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[quote=netwit;22451461][quote=Happy in Wyoming;22449850]I started eating in restaurants over sixty years ago. They were neither better nor worse as a whole. Everything was just as now dependent upon the people preparing the food and the quality of the ingredients.
Old people often think food doesn't taste good because they've lost their sense of smell. Taste buds only register sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. Our sense of smell provides the fine nuances. Think how food is often tasteless when you have a bad cold.
Forget 1960. People were going to restaurants in droves in 1860 and had been for centuries. There were great places and slop holes. Many food sellers used large amounts of spices to cover the taste of spoiled food as there was no refrigeration and the shipment of ice hadn't yet begun in large amounts.
I've eaten some foul food prepared by loving mothers. Thankfully my mother was not one of these culinary wretches.
Quote:
Originally Posted by luzianne
Definitely used to be better. Now everything is so processed. Everything used to be made from scratch. School lunches - MY SCHOOL LUNCHES WERE DELICIOUS when I was in grade school. The cooks got there early in the morning and the food smelled SO GOOD cooking. Back then, it was cooler to buy your lunch than to bring a sack lunch. They made homemade bread, homemade cinnamon rolls. And no preservatives.
I agree with everything you say except I do know people who canned food 30 years ago although 30 years ago isn't that long ago and most people had stopped canning food around that time.
wow, I don't know where you lived but I know a lot of people who canned 30 years ago and many still do.
As for the food in the school cafeterias, they smelled and tasted better because we were kids.
I think of all the foods we have now and the spices we use on a regular bases compared to 30, 40 or 50 years ago. Who used cilantro, cumen, fresh herbs, sea salt, and who knew what cues cues was? I could go on and on. I think we are so lucky to have so much at our finger tips today. yesterday we went to the Asian market, the Mexican market and the Indian market. We would never have considered that even 30 years ago.
Many of us still cook from scratch as well, or most of the time. This is what makes cooking so much fun today, we have a conbination of cooking from scratch and yet, the convenience of some partially prepared foods. We had some of this 30 years ago as well, but like was said, 30 years isn't all that long ago for many of us. I do see one huge difference that does affect the flavor or 2 things that come to mind: 1-we do not use lard anymore (yes it does add a lot of flavor to everything) and 2-so many cheeses are either only cheese products or at best are highly processed, taking away so much of the true cheese flavor.
The food wasn't better, it was the memories associated w/ the food that made it taste better or be more appealing. Food is an emotionally loaded thing--reminescent of certain events, people, etc.
[quote=nmnita;22478397][quote=netwit;22451461][quote=Happy in As for the food in the school cafeterias, they smelled and tasted better because we were kids.
Nita[/quote]
No, it wasn't because we were kids, at least not in my case. It was because the food was real homemade food. My mother was an excellent cook and cooked from scratch, and they did the same at school. Homemade bread, homemade chicken and noodles, everything made from scratch. I knew what good food tasted like and my grade school had good food. By the time I got to junior high it had changed a lot. In 2nd and 3rd grade my classroom was right by the cafeteria and I could see and smell what was going on in there.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rathagos
I don't think anyone would argue that the food was any better for us back then, but better tasting. When we cooked, we used oil, butter, etc. We didn't have the health consciousness we have now. So, the food tasted better, but why do you think so many older folks are heavier, or less healthy, now?
Yet obesity and food related health problems are on the rise.
I agree with the posters about all the additives and stuff, which is really what is damaging our health and making food taste unnatural. I think a lot of 'low fat' food is just as or even more harmful than the full fat stuff because of what they substitute it for.
I think fast food used to be better. Like McDonald's in the 1970s probably tasted what In and Out burger tastes like today.
Yet obesity and food related health problems are on the rise.
I agree with the posters about all the additives and stuff, which is really what is damaging our health and making food taste unnatural. I think a lot of 'low fat' food is just as or even more harmful than the full fat stuff because of what they substitute it for.
I think fast food used to be better. Like McDonald's in the 1970s probably tasted what In and Out burger tastes like today.
Most of the health problems like obesity has more to do with lack of exercise than our eating habits. This isn't all our fault, think of little things we used to do that helped burn calories, even things like getting off the couch to switch channels, stand at the sink and do dishes, get out of the car to open the garage door, then walk around to the front door and unlock it. I could go on and on.
Yes, the additives in our foods are not helping and many low fat foods are filled with sugar. We also need to remember many health problems we think are on the rise have to do with changing standards (what is high blood pressure compared to 20 years ago) better screening methods and extended life. It used to be people didn't always live long enough nor did they see their doctors regularly so as to identify many illnesses.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nmnita
Most of the health problems like obesity has more to do with lack of exercise than our eating habits. This isn't all our fault, think of little things we used to do that helped burn calories, even things like getting off the couch to switch channels, stand at the sink and do dishes, get out of the car to open the garage door, then walk around to the front door and unlock it. I could go on and on.
Yes, the additives in our foods are not helping and many low fat foods are filled with sugar. We also need to remember many health problems we think are on the rise have to do with changing standards (what is high blood pressure compared to 20 years ago) better screening methods and extended life. It used to be people didn't always live long enough nor did they see their doctors regularly so as to identify many illnesses.
Nita
That's true, in some ways we were less healthy back then, but in terms of obesity, high blood pressure.etc we were better off in the old days.
50% correct. the other half is your dad and i got old and can't taste as well.
but i can tell u this. i thought it was all me, 100% but found out i was wrong.
i lived for years in france been in the states since 77 and i guess i adjusted to food on the coast. but recently went to quebec for a week. the food was great-- way over what i get here. so its not all about getting old.
Most of the health problems like obesity has more to do with lack of exercise than our eating habits. This isn't all our fault, think of little things we used to do that helped burn calories, even things like getting off the couch to switch channels, stand at the sink and do dishes, get out of the car to open the garage door, then walk around to the front door and unlock it. I could go on and on.
And even the physical labor jobs have been reengineered to reduce the physical exertion required/ In many manufacturing plants, lifting for than 35# is a no-no to avoid back and shoulder strains.
That's true, in some ways we were less healthy back then, but in terms of obesity, high blood pressure.etc we were better off in the old days.
That is for sure, but I still think it has a lot to do with our lack of exercise. I will add one more thing, as for high blood pressure, they keep changing the healthy numbers, just like they have done with colesteral. What used to be accepted as normal is now borderline and what used to be borderline is now unhealthy.
I am not minimizing the use of sugar and preservatives in our foods by anymeans. I do think they are contibuting to some of our problems and I am not sure they help the flavor much. This is why I cook from scratch as much as possible. We do use some processed foods and of course I do buy frozen, some heat and eat foods and we like a good fast food treat once in a while, but I have the time to cook and I love to cook, so we limit our foods to natural as much as possible.
Nita
Last edited by nmnita; 01-12-2012 at 08:51 AM..
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