If What Your Parents Feed You Doesn't Kill You, It Will Make You Stronger. (Apologies to Nietzsche!)
I don't know about you, but my head is spinning from all the studies that come out almost daily about how one food is good for your kids one day, and terrible for them the next. It's become a joke! Jim and I can barely keep a straight face half the time, honestly.
It made me think of the kind of stuff my parents used to feed us. By today's standards, it's a miracle my brother and I are alive. And I don't believe our parents were TRYING to do us in!
I remember coming home from a hard day of elementary school and my mother would take a slice of white Wonder bread (which we LOVED), spread about a half-inch of butter all over it, and THEN spread a half-inch of white granulated sugar over THAT. She would then lovingly roll up this ticking time bomb and FEED IT TO US! EVERY DAY!
Thank the Lord for what we didn't know back then. And just like clockwork, my brother and I would end up getting spanked for ripping up the living room or banging so hard on the piano the neighbors would complain. Now, we know why. Straight sugar like a shot of speed right into the system. But we sure didn't have a clue back then.
No connection was ever made. I also developed an addiction to Pream. I think that's what it was called. Do they still make it? It's that powdered stuff like Cremora that you put into your coffee instead of milk. Well, when I was about 8 or so, I decided, for no particular reason, to take a teaspoon right out of the jar and eat it.
I thought I'd never tasted anything so wonderful in my entire eight years of existence. It seemed heavenly to me, and so, yes, I shoveled spoonfuls of this stuff into my mouth till the jar was almost empty. God knows what it was made of. Certainly nothing that came from nature. But it was delicious. My little brother told me I was going to get really sick or die. In either case, he was delighted to inform me I would end up in deep trouble with Mom and Dad.
But they didn't seem to notice, and every time they bought a new jar, half of it would disappear mysteriously. I must say my brother was a standup guy 'cause he never told on me. But then, he had this unholy attraction to Spam. That, and those tiny vienna sausages that come all jammed together in little tins. They still sell those things. And I'm pretty sure my brother is still addicted to them. But these are things we never mention above a whisper.
My mother was a great cook. She whipped up Chinese meals every night. But those dishes were LOADED with MSG! Nowadays, we know to tell our Chinese takeout restaurant to hold the MSG (in fact, most of them don't use it anymore) because it does something not so nice to your brain or something. Anyway, you can get a hell of a headache.
But not back then. Oh no. First, a pure white sugar rollup, then MSG out the yin-yang! Hurray!
Oh, and even though my mother always cooked our favorite dishes for dinner, things like twice-cooked pork, kung pao chicken, sauteed string beans, staples in a Chinese family's menu, every once in a while, our father would decide that we needed to be introduced to the way Westerners eat. That was cool with us as long as it was burgers or milkshakes or something like that.
But one day my father decided we needed to eat SALAD, because Americans ate a lot of salad and we should too. Only, HIS idea of a salad was to take an entire head of iceberg lettuce, place it on the wooden cutting board, then slice it into four equal parts, using the giant butcher knife like it was a samurai sword (holding it above his head and making the appropriate martial arts yells as he slammed the weapon down, gripping it with both hands. Okay, I made that part up.), then put each portion on a plate.
That wasn't the weird part. He would then put a HUGE dollop of mayonnaise on each wedge of lettuce. With a little sprinkle of sugar. There's that sugar again. And he would make us eat it.
Happily, his experiments into Western cuisine did not go much further than that. We loved Howard Johnson's. That was a real treat. We were not allowed to have Coca Cola or soda of any kind in our house, so when we WERE treated to such a beverage....heaven. But the best was Little Tavern, Washington D.C.'s version of White Castle. Those teeny-tiny burgers with sauteed onions. I am starting to salivate now! When it came to eating American, my brother and I were into Little Tavern sliders like Harold and Kumar are into White Castle.
Again, I digress. Have to run now. Time to get ready for the newscast. A tablespoon of sugar should get me through it. No problem! LOL
Anybody else out there with weird childhood eating adventures?????
Comments: 1470
hahahha Kaity, you are too funny. I just laughed hysterically. I am also asian, and have experienced similar things!!!
I just wanted to say I love you
Hey Kaity!
Sometimes it does seem like overkill, (no pun intended) that a lot of the so-called health experts warn against many foods that we grew up loving to eat as kids. Another point is , remember back in the 60's & (maybe) the 70's, snack cakes like Drakes Ring Dings, Devil Dogs & a host of others by the Hostess company were made with real whipped cream fillings & not that bleached beef tallow mess they put in now.
A lot of foods were more natural then, including meat products without steroids.
Mrs. Cleaver or June Lockart would never approve of today's artificial crap in the food.
Oh gosh, I never realized you were sooooo funny. I use to eat what was suppose to be a drink, called Horlicks, right out the jar without any water or anything, just powder. But unlike you, my mom caught me and boy did I get it. I'm from the caribbean and my mom thought burgers and such were unholy.
hi kaity, I love watching you at the 11 news.
Hi Kaity,
Just wanted to tell you I met you years ago when I was working for a designer in NY and you were such a doll! I tell everyone all the time about it so everyone loves you.
Onto your blog now, funny my husband is a little bit of a health nut and we used to only have wheat bread in our house. Well my kids got a taste of white bread at grandma's and have been eating it ever since. I said to my husband hey we grew up on white bread and we turned out fine their kids let them enjoy it. Now I let them have butter sandwiches or mayonnaise sandwiches once in awhile like we did growing up:)!
My mother was born in the US as were all of her 4 children. I remember occasionally having fried bread for dinner - I believe an Irish meal. My father also born in the US was of German descent so we always had delicious German cake for dessert.
Fried bread and cake - delicious. I'm glad they did not know much about nutritious meals back then.
Yes, those viennas sausages were and are part of my mothers cooking. I was raised in Puerto Rico and we ate that at least 3X a week. My mom would make them with rice and or in beans it was GREAT... lol And also the Spam Ham we ate that for breakfast quick and good, not good for you... lol
Kaity:
First, I echo the comments of others who enjoy your nightly broadcasts. I've been a fan since your days at WABC. You've truly become a NYC TV news institution!
You mentioned your brother's affection for SPAM. My Mom used to cover it in brown sugar and insert those little clove spices into it -- as if it was equal to a real ham! YIKES!
I guess to make up for the SPAM, I had to take a cod-liver pill each morning before school. I think I can still taste those vile little pills --but at least they were suppose to be healthy.
Keep us laughing - all the best.
Dear Kaity,
I am sure your parents were excellant cooks; with or without MSG! You also, I bet, are terrific in the kitchen. New studies always come out, so we must live for the moment, and enjoy them with others. One never know what tomorrow may bring.
diedonce
Dear Kaity,
I am sure your parents were excellant cooks; with or without MSG! You also, I bet, are terrific in the kitchen. New studies always come out, so we must live for the moment, and enjoy them with others. One never know what tomorrow may bring.
diedonce
Dear Kaity,
I am sure your parents were excellant cooks; with or without MSG! You also, I bet, are terrific in the kitchen. New studies always come out, so we must live for the moment, and enjoy them with others. One never know what tomorrow may bring.
diedonce
Hi Kaity,
I, too love butter and sugar on the bread even until now once in a while! And could finish slurping a can of condensed milk. But now, I know better.
Love you and Jim with Mr G on WPIX at 10pm.
MOre power!
Ruby
Hey...how about fried spam balls? I served them at a party once and they were a big hit. Add a little cheeze whiz and you are speaking my language. Great to see you finally got a blog that's easy to find! Yeah!
Hey...how about fried spam balls? I served them at a party once and they were a big hit. Add a little cheeze whiz and you are speaking my language. Great to see you finally got a blog that's easy to find! Yeah!
Life is short--eat dessert first !! Love you on the news, Kaity, and your blogs are hilarious :)
My mom used to take wonder bread (yes it was big in our house as well) spread riccota cheese on it and then sprinkle...you got it sugar on it. We loved it like it was the best thing ever.
Too funny! I remember loving to stay at my cousins because they had sugar cereals! And I'm still waiting for these lines from Woody Allen's "Sleeper" to come true:
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No milkshakes? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible.
Great blog, Kaity, I love your sense of humor!
Hi Kaity!
Growing up, my three younger sisters & I were limited on snacks & treats, our Dad, a single parent was not too good at the food shopping and besides, I remember the grocery store having much less of a variety of foods back then, (it was the early 70's) than there is available to us now, in fact, shopping can be very overwhelming due to the amount of products we have to choose from, reading labels and choosing the product that is most economical can take a few hours to shop for a family of four! Anyway, me being the oldest, had to create some pretty weird snacks when the end of the week came and the food supply was diminished. The weirdest and probably the most unhealthy snack I remember was mayonnaise on wonder bread! Yuk! Then if there was no mayo, I resorted to mustard, I'd equate that to a soft pretzel with mustard. Our Dad would eat some pretty interesting things too. I was so shocked to see him eating and enjoying pickled pigs feet & knuckles...couldn't believe that someone would actually want to eat feet of any kind! Well, he got me to try it and actually, I had a taste for sour things and it wasn't too bad, glad to say,it never became a habitual snack. I also witnessed him eat raw, yes raw, ground beef on rye with salt pepper and raw onion! Now, being a mother of two grown boys and fortunate to say they always had something good to snack on, what did they create all by themselves? Ketchup on white bread or ranch dressing on any bread! I just shook my head & laughed. Have a beautiful Mothers day!
My sister and I used to whip up a cup of corn flakes, peanut butter and honey after school. We loved it! That was after we got in trouble for eating butter and sugar mixed together. They thought cookies would be bad for us.
Now we know what you ate to become so beautiful!
Now we know what you ate to become so beautiful!
Now we know what you ate to become so beautiful!
Now we know what you ate to become so beautiful!
Hi Kaity,
I enjoyed reading your latest blog. Your eating habits as a child remind me of my eating habits as a grownup. In a future blog you might want to write about the types of food that you, your husband, and your son eat nowadays.
Ari
Really fun to read. So glad you have your own blog now. I look forward to more. Lorrie
You are just too funny. I'm Asian too and I know what you are talking about. All those MSG, oh! My grandma would throw a whole tub of butter or margarine into a blender with a bunch of sugar, and added various coloring, then store them in separate containers, each in different color. Then we would use them as spread on our bread. Yummo!
The heck with those studies, I don't believe in any of those. Anybody would do just fine eating anything as long as they are done in moderation.
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