Every year my parents make their pilgrimage from their home in rural Michigan down to their Mecca--their winter home in Florida. On the way, they stop at the Cleveland Clinic for medical evaluations, eventually making their way to North Carolina where they take us out to dinner a couple of times before proceeding further south.
They have to close up their home on the farm since they will not be returning until spring, so my mother always cleans out her refrigerator and brings all opened food along for the journey. If she can get us to take some of it off her hands she will lighten her load and make room for more once she gets set-up again in her other house. Her goal is to market the food items to us so we will want them.
For reasons I cannot imagine, she always tries to sneak several boxes of jello in with the crackers, walnuts, sometimes cereal, once in awhile apples, and this time a honey bear with honey leaking out into the bag it is fortunately packed in. Not a fan of her low sodium, low fat choices, we are limited as to what we will accept as viable food offerings for our pantry. And yet, there it remained . . . the jello.
I tell her, like I do each time, "I hate jello." She says to feed it to the boys. I remind her that they do not like it either. She wonders why I have deprived them of this essential food. I tell her it is because I don't like it. She reminds me that I ate it as a child. I tell her I ate it because I had to. She points out that mixing jello with cottage cheese and Cool Whip will do the trick. I tell her we don't eat those foods either. She slowly puts the jello boxes back into her car.
Maybe it was growing up in the '60's and '70's, but jello seemed to figure prominently into every family gathering, church picnic, and school event. If there was a party of any kind, there would be jello. If a kid got hot lunch at school, there would be jello. If someone went to the hospital and the opportunity to eat in the cafeteria arose, there would be jello. It was the go-to-quick-fix for a busy mother. Clear jello, jello with fruit cocktail in it, jello mixed with cottage cheese and Cool Whip. Jello was the staple of everyone's diet. Its bright, primary colors would beckon to me as I would have to decide between the jello or the pudding. I would choose the pudding any chance I got.
I stopped eating jello when I stopped drinking Kool-Aid. I started to read books like Diet for a Small Planet and stopped eating red meat for a number of years as well. Nutrition started to matter to me as well as making ethical choices. I could not determine what health benefit could be obtained from eating jello. My mother said it was for our hair and nails. My hair and nails were fine. I wonder what health benefits could be derived from the processed, canned fruit in the sugary syrup that would often go into the jello, or the myriad of other artificial food products of the day, like Velveeta, but I digress.
Jello, with its vibrant artificial dyes, makes a great paint for preschool children. The candy-like aroma will enhance the artwork that will hang on the outside of the refrigerator as the yogurt, the "jello" for this generation of children will be ready for snack-time when the artist gets hungry. Greek yogurt that is high in protein with no artificial ingredients is my favorite snack of choice these days. It goes well with raw almonds or granola. Cool Whip not required.
They have to close up their home on the farm since they will not be returning until spring, so my mother always cleans out her refrigerator and brings all opened food along for the journey. If she can get us to take some of it off her hands she will lighten her load and make room for more once she gets set-up again in her other house. Her goal is to market the food items to us so we will want them.
For reasons I cannot imagine, she always tries to sneak several boxes of jello in with the crackers, walnuts, sometimes cereal, once in awhile apples, and this time a honey bear with honey leaking out into the bag it is fortunately packed in. Not a fan of her low sodium, low fat choices, we are limited as to what we will accept as viable food offerings for our pantry. And yet, there it remained . . . the jello.
I tell her, like I do each time, "I hate jello." She says to feed it to the boys. I remind her that they do not like it either. She wonders why I have deprived them of this essential food. I tell her it is because I don't like it. She reminds me that I ate it as a child. I tell her I ate it because I had to. She points out that mixing jello with cottage cheese and Cool Whip will do the trick. I tell her we don't eat those foods either. She slowly puts the jello boxes back into her car.
Maybe it was growing up in the '60's and '70's, but jello seemed to figure prominently into every family gathering, church picnic, and school event. If there was a party of any kind, there would be jello. If a kid got hot lunch at school, there would be jello. If someone went to the hospital and the opportunity to eat in the cafeteria arose, there would be jello. It was the go-to-quick-fix for a busy mother. Clear jello, jello with fruit cocktail in it, jello mixed with cottage cheese and Cool Whip. Jello was the staple of everyone's diet. Its bright, primary colors would beckon to me as I would have to decide between the jello or the pudding. I would choose the pudding any chance I got.
I stopped eating jello when I stopped drinking Kool-Aid. I started to read books like Diet for a Small Planet and stopped eating red meat for a number of years as well. Nutrition started to matter to me as well as making ethical choices. I could not determine what health benefit could be obtained from eating jello. My mother said it was for our hair and nails. My hair and nails were fine. I wonder what health benefits could be derived from the processed, canned fruit in the sugary syrup that would often go into the jello, or the myriad of other artificial food products of the day, like Velveeta, but I digress.
Jello, with its vibrant artificial dyes, makes a great paint for preschool children. The candy-like aroma will enhance the artwork that will hang on the outside of the refrigerator as the yogurt, the "jello" for this generation of children will be ready for snack-time when the artist gets hungry. Greek yogurt that is high in protein with no artificial ingredients is my favorite snack of choice these days. It goes well with raw almonds or granola. Cool Whip not required.
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