Changes in Food over the years

[leehljp]

American commercial/consumer foods have just deteriorated in the past 20 - 30 years in my opinion. IN both taste, flavor and texture! Below are some of my experiences. I wonder is it me, age, forgetting what it was really like, or is it true?

SALT. This prompted me to write and gripe. I was at Churches Chicken for a quick snack lunch and the chicken was not very salty. I sprinkled some salt on, still no salt flavor. I poured it on and it barely tasted salty. I poured some on the plate, dipped my finger in it and stuck it to my tongue. Very little flavor. Was my taste buds gone? I am over 60. When I got home, I tasted some Morton's salt and also my wifes Morton's Lite. BOTH had much more flavor than the Churches Chicken salt. I have had the same experience in a few other places. What is it with seasonings and salt that gives the appearance and yet little flavor.

JELLY and JAM: Store bought jellies have very low flavor as compared to real home made, and even compared to store bought of 40 years ago. Have I lost some of my taste bud sensations? I don't think that is it - because when I buy some REAL home made jellies, the flavor is still there. Not all supposedly "home mades" sold at tourist traps have that "real" flavor or consistency. A close elderly lady still makes home made jellies and jams and alway gives me a quart jar or two every year (when I returned from Japan for a vacation). One jelly and one jam. Always flavorful!

BREADS (and MARGARINES): When we left for Japan in Jan '86, store bought loaf bread was "loaf bread" and OK. Somewhere between '89 - '92, it seemed to change. Bread became more gummy when eaten. Less flavor too. And, when we made toast and buttered it (here in the States) the margarine had so much water in it that the crispiness of the toast would become soggy instantly even with a little margarine. My girls noticed that and complained also. This was not a problem before we left for Japan. They were always glad to get back to Japan because the loaf bread there was much better - similar to what I remember in the US pre- '86. My daughter in Texas, near Dallas gets Mrs. Bairds, I think. I do remember eating some good textured store bought loaf bread there in the last 4 years, and I think it was Mrs. Bairds.
So this was not a matter of my aging, just changing commercial food culture and is bland, cheapening and almost disgusting.

JALAPENOS - in jars: I remember when jalapenos were HOT. Now when I go to most grocery stores and even in the Mexican Food sections, the jalapenos are just not hot. This makes me wonder again, if my taste buds are gone. Recently in talking with a friend, he said he noticed the same thing - Jalapenos are just not HOT like they used to be. Now, I have to look for jars that have HOT written on them. And even then, they just have a good "bite" to them as they are not real hot.

DILL PICKLES: seem to be losing their crispiness!

MAYONNAISE - Can't complain about Hellmans, it has stayed basically the same over the years to me.

I think there was a post here a few months ago, or a year ago about textured and processed meats that try to mimic original meat texture. I don't like it and can tell the difference in flavor and texture.

Am I the only one that notices these changes?

[cabinetman]

Now that you mention it...I agree with you. But I don't eat jalapenos. LOML is on a health kick and buys everything she can that's low sodium, lite, fat free, or touted to be low calorie. That's not what I like. I like food to taste good, no matter how bad it is for me.

One item I do notice that I really miss is real rye bread. The store bought rye bread is tasteless IMO.


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[leehljp]

Now that you mention it - I agree about the rye bread. I had it once since I have been back and it didn't taste like rye bread. I didn't get it often in Japan, but when I did, it was great!

[LarryG]

Hellman's? HELLMAN'S??? How can you be a Southern boy and not eat Duke's?!?

You're correct about the jalapeños. A shadow of their former selves.

[jackellis]

Hank, I think it's your taste buds. On the other hand, I have heart disease in my family so I don't put salt on anything! On the rare occasions when I eat fried chicken, ribs or other similar foods out, I spend the next 24 hours drinking water like crazy because they have so much salt in them.

I like my food tasty too, but survival is a higher priority.

[leehljp]

I like my food tasty too, but survival is a higher priority.

When I lived in South Louisiana, (pure cajun country) in the early '80s, my next door neighbor, Mr. Johnny (in his mid 70s) was visibly upset one day. He had just returned from the doctor. I asked him what the problem was. He said: "Da docta tol me I gotta quit eatin da spicy food or I was gonna die." "I tol da docta dat if I can't eat my spicy food, I wanna die!"

[phrog]

Hellman's? HELLMAN'S??? How can you be a Southern boy and not eat Duke's?!?

You're correct about the jalapeños. A shadow of their former selves.

Or JFG? Or is that in East Tennessee only?

[phrog]

I think you're right, Hank, about food tasting differently now but I'm near 60 myself. I was just talking to my aunt earlier today about strawberries. All we've been able to find over the last twenty years are about the size of a golf ball and have little taste. I remember when my grandfather grew strawberries that were about the size of a marble and had 10x the taste of today's monstrosities. Perhaps it's the watering down of the fruit flavor that is affecting the jellies and jams but I've noticed that too. But LarryG is right about the mayo - all Southerners are supposed to like Duke's or JFG or Blue Plate.

[scmhogg]

Hank,

I agree with you about the "taste decline." I'm 67, and I'm sure I have lost some taste buds along the way. But, I cook a lot of stuff from scratch, and it all tastes good.

I make a simple mayo in a mini food processor. 1 large egg, 1/2 tsp Dijon, 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp vinegar, 1 tbsp lemon juice. Mix together, then trickle in 1 1/2 cups corn oil. [use the hole in the top of most minis] While running constantly. Makes two cups of delicious mayo.

I buy Berkshire pork, which has real pork taste, unlike the pale stuff in the supermarket. I get pork bellies and make really flavorful bacon.

Try kosher salt instead of nasty iodized salt.

The effort for all this is much less than you would expect.

The prime example is the difference between tomatoes from you backyard vs to super.

Steve

[Relative]

I believe that individuals that start paying attention to their diets for various reasons are beginning to discover that most food today is 'embalmed' to the point that taste and nutrition is sacrificed for longevity in the supermarket.

Even things like the descriptive terminology used on labeling is being manipulated to make you think you are getting something you are not. Most recent one I've heard of - ever hear of 'corn sugar'?

Mike

[sparkeyjames]

I don't have the added extra time extension of experience some of you do but I to have noticed the dulling of flavor in some foods. Rye bread as mentioned is a pale imitation of it's former glory. For good rye bread visit a Jewish deli or bakery that bakes it's own and sells it by the loaf. Other things I have noticed that have taken a turn for the worse as far as flavor is concerned...

Chips Ahoy cookies now taste like cardboard with almost tasteless chocolate chips in them.
Store bought tomatoes are lifeless and the flavor less than that of garden grown even if left to ripen.
Cucumbers have less flavor for some reason.
Bacon has too much salt in it nowdays and is cut too thin. Also has less flavor than it used too. Same with Ham.
Ice Cream. Some companies batches of frozen chemical blocks are disgusting in both flavor and texture. I always compare any ice cream to Ben and Jerrys. Nothing comes close to Ben and Jerrys for pure quality and flavor. To bad it's so pricy but you get what you pay for.
I disagree about the strawberries. You are probably eating them before they are fully ripe. Take them out of that crappy plastic basket and put them on a plate so they don't bruise and let them ripen. Remember a lot of fruit is picked before it is ripe so that it has shelf life to market.
My biggest gripe about the ripe is cantaloupe and honey dew melons that are picked far too early. With those a week in the fridge sometimes is not enough. You may even have to let them sit out on the counter top a few days. Ramble ramble food ramble.

[Relative]

Took me a while to find it again, but here is an interesting article on some major changes to breadmaking. Although it is about Britain, the same process is used here in the states.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13670278

Mike

[MilDoc]

Absolutely correct!

Vegetables and fruits are picked nearly raw than "ripened" with gas. Tomatoes in particular ate tasteless. Cucumbers too. (I grow my own, plus beans and a few others).

Beef is fattened with grain and other unnatural substances (leftovers from other food processes), not to mention 80% of antibiotic use in this country is given to HEALTHY animals to compensate for the squalid conditions they are raised in, vastly raising the growth of multi-resistant germs (E coli in Germany and Europe is a great example). (Try grass fed beef - but be sure to tenderize it. That's ALL I barbecue with.)

Even "American Cheese" is a tasteless mess, now called "processed cheese food substitute." (Even so called "real" has much less taste.)

And please don't even try to describe "fast food" hamburgers!

I am beginning to understand the obesity epidemic here and around the world. Why cook, taking hours, when most of what you make has little REAL taste?

Our present day food is over-processed, laden with artificial flavors and chemicals because the real thing has little taste.

[Knottscott]

Ever watch a documentary about the modern food industries called "Food, Inc."? They claim that the food we consume has changed more in the past ten years than in the previous 100 years combined. Everything is based on corn and corn syrup these days. It's a very interesting informative video....worth a watch.

[jking]

Some fruit & vegetables have become a victim of shipping. As food production has become more commercialized & food has to ship farther, fresh foods have been developed to hold up well to shipping. The consumer generally buys on appearance. Tomatoes are a good example, not only are they picked green & gassed to turn red as Mildoc mentioned, but, the tomatoe varieties have been developed to withstand bruises better & for uniform appearance. Another example is red delicious apples. That variety has been developed over the years for size at the expense of taste. As for meat, while we do get pretty good meat in Iowa, I do miss getting meat from my parents. My dad used antibiotics as needed, but, not just for the sake of it. We always took a hog & cow to a local butcher shop for processing. The butterflied pork chops were always good.

Anyone remember cooking with lard? (how about cracklings?) My mom used to render her own lard (we got the pork fat back from the butcher) & thought she'd been killing us when they first started talking about cholesterol & how lard was bad. They've since said it's not as bad as they thought.