Why We Pay More for Retro Foods; and the Food Cartel That Started One!

So Sylvia, this is gonna sound like a joke starting out, but it's not.

So - six researchers did an experiment, like six researchers in a bar, and they kept getting the same results

What can that possibly be?

Well, hopefully it didn't involve beer, but maybe it did.

But apparently when people feel nostalgic they'll actually pay more for anything

So when the snack you grew up on comes back with a old label

Guess what?

You're gonna be paying through the nose for it

meanwhile, Spam was hitting record sales while grocery prices climbed

All right.

Spam to me is dog food.

I bought it once, never again

Well, my mom, and I understand your aunt would argue with you

She would, but she dressed a can up well, not in a skirt, but we'll talk about that a little later on.

I still will not buy it.

I'm sorry

By the end of this, you'll know which of these is

worth your grocery money and which ones Nancy and I don't agree on

You might be surprised on that one, but thank you for listening.

we are your award-winning podcasters so let's grab a glass and toast to that one, among other things, like retro foods

To whatever your family served that you still can't explain.

I have several of those.

so I'll fess up.

I drank Bartles & Jaymes in college

Ooh, not this one.

The one with the malt beverage

Of course not

, Nancy May: And to my friend Diane's Jell-O salad

Cheers.

Sante to health

Cheers, cheers.

So I understand you like Jell-O salad.

To me, that's hospital food or what you had in the cafeteria when you were in elementary school.

Ugh

Well, not just any Jell-O salad, to be honest with you.

My friend Diane's Jell-O salad, I never thought I'd like it, but she served it one Christmas Eve dinner.

I could've eaten the whole thing and left the turkey to the side

Well, I asked my millennial son what he considered retro foods.

He put Jell-O casserole on his list right next to pineapple upside-down cake, Spam, and SOS

Not one thing from his lunchbox even as a kid?

And I've never heard of Jell-O casserole

Not one.

For him, retro is his grandparents' table

So if you ask somebody else his age, you're likely gonna get what was in their lunchbox or on the lunch

tray at school either way, a lot of it started all, of course, with a company

And marketing too.

Well, at least Jell-O salad did.

A gelatin company ran a recipe contest in 1905, and third place was cabbage set in gelatin.

Ugh.

It sounds awful.

Every account credits it to Mrs. John E. Cook.

What is ironic is no one ever wrote down her first name

That is so sad.

And if you can find it you might be better sleuths than we are.

Please send it to us in our Facebook group at Family Tree Food Stories on Facebook or Instagram

But she's not the only one.

There's another woman whose recipe probably on your Thanksgiving table and you don't know her name either

Later.

So I have to say that your son's cake came out of a contest too.

Did you know that the Hawaiian Pineapple Company - ran one in 1925, and the company said that about 2,500

people sent in, you got it, pineapple upside-down cake as their recipe

That's the company selling its pineapple.

right?

Which is why we're saying the company says.

The upside down part is a lot older, however.

People were doing that with plums and apples and cast iron skillets way back in the 1800s.

I'm gonna guess your grandma did it in her cast iron pan too

Probably, I would guess she did.

Oh, and tell me about SOS.

I know he knows what it stands for, and I would wash his mouth out with soap, and I'm not saying it because I'm a lady

No, and SOS is not your scrubby either.

my feeling is that the disgusting SOS is the creamed chipped beef

on toast, straight out of the Army's 1910 manual for Army cooks.

dried beef and canned milk were kept in the field, and the polite version of SOS, save our stomachs and same old stuff.

I like the SOS that we know.

Before we get to why we're craving any of this, thank you for being here.

I am so glad you're listening today

And since you are, please follow us and the show and leave us a review at Podcast.FamilyTreeFoodStories.

That's how anybody finds us

And also, don't forget to sign up for our newsletter but before we begin, a shout-out to

another Sylvia, Sylvia Scott in the UK, and our new friends in Portugal

Cheer cheers or cheerio to Sylvia.

And tell us your retro food because we'd like to put it on trial, mm, - somewhere

along the line at least in Facebook, and we read every one of our messages

Psychologists have actually studied comfort food.

In one experiment, people who wrote about a comfort food felt

less lonely afterwards, at least the ones with solid relationships

So this was just writing about comfort food as opposed to eating it?

Yes.

The researchers think comfort food is tied to the people you ate it with.

So the mac and cheese you want after a rough day, you might be missing whoever made it out of that blue and orange box

Aw, that's so sweet.

But did they test their theory with real food?

They actually did, of all things, can you believe it?

Chicken soup.

It only worked on people who already called chicken soup a comfort food

Well, to me, chicken soup was, uh, just another way to

describe body odor that my mom and I talked about when we'd shopping.

You know?

Old guys not smelling too good, mm, we'd look at each other and say, "Chicken soup."

That is so gross, but I have another story about that, that it would be appropriate for Valentine's Day,

Okay.

Body odor and Valentine's Day.

Next.

, But other researchers also found loneliness can set off nostalgia in the first place

Aw, nobody wants to be lonely

Which brings me to my fondue pot.

Never lonely with that.

My mom said she got her first set from the Swiss Embassy in New York.

It's, was a ceramic pot with plates, a burner, the whole nine

yards, , and a beautiful picture of little boys and girls on each plate

The embassy?

.. Nancy May: I know it sounds a little weird, but trust me.

However, that pot and that fondue set turned into our New Year's Eve family dinner every single year, and there

was one rule: if the bread fell off your fork and into the cheese, you had to kiss the person next to you.

We still do that.

I know.

You know, it depended on who was next to you if you liked the kiss or not.

I'm sure you would not wanna kiss your sister

No, definitely not.

But we've done it with friends and it's always fun.

And Bob and I still do fondue on our own, not with mom's pots 'cause they've

cracked and gone their own way, , but with our own ceramic still, of course.

and our friends love that little misfortune trick

well, the Swiss have forfeits too.

If you lose your bread, you have to buy a round of drinks or sing a song

Well, if you're buying a round of drinks, , you're probably eating it in a restaurant.

, And ones here in the States, like The Melting Pot, are not fondue in my book.

But ours was Kiss.

But why would an embassy, on the first place, be even handing out fondue sets?

That's my biggest question

Well, before 1930, fondue was mostly a French-speaking Switzerland thing.

Then a cheese cartel, the Swiss Cheese Union, spent the 1930s pushing

it as the national dish so people, of course, would buy more cheese.

Of course, a cheese cartel?

Ugh.

Buy more cheese?

Sounds kind of stupid, but I get it

Well, you know, there is validation.

The Swiss government's own website says so.

They had a slogan that roughly means, "Fondue is good and puts you in a good mood," and posters with snow outside with

a window that said, "Fondue weather." We don't get a lot of that in Florida

No, we don't.

But the cartel apparently lasted until 1999 and then guess what?

It gets broken up after corruption charges against some of its officials.

Surprise

So it sounds like the fondue has a long rap sheet

I got it

and in 1964, the Swiss Pavilion at the New York World's Fair was serving fondue to Americans

Somewhere in there, however, my mom ends up with her fondue pot at the embassy

I can't prove the cartel actually put it in her hands.

Doesn't sound like your mom.

No, not my mom.

somebody just wanted your family eating Swiss cheese though

Oh, my mom could stir up some trouble, so beyond cheese.

Maybe, who knows?

But it worked at least in our family, and the best part is always the burnt crust at the bottom.

And if you've never tried it, you will be fighting over it the next time you do

Well, did you know the Swiss call it La Reluge?

No, I didn't, but what does that mean?

A nun, or I like to think of it as the spinster

Well, somehow I'm not equating nuns and Swiss cheese by any means, or fondue

But let's go back to those experiments.

When you feel nostalgic, money matters less to you, and you'll pay more for the product in front of you

So they hand over more money, not more time it sounds like, at least they being us as customers.

We're suckers every single time, right?

Yep, we like to pay extra and skip the cooking

I don't know.

I think I'd rather cook, but

I agree with you.

That's why we do a food show

Unless it's a four-star restaurant, you know, Michelin, like last time.

- However, the companies know it, and the researchers said that's probably why nostalgia shows up more now than ever

. Sylvia France: So is that what happened to the Dunkaroos?

I had never heard of them until we were doing research for this show

I never heard of them either, , but a Dunkaroo apparently are little cookies, from General Mills

made in 1992, and they pulled them from the US store shelves in 2012 to focus on, you got it, the healthy snack craze.

Kinda boring

Ugh.

And it probably didn't taste as good but I admit . They never went into my kids' lunch boxes they, weren't

able to watch Barney either, and that's why they tell me they twitch.

But let's guess who wanted them back?

Well, apparently General Mills and thousands of people did.

They got a lot of complaints, and in 2018, one of the biggest loudmouths

out there on social media, Kim Kardashian, posted that she was obsessed.

I think if you look at her backside, you'd probably know why.

And when they returned in 2020, , the brand quoted her with an answer, "So Kim, you got your wish."

So it sounds like the kids who ate them grew up and just wanted their frosting back

Tell me about it.

I'll just take the frosting alone.

Mine was Hostess, you know, the Hostess Twinkies and cupcakes?

You cut them in half or break them in half, you lick out the frosting

cream on the inside, bite off the icing or peel off the icing.

There is a process to this, and then you toss away the cake.

But there's also Devil Dogs, and you have to lick out the frosting again, toss out the cake.

I would love to see that sometime.

. You go into a lot of detail, it was important to

you.

Yeah.

like Oreos, you gotta eat the inside first.

But , sometimes the comeback really is the old thing.

Pepsi's Throwback in 2009 had a 1940s logo and real sugar instead of corn syrup.

People liked it so much that Pepsi made it permanent in 2011

Coke did something similar with, they call it Mexican Coke.

But root beer and Coke taste better, in my opinion, out of the old-fashioned glass bottles a cold Coke on a hot day.

Oh, and then there's the movie theater candy, too.

Dots, Turkish taffy.

As kids, we weren't allowed any of that, not even popcorn.

But I'll sneak a box of popcorn and some of those Dots anytime

I always liked the Raisinets.

But wait, . You know our love for s'mores and that graham cracker

Did they ever leave?

I love s'mores and graham crackers

Behind that little innocent snack is a minister who wanted people to stop thinking about sex.

No way.

Yes, for a cookie.

Sylvester Graham, the cracker's namesake.

.. In the 1830s, , this Presbyterian minister promoted a strict vegetarian diet, including coarse whole wheat bread.

He believed eating that way would curb sexual desire.

Well, maybe that's why they call them the Presbyterians the frozen chosen

I've never heard that one before.

It's true

All right, so the idea was less temptation, though, through better digestion.

Sounds like a religious faction that I wouldn't join

Or a bad tagline but more or less.

But today's sweet graham cracker is a long way from his dietary crusade

Thankfully.

And we've added chocolate, marshmallows, sugar, spice, everything nice, including a Girl Scout or two.

I was a Girl Scout.

And you are on the board, so

yes, I was on the board.

and that minister's program took a sharp turn, thank goodness

So do we keep or toss?

Well, the graham cracker of today I think we keep, especially anything that has a morality lecture behind it.

. . And then became a cheesecake crust deserves our total respect

Maybe for Christmas I'll bring my cheesecake with Grand Marnier.

It's pretty yummy.

As long as it doesn't have bananas in it, I'm

good.

I don't like bananas.

Now, back to that bottle you read at the top.

Wine Cooler started in 1981, and in 1991 the federal tax on wine went up about only 500%.

Yikes.

You don't need marketing - from that perspective.

But , so out goes the wine

… . Sylvia France: most brands switched to cheaper malt and Bartles and Jaymes went all malt that same year

. Nancy May: So, and Gallo brought some wine-based ones back in 2019, but it's still mostly malt.

Eh, not my thing.

. And that product was promoted by Frank and Ed.

You know those ads?

Yes, I do

the two guys on the front porch, and every one ended with, "I thank you for your support."

I love it when you say that.

It always makes me laugh

After the break, how my aunt pulled off a ham, mm, spam,

and what it meant for her grocery bill, and it could mean for yours.

Stay tuned

So here's the story.

My Aunt Pat and my Uncle Nate were newlyweds in Queens, New York in the '60s.

They were tight on cash, and they had their first baby on the way.

A turkey or a real ham was not gonna make it to their table based on their budget

So let me guess, a can of Spam

Yes, a can of Spam, although I don't know how big it was.

Pineapple slices and cloves dressed like a real canned ham, and I don't know how it tasted, but that's

the story that my cousin also continues to share with me as well

Well, , she wasn't the last to have Spam.

Hormel's CEO said Spam hit record sales in 2021, and when grocery prices

spiked in the UK in 2022, one big grocer said Spam sales jumped by 36%.

. Nancy May: Yikes.

Oh, That's amazing.

But Hormel's been at it since 1937, and the GIs in World War II shared it all over the Pacific.

Hawaiian apparently never let go, so people there eat more Spam per person than anywhere else in the country even today

I understand it's called Spam musubi.

Rice and Spam wrapped in seaweed, sold everywhere from gas stations to fine dining.

. And in South Korea, Spam comes in holiday gift sets

Okay, I'm never going to South Korea and, uh, maybe I'm just

gonna cut them off altogether… I do not want spam as a gift

about 60% of its sales in South Korea come at Lunar New Year and Chuseok.

… It came in as an army ration after the Korean War

I guess it's kinda like our fruitcake, but one professor there

says people give it , because it's something you'd never buy for yourself.

Like I said, the fruitcake.

Well, as you know, my mom would.

She loves fried Spam sandwiches.

Ugh

I agree.

Yuck.

Also, fried bologna sandwich is another one.

Disgusting.

No, count me out

Yeah, but Spam is pork salt, water, modified potato starch, sugar,

of course, ' because that's gonna make you wanna like it, and sodium nitrate.

And that's it

That's it.

They seal the can and cook it right inside

Again, another disgusting thing.

But Hormel also runs a free Spam museum in Austin, Minnesota.

Of course it's free.

Who would pay to go to a Spam museum?

So you know who's telling the story, obviously.

Them.

Still not buying it, though.

My aunt and your mom, however, I'm gonna guess, can have that one to themselves

Actually, when I went to the Lodge Museum, they charged me 10 bucks,

Ooh Bad marketers at Hormel.

Okay so note that, a meal kit company.

Hmm, kind

of suspicious

Because of the price.

Yeah

That's pretty sad, but that's what a casserole was for, at least in our generation.

Pantry staples, one dish feeds everybody and lots of it

And cream of spinach and cream of celery and cream of corn and

cream of pearl onions and yes, tuna casserole on anything and everything.

Anything with Campbell's Cream of something on it, baby vomit in my book.

ugh,

Just that term mouthfeel alone is kind of disgusting.

But at least, Sylvia, we finally agree on something

All right.

I think we're still on that round today, but more green bean casseroles, uh, for sure.

And my made one, and my mom made one once in a while with the long French-cut string beans.

You know, the kind that are slit and s-

the kind that are slit and sort of skinny?

The fancy schmancy ones, right?

Although they're frozen.

And then she always topped it with French's… Was it French's fried onions on top?

The little, little crispy things?

Just give me that and I'll forget the string beans.

Yeah

That's disgusting.

Soy sauce in 1955.

All right, that's ultra salty in my book

Oh, we gotta go find a copy of that one and share that for sure, right?

and if you're hosting your first Thanksgiving and you try it, and if

you're hosting your first Thanksgiving, tradition says you have to try it.

But how does anybody get, uh, but how did it get onto anybody's table to begin with?

Of course,

and then Campbell says it's on more than 20 million Thanksgiving tables today.

Wow

Well, that was very sweet, but Tom also reported that it was so

simple, even I can do it, kind of like Shake 'N Bake, and I helped.

And then what do you do when you put it on the table if it's not, uh… And then what do you put on the table if not her recipe?

Of course

So does it all go together in one dish?

And what do you remember from Grandma Spivey

Hmm.

I'm not surprised, but I love the fact that you remember the sound of the presser coo- pressure cooker, that chhhh, right?

My mom was always afraid of pressure cookers, that they would explode, but those were the old ones.

and the snap of the beans, right?

Aw.

Well, uh, so of course your mom doesn't cook.

and Bob and I are bringing our fondue bar… And Bob and I are definitely bringing our fon- And Bob and I are

definitely breaking out our fondue set now that we're in our new house, just

as soon it gets cold en- just as soon as it gets cold enough here in Florida

Yeah, January

So I'm not a fan of Jell-O salad, although the only one that I will absolutely devour is my friend Diane and her Jell-O salad.

That stays.

Anything with canned cream of something soup in it, dead in my book

Yep.

Family Tree Food Stories Journal and Amazon.

Okay, little plug.

But five things, but five things and then you can go raid your gra- And

then, but five things and then you can go raid your own mom's recipe box

Two, feeling nostalgia is ok- Two, feeling nostalgic is okay.

It's in the snack, blah.

Feeling nostalgic in the snack aisle is exactly when you're gonna

pay a lot more, like through the nose, and ask who's selling it.

But you know what?

I think feeling nostalgic is still okay

I love finding those old ads.

But four, cook the old recipe instead of buying the old package.

My aunt made ham- my aunt made ham, uh, my aunt made a ham dinner out of, yes, one can of SPAM.

That's pretty creative in my book

I'm gonna host a dinner party next time.

Uh, a- and my suggestion, if you l- and if you like nostalgic food, my suggestion is h- my suggestion is

host a dinner party where everybody brings one retro food from their childhood that they absolutely loved.

You might be surprised of what they consider restro- well, you might be surprised of what they

consider retro and where their fav- and what their favorites are.

Or you might just be disgusted.

Well, first of all, I'm gonna bring a little grilled cheese with a buttered bread, you know, the kind that gets

really toasted and soggy and just tastes like butter and American cheese.

American processed cheese, of course.

Split hot dogs on a cast iron pan cooked so there's crust on it, and Fluffernutter.

Remember that?

Oh, okay.

Go look on the shelf.

It's come back in pink and white.

But you take that, you put it on a hot chocolate, and it's delicious.

But the adult beverage, just add a splash of Bob's Santa Secret Flying Sauce in it.

Little boozy.

To Mrs. John E. Cook.

Somebody out there knows your first name

Thank you for your support.

I think so.

I have to do that one.

And so next week we're talking about food that you might think is real, but eh, might be faking you out on that one.

Nyah.

Now where's my Fluff and Boozy Boujee to put in my hot chocolate?

Yum.

Bye-bye

Actually, I think that was pretty good

So Sylvia, this is gonna sound like a joke starting out, but it's not.

Six researchers did an experiment, like six re- re- six researchers did an experiment, like six researchers in a,

in a b- like six researchers in a bar, and they kept getting the same results

What can that possibly be?

Well, hopefully it didn't involve beer, but maybe it did.

But apparently people feel when people feel nostalgic they'll actually pay more for anything

So when the snack you grew up on comes back with a old label

Guess what?

You're gonna be paying through the nose for it 'cause somebody's told you that in a study

Meanwhile, Spam w- meanwhile, Spam was hitting record sales while grocery prices climbed

All right.

Spam to me is dog food.

I bought it once, never again

Well, my mom, and I understand your aunt would argue with you

She would, but she dressed a can up to, well, not in a skirt, but we'll talk about that a little later on.

I still will not buy it.

I'm sorry

By the end of this, you'll know which of these is

worth your grocery money and which ones Nancy and I don't agree on

You might be surprised on that one, but thank you for listening.

You, we are your award-winning podcasters so let's grab a glass and toast to that one, among other things, like retro foods

To whatever your family served that you still can't explain.

I have several of those.

so I'll fess up.

I drank Bartles & Jaymes in college

Ooh, not this one.

The one with the malt beverage

Of course not

And my old, and to my friend Diane's Jell-O salad

Cheers.

Sante to health

Cheers, cheers.

Ching ching

So I understand you like Jell-O salad.

To me, that's hospital food or what you had in the cafeteria when you were in elementary school.

Ugh

Well, not just any s- Jell-O salad, to be honest with you.

My friend Diane's Jell-O salad, I never thought I'd like it, but she s- but she served it one Christmas Eve dinner.

I could've eaten the whole thing and left the turkey to the side

Well, I asked my millennial son what he considered retro foods.

He put Jell-O casserole on his list right next to pineapple upside-down cake, Spam, and SOS

Not one thing from his lunchbox even as a kid?

And I've never heard of Jell-O casserole

Not one.

For him, retro is his grandparents' table

So if you ask somebody else his age, you're likely gonna get what was ever in their lunchbox or on the lunch

tray at school either way, a lot of it started all, of course, with a company

And marketing too.

Well, at least Jell-O salad did.

A gelatin company ran a recipe contest in 1905, and third place was cabbage set in gelatin.

Ugh.

It sounds awful.

Every account credits it to Mrs. John E. Cook.

What is ironic is no one ever wrote down her first name

That is so sad.

And if you can find it you might be better sleuths than we are.

Please send it to us in our Facebook group at Family Tree Food Stories on Facebook or Instagram

But she's not the only one.

There's another woman whose recipe probably on your Thanksgiving table and you don't know her name either

Later.

So I have to say that your son's cake came out of a contest too.

Did you know that it was the Hawaiian Pineapple… Did you know that the Hawaiian Pineapple Company ran one i- ran

one in 1925, and the company said that about 2,500 people sent in, you got it, pineapple upside-down cake as their recipe

That's the company selling its pineapple.

They love marketing

right?

Which is why we're saying the company says.

The upside down part is a lot older, however.

People were doing that with plums and apples and cast iron skillets way back in the 1800s.

I'm gonna guess your grandma did it in her can- in her cast iron pan too

Probably, I would guess she did.

Oh, and tell me about SOS.

I know he knows what it stan- stands for, and I would wash his mouth out with soap, and I'm not saying it because I'm a lady

No, and SOS is not your scrubbing s- is not your scrubby either.

my feeling is that the disgusting SOS is the creamed chipped beef

on toast, straight out of the Army's 1910 manual for Army cooks.

Dry beef, canned milk, uh, dried beef and canned milk ca- were, dried beef and canned milk were kept in the

field, and the polite version of SOS, save our stomachs and same old stuff.

I like the SOS that we know.

Before we get to why we're craving any of this, thank you for being here.

I am so glad you're listening today

And since you are, please follow us and the show and leave us a

review at Podcast.FamilyTreeFoodStory- at Podcast.FamilyTreeFoodStories.

That's how any of, that's how anybody finds us

And also, don't forget to sign up for our newsletter but before we begin, a shout-out to

another Sylvia, Sylvia Scott in the UK, and our new friends in Portugal

Cheer cheers or cheerio to Sylvia.

And tell us your retro food because we'd like to put it on trial, mm, somewhere along the line, at least in f- somewhere

along the line at least in Facebook, and we read every one of our messages

Psychologists have actually studied comfort food.

In one experiment, people who wrote about a comfort food felt

less lonely afterwards, at least the ones with solid relationships

So this was just writing about comfort food as opposed to eating it?

Yes.

The researcher- yes.

The researchers think comfort food is tied to the people you ate it with.

So the mac and cheese you want after a rough day, you might be missing whoever made it out of that blue and orange box

Aw, that's so sweet.

But did they test their theory with real food?

They actually did, of all things, can you believe it?

Chicken soup.

It only worked on people who already called chicken soup a comfort food

Well, to me, chicken soup was, uh, just another way to

describe body odor that my mom and I talked about when we'd shopping.

You know?

Old guys not smelling too good, mm, we'd look at each other and say, "Chicken soup."

That is so gross, but I have another story about that, that it would be appropriate for Valentine's Day,

Okay.

Body odor and Valentine's Day.

Next.

But other researchers found that loneliness could be set… But other researcher, uh, but other researchers

also found lonely, found loneliness can set off nostalgia in the first place

Aw, nobody wants to be lonely

I know.

Which brings me to my fondue pot.

Never lonely with that.

My mom said she got her first set from the Swiss Embassy in New York.

It's, it was a ceramic pot with plates, a burner, the whole nine yards, and a beautifully little,

and a beautiful picture of little boys and girls on each plate

The embassy?

I know.

Uh, it does sound a little weird, but it turns out the New… I know it sounds a little weird, but trust me.

However, that pot and that fondue set turned into our New Year's Eve family dinner every single year, and there

was one rule: if the bread fell off your fork and into the cheese, you had to kiss the person next to you.

We still do that.

I know.

You know, it depended on who k- was next to you if you liked the kiss or not.

I'm sure you would not wanna kiss your sister

No, definitely not.

But we've done it with friends and it's always fun.

And Bob's and I still do those pots on our own.

And we've done, uh, uh, and Bob and I still do fondue on our own, not with mom's pots 'cause they've cracked and

gone their own way, obviously, but with our own ceramic still, of course.

And our friends love that little, and our friends love that little misfortune trick

Well, the Swiss have their fortu- well, the Swiss have forfeits too.

If you lose your bread, you have to buy a round of drinks or sing a song

Well, if you're buying a round of drinks, you're probably, you're probably eating it in a, in a restaurant.

And the ones here in, and the, the, and ones here in the States, like The Melting Pot, are not fondue in my book.

But ours was Kiss.

Ours was a Kiss.

But why would an embassy, on the first place, be even handing out fondue sets?

That's my biggest question

Well, before 1930, fondue was mostly a French-speaking Switzerland thing.

Then a cheese cartel, the Swiss Cheese Union, spent the 1930s pushing

it as the national dish so people, of course, would buy more cheese.

Of course, a cheese cartel?

Ugh.

Buy more cheese?

Sounds kind of stupid, but I get it

Well, you know, there is validation.

The Swiss government's own website says so.

They had a slogan that roughly means, "Fondue is good and puts you in a good mood," and posters with snow outside with

a window that said, "Fondue weather." We don't get a lot of that in Florida

No, we don't.

But the cartel apparently lasted until 1999 and then guess what?

It gets broken up after corruption charges against some of its officials.

Surprise

So it sounds like the fondue has a long rap sheet

I got it

and in 1964, the Swiss Pavilion at the New York World's Fair was serving fondue to Americans

Somewhere in there, however, my mom ends up with a Swiss fondue, with her fondue pot at the embassy

I can't prove the cartel I can't prove the cartel actually put it in her hands.

Doesn't sound like your mom.

No, not my mom.

somebody just wanted your family eating Swiss cheese though

Oh, my mom could stir up some trouble, so beyond cheese.

Maybe, who knows?

But it worked at least in our family, and the best part is the burnt crust

on the bo- and the best part is always the burnt crust at the bottom.

And if you've never tried it, you will be fighting over it the next time you do

Well, did you know the Swiss call it La Reluge?

No, I didn't, but what does that mean?

A nun, or I like to think of it as the spinster

Well, somehow I'm not equating nuns and Swiss cheese by any means, or fondue

But let's go back to those experiments.

When you feel nostalgic, money matters less to you, and you'll pay more for the product in front of you

So they hand over more money, not more time it sounds like, at least they being us as customers.

We're suckers every single time, right?

Yep, we like to pay extra and skip the cooking

I don't know.

I think I'd rather cook, but

I am agree with you.

That's why we do a food show

Unless it's a fancy f- unless it's a fancy food company.

Oh, I'll try that, too.

Uh, unless it's a four-star restaurant, you know, Michelin, like last time.

And the companies know it.

How- however, the companies know it, and the researchers said that's

probably why nostalgia shows up more now than ever in so much marketing

Did you ever hear about the Dunkaroos?

I honestly had never heard of them because I did not put them in my kids' lunchboxes or let them watch…

K- go ahead, sorry

Okay, that's all right.

So is that, is that what happened to the Dunkaroos?

I had never heard of them until we were doing research for this show

I never heard of them either, and we don't have kids, uh, uh, again, until this episode.

But a Dunkaroo apparently is a cook- or, but a Dunkaroo apparently are little cookies, a cup of frosting from General

Mills made in 1992, and they pulled them from the US store shelves in 2012 to focus on, you got it, the healthy snack craze.

Kinda boring

Ugh.

And it probably didn't taste as good but I admit they never went into my kidges… I admit they never went into

my kids' lunch boxes or they didn't, weren't able to watch Barney either, and that's why they tell me they twitch.

But let's guess who wanted them back?

Well, apparently General Mills and thousands of people did.

They got a lot of complaints, and in 2018, one of the biggest loudmouths

out there on social media, Kim Kardashian, posted that she was obsessed.

I think if you look at her backside, you'd probably know why.

And when they re- and when they returned in 2020, the brand quoted her and answered

qu- uh, the brand quoted her with an answer, "So Kim, you got your wish."

So it sounds like the kids who ate them grew up and just wanted their frosting back

Tell me about it.

I'll just take the frosting alone.

Mine was Hostess, you know, the Hostess Twinkies and cupcakes?

You cut them in half or break them in half, you lick out the frosting

cream on the inside, you bite off the icing or peel off the icing.

There is a process to this, and then you toss away the cake.

But there's also Devil Dogs, and you have to lick out the frosting again, toss out the cake.

I would love to see that sometime.

That sounds… You go into a lot of detail, it was important to you.

Yeah.

like Oreos, you gotta eat the inside first.

But sometimes come back, sometimes the comeback really is the old thing.

Pepsi's Throwback in 2009 had a 1940s logo and real sugar instead of corn syrup.

People liked it so much that Pepsi made it permanent in 2011

Coke did something similar with, they call it Mexican Coke.

But root beer and Coke taste better, in my opinion, out of the old-fashioned glass bottles on a cold Coke on a hot day.

Oh, and then there's the movie theater candy, too.

Dots, Turkish taffy.

As kids, we weren't allowed any of that, not even popcorn.

But I'll sneak a box of popcorn and some of those Dots anytime

I always liked the Raisinets.

But wait, you know… But wait, you know our love for s'mores and that graham cracker

Did they ever leave?

I love s'mores and graham crackers

Behind that little innocent snack is a minister who wanted people to stop thinking about sex.

No way.

Yes, for a cookie.

Sylvester Graham, the cracker's namesake, in the 1830s, hi- th- this, uh

Why don't you say Sylvester, start from the Sylvester Graham again?

Sylvester Graham, the cracker's namesake.

In 18… In the 1830s, this Presbyterian minister promoted a strict ver- In 18- in the 1830s, this Presbyterian minister

promoted a strict vegetarian diet, including coarse whole wheat bread.

He believed that eating, he believed eating that way would curb sexual desire.

Well, maybe that's why they call them the Presbyterians the frozen chosen

I've never heard that one before.

It's true

All right, so the idea was less temptation, though, through better digestion.

Sounds like a religious faction that I wouldn't join

Or a bad tagline but more or less.

But today's sweet graham cracker is a long way from his dietary crusade

Thankfully.

And we've added chocolate, marshmallows, sugar, spice, everything nice, including a Girl Scout or two.

I was a Girl Scout.

And you are on the board, so

yes, I was on the board.

And the reform program took a sh- and that minister's program took a sharp turn, thank goodness

So do we keep or toss?

Well, the graham cracker of today I think we keep, especially anything that has a morality lecture behind it.

I especially be- and, and then became a cheesecake crust we deserve… And then became a cheese crate.

And then became a cheesecake crust deserves our total respect

Maybe for Christmas I'll bring my cheesecake with Grand Marnier.

It's pretty yummy.

As long as it doesn't have bananas in it, I'm good.

I don't like bananas.

Now, back to that bottle you read at the top.

Wine Cooler started in 1981, and in 1991 the federal tax on wine went up about only 500%.

Yikes.

You don't need marketing from that one pers- from that perspective.

But so the wine goes, so out goes the wine

Most brands switched to cheaper malt and Barnes… So most brands

switched to cheaper malt and Bartles and Jaymes went all malt that same year.

But all, it sounded like all mob, so

Okay.

Most brands switched to cheaper malt and Bartles and Jaymes went all malt that same year

So, and Gallo some, uh, and Gallo brought, so and Gallo brought, blah.

So, and Gallo brought some wine-based ones back in 2019, but it's still mostly malt.

Eh, not my thing.

And those were als- and, and that brand was Frank and Ed's.

W- and, and that product was the Frank and E- and that pr- blah.

And that product was promoted by the Frank and Ed's ad.

Was promoted by Frank and Ed.

You know those ads?

Yes, I do

the two guys on the front porch, and every one ended with, "I thank you for your support."

I love it when you say that.

It always makes me laugh

After the break, how my aunt pulled off a ham, mm, spam,

and what it meant for her grocery bill, and it could mean for yours.

Stay tuned

So here's the story.

My Aunt Pat and my Uncle Nate were newlyweds in Queens, New York in the '60s.

They had very little cash.

They were tight on cash, and they had their first baby on the way.

A turkey or a real ham was not gonna make it to their table based on their budget

So let me guess, a can of Spam

Yes, a can of Spam, although I don't know how big it was.

Pineapple slices and cloves dressed like a real canned ham, and I don't know how it tasted, but that's

the story that my cousin also continues to share with me as well

Well, she wasn't the last to have a Spam.

She, she wasn't the last to have Spam.

Hormel's CEO said Spam hit record sales in 2021, and when grocery prices

spiked in the UK in 2022, one big grocer said Spam sales jumped by 36%.

Yikes.

Oh, that's a deal.

That's amazing.

Yikes.

That's amazing.

But Hormel's been at it since 1937, and the GIs in World War II shared all, shared it all over the Pacific.

Hawaiian apparently never let go, so people there eat more Spam per person than anywhere else in the country even today

I understand it's called Spam musubi.

Rice and Spam wrapped in seaweed, sold everywhere from gas stations to fine dining.

And in South Korea, Spam beco- and in South Korea, Spam comes in as holiday gift set.

Okay.

And in South Korea, Spam comes in holiday gift sets

Okay, I'm never going to South Korea and, uh, maybe I'm just

gonna cut them off altogether as a… I do not want spam as a gift

About 60% of its sales, about 60% of its sales in South Korea come at Lunar New Year and Chuseok.

It came in as an army ration after World… It came in as an army ration after the Korean War

I guess it's kinda like our fruitcake, but one professor there says people give it because it's something

you'd never buy for, because it's something you'd never buy for yourself.

Like I said, the fruitcake.

Well, as you know, my mom would.

She loves fried Spam sandwiches.

Ugh

I agree.

Yuck.

Also, fried bologna sandwich is another one.

Disgusting.

No, count me out

Yeah, but Spam is pork with ham, salt, water f- salt, water, modified potato starch, sugar, of course, 'cause

that's gonna w- because that's gonna make you wanna like it, and sodium nitrate.

And that's it

That's it.

They seal the can and cook it right inside

Again, another disgusting thing.

But Hormel also runs a free Spam museum in Austin, Minnesota.

Of course it's free.

Who would pay to go to a Spam museum?

So you know who's telling the story, obviously.

Them.

Still not buying it, though.

My aunt and your mom, however, I'm gonna guess, can tell that and have that one to themselves

Actually, when I went to the Lodge Museum, they charged me 10 bucks,

Ooh

Bad marketers at Hormel.

Okay

So note that, a meal kit company.

Hmm, kind of suspicious

Because of the price.

Yeah

That's pretty sad, but that's what a casserole was for, at least in our generation.

Pantry staples, one dish feeds everybody and lots of it

And cream of spinach and cream of celery and cream of corn and

cream of pearl onions and yes, tuna casserole on anything and everything.

Anything with Campbell's Cream of something on it, baby vomit in my book.

Ugh.

Just that term mouthfeel alone is kind of disgusting.

But at least, Sylvia, we finally agree on something

All right.

I think we're still on that round today, but more green bean casseroles, uh, for sure.

And my made one, and my mom made one once in a while with the long French-cut string beans.

You know, the kind that are slit and s- the kind that are slit and sort of skinny?

The fancy schmancy ones, right?

Although they're frozen.

And then she always topped it with French's… Was it French's fried onions on top?

The little, little crispy things?

Just give me that and I'll forget the string beans.

Yeah

That's disgusting.

Soy sauce in 1955.

All right, that's ultra salty in my book

Oh, we gotta go find a copy of that one and share that for sure, right?

And if you're hosting your first Thanksgiving and you try it, and if

you're hosting your first Thanksgiving, tradition says you have to try it.

But how does anybody get, uh, but how did it get onto anybody's table to begin with?

Of course

And then Campbell says it's on more than 20 million Thanksgiving tables today.

Wow

Well, that was very sweet, but Tom also reported that it was so

simple, even I can do it, kind of like Shake 'N Bake, and I helped.

And then what do you do when you put it on the table if it's not, uh… And then what do you put on the table if not her recipe?

Of course

So does it all go together in one dish?

And what do you remember from Grandma Spivey

Hmm.

I'm not surprised, but I love the fact that you remember the sound of the presser coo- pressure cooker, that chhhh, right?

My mom was always afraid of pressure cookers, that they would explode, but those were the old ones.

And the snap of the beans, right?

Aw.

Well, uh, so of course your mom doesn't cook.

And Bob and I are bringing our fondue bar… And Bob and I are definitely bringing our fon- And Bob and I are

definitely breaking out our fondue set now that we're in our new house, just

as soon it gets cold en- just as soon as it gets cold enough here in Florida

Yeah, January

So I'm not a fan of Jell-O salad, although the only one that I will absolutely devour is my friend Diane and her Jell-O salad.

That stays.

Anything with canned cream of something soup in it, dead in my book

Yep.

Family Tree Food Stories Journal and Amazon.

Okay, little plug.

But five things, but five things and then you can go raid your gra- And

then, but five things and then you can go raid your own mom's recipe box

Two, feeling nostalgia is ok- Two, feeling nostalgic is okay.

It's in the snack, blah.

Feeling nostalgic in the snack aisle is exactly when you're gonna

pay a lot more, like through the nose, and ask who's selling it.

But you know what?

I think feeling nostalgic is still okay

I love finding those old ads.

But four, cook the old recipe instead of buying the old package.

My aunt made ham- my aunt made ham, uh, my aunt made a ham dinner out of, yes, one can of SPAM.

That's pretty creative in my book

I'm gonna host a dinner party next time.

Uh, a- and my suggestion, if you l- and if you like nostalgic food, my suggestion is h- my suggestion is

host a dinner party where everybody brings one retro food from their childhood that they absolutely loved.

You might be surprised of what they consider restro- well, you might be surprised of what they

consider retro and where their fav- and what their favorites are.

Or you might just be disgusted.

Well, first of all, I'm gonna bring a little grilled cheese with a buttered bread, you know, the kind that gets

really toasted and soggy and just tastes like butter and American cheese.

American processed cheese, of course.

Split hot dogs on a cast iron pan cooked so there's crust on it, and Fluffernutter.

Remember that?

Oh, okay.

Go look on the shelf.

It's come back in pink and white.

But you take that, you put it on a hot chocolate, and it's delicious.

But the adult beverage, just add a splash of Bob's Santa Secret Flying Sauce in it.

Little boozy.

To Mrs. John E. Cook.

Somebody out there knows your first name

Thank you for your support.

I think so.

I have to do that one.

And so next week we're talking about food that you might think is real, but eh, might be faking you out on that one.

Nyah.

Now where's my Fluff and Boozy Boujee to put in my hot chocolate?

Yum.

Bye-bye

Actually, I think that was pretty good