What was a fancy food treat for you growing up that isn't fancy anymore?

[Anonymous]

Name brand soda. We knew when we saw the name brand soda in the house, either a relative was coming for a visit or my parents were having company over.

[Anonymous]

Salmon, fried clams (which we only occasionally got when we went to my grandparents' on Cape Cod), frozen dinners or pretty much any restaurant food, since we lived in the country and rarely ate out, and finally, dim sum, the delight of driving two hours north to Montreal's Chinatown. My mom had been a Fulbright scholar in China in the early 80s and loved cooking Chinese at home, but going to dim sum lunch at a big table with friends was extra special.

[Anonymous]

So many things!

Berries
Fruit cocktail
Shrimp
Fish
Seafood

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Macadamia nuts. They were only gifts from people, rarely, traveling to Hawaii.

Oh, good one!

Macadamia nuts were my mother's fave, and they were very much a luxury. We rarely had them, and when we did they were hers lol -- we could have a few but that was it.

I only had these once in my younger life, when a relative brought them back from Hawaii.

Avocados were such a luxury that I didn't even know what one looked like until the 1990s.

Millennials get so confused about the boomer reaction to "avocado toast" lol ... but they truly were a luxury. Not at all like now.

I have a 50s Era cookbook geared toward rich housewives throwing dinner parties and one of the salads is half an avocado, cut up and returned to the shell, drizzled with chili sauce. To be served before the lobster Newburg.

Yep. Lol. Sounds about right. We had avocado in our salads at holidays -- and that was it.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Yes to Ritz crackers!

We were upper middle class or higher and ate at country clubs and fancy restaurants all the time. When we traveled we stayed at top hotels and went to high end restaurants . I was used to ordering filet mignon, duck, lobster, snow crab, escargot , shrimp cocktail etc. However ritz crackers with some sort of cream cheese dip on them was a huge treat. Same for sliced hickory farms summer sausage. My parents would receive a bunch of these boxes from friends around the holidays. My siblings and I were thrilled.

Summer sausage and cheese was my fave thing about Christmas. And the Hickory Farms box would also come with some spicy sweet mustard that was delicious.

Originally Hickory Farms sold "beef sticks". They were 10000 x better than summer sausage. They stopped selling beef sticks altogether and I remember there were lots of people upset about it and there were lots of posts all over the internet. We never knew why they stopped.

I also loved those strawberry hard candies.

I had totally forgotten about these. The Hickory Farms box would have the beef stick, and some cheese, and a pot of spicy mustard or whatever and there would be shredded green paper in there, that looked like grass ... and in the grass ... those little strawberry hard candies!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those entemans cupcakes! Now they would be considered way too processed and have been superseded by fancy cupcake shops. But darn they were good. And a treat (they had special ones for different holidays)

I bought "Zingers" in a gas station yesterday because I saw them and felt pangs of nostalgia. The raspberry/coconut Twinkie things. It wasn't any good, lol, and didn't taste like raspberry, but it made me happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brie. I eat it on any day (I mean still not often), but it doesn’t have to be a holiday.

Even pepper jack cheese. Was a party food, but I love it for every day.

Pomegranate seeds

Steak and burgers. Not fancy but they were celebration or holiday/party foods.

Nowadays I throw together a presentable charcuterie on any given weekend, but it would have been super special / rare growing up. That’s probably all of us.

No, grew up in Germany. What we think of of as charcuterie trays was essentially dinner most nights. Maybe a little less fancy looking, but not by much. My grandparents were very big on "you eat with your eyes", meaning everything had to look nice.

Fancy would be avocados. Only specialty stores carried them. And kiwis.

Eggs were soft boiled and only eaten on Saturday mornings. So semi-fancy?

That's hilarious, about eggs, because in my nonfancy Soviet childhood, I got to have a soft-boiled egg like every other day. My mom even had the special little serving dishes for them, so that you can peel the top, and eat it with a spoon. Bananas, however, were mythical, I only had them twice in my early years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If anyone is from the LA area Lawry’s or Charlie Brown Steakhouse was a big treat.

+1. I used to get the shrimp scampi and chocolate mousse when we went out for a special occasion. Loved the Lawry's salad and steak.

[Anonymous]

Artichokes. I just bought two jumbos for $2.50 each on sale and we relished them. Steamed with mayo but I like melted butter when we are at a restaurant.