No more aspartame in Diet Pepsi

When I was a kid, before my mother went to college, she cooked three hot meals a day (my father drove home for lunch from the plant, which was only a mile or so away). We had handmade white biscuits -- with good ole Crisco shortening -- every day of the week. We had fried chicken -- fried in melted Crisco shortening -- at least twice a week. And we tucked into 'nary a lunch or supper without quaffing a glass or two of ridiculously sweet iced tea. Unless fresh vegetables were in season, if my mother hadn't canned it that summer, we didn't have it. Which meant that mostly we had canned green beans ... and I'm not exaggerating when I say we had 'em pretty much every damned meal.

A really swanky-do night was when we bought the Kraft boxed spaghetti dinner (anyone here remember those?). And an unbelievable swanky-do night was when we had tacos ... browned (in Crisco) ground beef, served in skillet-softened (in Crisco) corn tortillas (they came in a can). In the fall, on Friday nights when the high school football team was in town, we went to the ice cream parlor on Main St. and got a sackful of hot dogs (with chili). The guy there (I still remember his name ... Leland) had a chili that I learned later was Cincinnati style. There were other, similar, hot dog places all over mill hills throughout S.C. Many years later I sat down at the counter at one, looked to my left and saw the wife of the governor of S.C. They were all the same in one way, though ... by the time you got home with your sackful, the grease had already worked it's way through the bag.

It's comical to think how different my diet is from that of my parents.

P.S. For whatever reason, this brings to mind a really good friend of mine, who's about 15 years older but came from similar blue-class roots. He tells of growing up (in Akron, OH) when his family had one night out a month. They always went to the same restaurant, a chicken dinner place, and the kids could each get one Coke (this was in the day before free refills). He was the youngest, so he always slurped his down before his dinner came, so he'd then have to do with water for his meal. Years later, after he'd grown up and become a fairly successful salesman, he went back to that restaurant and ordered a chicken dinner .. and five Cokes.

 

Oh yeah. Butter, cream, oil. Whole milk with every meal.

 

We got some honkey out here wants four whole fried chickens and a Coke.

 

I'm game. What's a Kraft boxed spaghetti dinner?

 

Sort of like the Kraft macaroni and cheese boxed dinner except with tomato sauce and spaghetti instead of elbows and cheese.

 

So it's your position that America is a thinner nation since the 1960s? You might want to re-think that one, Dick.

 

Not if you get off the couch every now and then.

 

Cheap, calorie dense food is readily available.

Maybe you can find some problem with aspartame, and similar ingredients, but I wouldn't blame obesity on them.

In the past, there weren't a lot of folks who were both poor and obese. Now, obesity increases as you climb down the socio-economic ladder.

 

Dick, how many obese classmates did you have in law school? How many at your law firm?

I'm on college campuses on a regular basis. The percentage of folks who are obese is small.

 

My mother preferred Kraft ... other moms chose Chef Boy-Ar-Dee ...

 

/\/\/\ That looks horrible..

My only contribution to this thread was that my mom had Kool-aid for us every night for dinner (four kids). Always the small packet where you added your own sugar. Seemed normal enough to me.

And the next night, if there was only half a pitcher of Kool-aid, she'd fill the pitcher up with water and add a bunch more sugar.

 

Best part of this post?

Quaffing.