Why don't cookies crumble anymore?
America may not be world famous for its refined cuisine, but there are some all time favorite basics that you can't find anywhere else in the world, and that at least one ex-patriot I know occasionally craves. Disappointingly, however, a growing number of these classic favorites have become bastardized by a national obsession with embellishment that has over-stimulated the country’s taste buds to the point that the real unadulterated thing is becoming a rare commodity.
Let's talk about cookies. Do you remember when they were supposed to snap and crumble? Now everybody is trying to sell you on their cookies for how soft and chewy they are. Since when are cookies supposed to have the consistency of cake? Soft and chewy cookies in my day meant they were stale. We wouldn't eat them. It meant someone had neglected to put the lid on the cookie jar or to fold the inner packaging inside the box. Can you imagine the cookie monster shoving all of those cookies in his mouth without the crumbs falling all over the place? Neither can I. Do Americans have such dental problems that biting into a cookie with crunch has become problematical? It would seem highly unlikely, since we really do have the best and cheapest dentists in the world.
And then there's coffee. I remember when the only variations on that theme were: black, regular, or half and half. (I came from the Boston area.) Now you have to decide between hazelnut, chocolate, raspberry or mint. Why would anybody want their coffee to taste like anything but coffee? When I eat raspberries, I certainly don't expect them to have some great Colombian aroma. What used to be one of life’s pleasures has become another source of daily stress. Ordering a cup of coffee has become an activity which requires major decision making.
Thank goodness I don’t drink soft drinks. What used to be merely a controversy between Pepsi or Coke and sugar or sugar-free, has now the added variable of with or without caffeine. Can you imagine how much stress that must bring to whoever does the family shopping for a large household with different exigencies?
Someone still has to explain to me how and why anyone would want to put crushed Oreo cookies or M&M's or Reese’s peanut butter cups into their ice cream. Ice cream? If you can find an ice cream parlor anymore! It's now non-fat, sweet-and-lowed TCBY or I Can't Believe It's Yogurt. I guess they take the fat and sugar out and call it yogurt so they can justify all of those sinful toppings.
I'm only a baby-boomer, so one can't blame my attachment to the old-fashioned to my being over the proverbial hill. I could go on about what they’ve done to hot dogs and popcorn and brownies, but I think the message is clear. I suppose if I had stayed in the States all of these years, I would have appreciated the way our basic all American favorites have evolved. As it is, I just long nostalgically for the way things used to taste.
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