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Speaking of mid-century food, I don't recall pizza rolls in my house growing up, but Pop-Tarts (toaster pastries) were a new thing that I had a goodly share of.
by PopAlongKid 4y ago
Speaking of mid-century food, I don't recall pizza rolls in my house growing up, but Pop-Tarts (toaster pastries) were a new thing that I had a goodly share of. Very handy to eat on a cold morning before going out to deliver newspapers door to door.
Pop tarts are also a bastardization of some other more traditional food but I don't know which right now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop-Tarts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop-Tarts
- fortran77 4y agoWell, it's a member of the fruit-filled tart family, I suppose, like the Norman Tart, etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_tart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_tart
- BuyMyBitcoins 4y agoOn a nostalgic whim I bought some Pop Tarts recently. The amount of filling and icing has dropped dramatically and they tasted awful as a result. If you look at how they apply the icing you can clearly see how they started putting less and less on each pop tart. I don’t buy these things because I want to eat the crust!
- gizmo686 4y agoI had a similar experience a few years back. Then, on a more recent whim, I bought some store branded toaster pastries from my local grocery store, and they were exactly the Pop Tarts I remembered.
- kraussvonespy 4y agoI'm finding the same with other products too. There are a bunch of Aldi generic foods (like Mac & Cheese, tortillas, salsa, corn chips) that I like the taste of better than the more expensive name brand. Does this mean that the brand name has been reducing quality over time where the generics have been sticking more to their original recipe?
- AlecSchueler 4y agoGenenerics often have better overheads because the company takes profit on more points of the production and supply chain. They're also producing products in almost every aisle of the supermarket and gain an economy of scale on things like only needing a single one of eg house style for every product.
- ethbr0 4y agoIt makes sense. When food brands initially took off (1950s?), my impression is that grocery stores were much more regional. There certainly wasn't anything at the scale of Walmart, Aldi, Kroger, or Publix these days. Consequently, it was easier for General Mills et al. to use economies of scale to sell quality, profitable products. Now, it's the grocery stores that can do that.
- DangitBobby 4y agoI think brands just fluctuate in quality as time goes on, they get used to being top dog and coast on brand recognition alone. Mac N Cheese in particular it pays to take the 5 extra minutes to mix your own cheese, but if you don't want to do that Cracker Barrel branded Mac N Cheese (the kind that you finish by toasting in the oven!) is pretty good stuff. And don't forget to add pepper, cayenne, and other spices to store bought stuff, it works wonders!
- johnwalkr 4y agoThey used to really burn your mouth sometimes. Well that problem is solved because they are probably technically crackers now, there is so little filling.
- kraussvonespy 4y agoMaybe just another derivative of the turnover or pocket pie? Empanadas, pasties, calzones, bierocks/Runzas, samosas all fall into the turnover category. Alton Brown's Good Eats had at least one show on turnovers and some of the different ethnic variations.
- maxerickson 4y agoI would guess from pie iron sandwiches more than from an oven baked pastry.
- yareally 4y agoStrudel? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strudel https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strudel
- KAMSPioneer 4y agoAhh, this reminds me of Toaster Strudel, of which I ate more as a child than I did Pop Tarts.
- hamstercat 4y agoHindbærsnitter? It's a danish dessert with raspberry filling and icing on top. It's very much a better pop tarts.