried tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, olives, garlic, olive oil and fettucine.
It got me thinking: only one of those ingredients existed in my house when I was 20 years old. Olive oil; and that was kept in the medicine cabinet.
All those ingredients are staples in my house these days; I can't do without them.
What have you got now that you didn't have then, and why are they so important?

 

[TastyReuben]

Well, the most obvious one would be garlic, as both my parents detest(ed) the stuff in any form.

Also, Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, any number of other cheeses. We had only American, cheddar, and Colby cheeses growing up.

Alcohol, as neither parent drank, nor did my grandparents…or aunts/uncles.

Ground turkey, that wasn’t even a thing back then. Salami, that was “foreign food” and not allowed. I didn’t taste salami until I was in my 20’s.

 

[TastyReuben]

Also, nachos, tortillas, tortilla chips, salsa…more of that off-limits “foreign food.”

 

[karadekoolaid]

“foreign food.”

That's exactly what my mum would say.

 

[Gone Hiking]

When I grew up in the whole broken home bullshit, everything we ate came from a can or a box, save for the occasional vegetable that was boiled to mush. At 19, I met my farm girl wife, who never ate a meal that wasn't home cooked from scratch. Five months later, I put an engagement ring on her finger, we moved into an apartment together, and we married at 21, while I was still in college. It took her a while to break me from my processed-food heathen ways, but today, I now actually do nearly all of the cooking, lol. So literally, EVERYTHING that I cook with today is fresh and the polar opposite of my "then".

I know I'm prone to going off on tangents, but since we're just past Valentine's Day, I'll add that Mrs. GH and I met when she was 18 and had just graduated from high school, while we were working at a new steakhouse. She was the vivacious platinum blonde with "huge tracts of land" and an infectious laugh that echoed across the dining hall every night that turned heads and made everyone laugh in kind. I was just the schmuck who took orders trying to pay my way through college, yet we hit it off. One night, she left a comment card on my windshield sort of inviting me on a date. That was the official start of us. I've kept that comment card for 30+ years, and in fact knew exactly where to retrieve it to snap this pic tonight (albeit redacted, for reasons). We've now been married for 30 years. I chose well.

 

[Barriehie]

 

[TastyReuben]

That's exactly what my mum would say.

With my dad (and my mom), it was never meant in a nationalistic or pride-in-the-USA way…the core of it was that all that “foreign food” was stuff they never grew up with, wasn’t familiar with, and therefore didn’t trust it to be something they’d like.

Also, both my parents, as was typical of their generation, were very “know your place and stay in it” people - eating things they didn’t grow up with, they’d see that as “puttin’ on airs,” and “tryin’ tah be somethin’ yah ain’t,” which in their view was about as serious a crime as murder - know your place and stay in it.

 

[Barriehie]

With my dad (and my mom), it was never meant in a nationalistic or pride-in-the-USA way…the core of it was that all that “foreign food” was stuff they never grew up with, wasn’t familiar with, and therefore didn’t trust it to be something they’d like.

Also, both my parents, as was typical of their generation, were very “know your place and stay in it” people - eating things they didn’t grow up with, they’d see that as “puttin’ on airs,” and “tryin’ tah be somethin’ yah ain’t,” which in their view was about as serious a crime as murder - know your place and stay in it.

Sounds like my Mom sayin' I eat different simply because she wasn't raised with it. A Japanese eggplant freaks her out...

 

[badjak]

There's not much difference between what my parents had and what I have, except maybe for availability.
We had olive oil, soy, sweet soy, red and white wine vinegar, balsemic vinegar, spirit vinegar. Several types of mustard, rice, pasta in several shapes, herbs, spices and all that.
Plenty garlic as well.
Fresh ginger, galangal and turneric were difficult to get, but we had dried