OMG my mom switched from sugary cereal/white bread etc to the hippie food (very dark bread, apple butter instead of jam, grape nuts...) basically overnight when I was a kid so I loved all the junk food for the longest time. |
Still remember when my brother came home from freshman year of college and was like you guys we have to go to the coolest, fanciest Italian restaurant! Yeah, it was Olive Garden. |
| anything is an upgrade from Stouffer's Frozen Fish Sticks and boxed Kraft Mac n cheese. |
| cool whip. |
| I was going to say asparagus as well. Soooo fancy! |
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Anything with a French name. As an adventurous— but also picky eater — I ordered frog legs, snails, coq au vin, boeuf Bourguignon, and stuff like that in restaurants that I’d never eat at home. I once even tried to cook frog’s legs. (Not recommended.) All of that was pretty rare though, since just going out to eat at a restaurant felt like an occasion.
I remember chocolate eclairs being a big deal. And when I was a teenager, there were some seriously upscale Great Escape TV dinners that I thought were a great treat. One was seafood Newberg and another one was short ribs. They got discontinued way before I was ready to give up processed foods. |
| Glorias candy. |
| Fresh strawberries were considered fancy. |
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Baklava
Greek salad Fried oysters and scallops |
| Viennetta |
Yes! I thought Viennetta was SO sophisticated! |
Amen |
| Smoked mozzarella pasta salad. When I turned 13 I realized this stuff was everything. My mom won’t get off my back about it though…she is basically Soviet about my fav nosh. |
Except smoke fish and artisanal pickles right? That’s fancy here but I remember people eating ieither of those in the streets very casual. |
My grandpa had a strawberry farm. They were too fancy for us to eat, they all had to be saved for customers. Any store bought meat. We hunted what we ate. Anything that could be sold at market wasn’t for us. |