Snack Food Meme

Norma, over at Collecting My Thoughts and five other blogs, believe it or not, has tagged me with this meme: "What snack items did your mother allow in your home and put out for you when you were growing up — either home made or store bought? And what item was absolutely not allowed?"

So, I'll give it a quick try now before the request fades from my memory, but I am afraid that Norma will be terribly disappointed with this result because there simply wasn't much in the way of snacks at our house, or so my memory tells me. For one thing, we were poor. While our fundamental needs for nourishment were always attended to, there weren't really funds for many frivolous extras. In addition, Maw was rather obsessed about keeping everyone thin. She must have been terribly disappointed with the disappearance of my thin self in adulthood. Not that I'm not disappointed with myself, mind you. For another thing, I didn't have a big appetite when I was young. Perhaps it was because of the very plain and often unappetizing fare that constituted our typical meal.

When I say that I didn't have a big appetite, that's correct, but, somewhere along the trail, I did get exposed to fries, chips, chocolate bars and their ilk, and I know that I always liked junk food like that: just never had it with great frequency. But those are really treats more than snacks, and I did get occasional treats. Otherwise, I didn't eat a lot on a regular, daily basis. I kept busy riding about on my bike and playing with friends as kids did back then. They coop themselves up in their houses now and watch TV or play Nintendo or whatnot, but life was different then. Actually, I feel a wee bit sorry for modern kids. Sadly, they are missing out; happily, they don't know it.

There's also my very poor memory to consider. I don't do well with blank slate questions. I require leading. Did you have salty snacks when you were a child? Not much, except that I sometimes managed to con Dad into buying me a bag of potato chips when he walked me home from Wolf Cubs. Did you have Twinkies and such? No, never heard of them at the time. What about fruits and veggies? I don't imagine that there was an abundance although these would have been provided at meals, but I never much fancied these healthy alternatives. Although I do somewhat better now, I never loved fruits and veggies as a kid.

I did drink a lot of milk as a kid. I imagine that was my main snack if that's what you'd call it. I also fancy that there might often be a piece of toast or two with my milk in the evening. I don't suppose that any snack food was absolutely verboten because whatever might fit in that category was never purchased and on hand in the first place.

Well, Norma, that's about it. Sorry that I can't do better, but it was fun trying to remember.

This meme can be passed on to people who are fifty years old or more. I don't really know who is and isn't, but I know that few are of such an age, and so I won't specifically tag anyone. I don't see why other mature adults couldn't try to flash back though.