The ghost of snacktimes past

About a month ago, I developed a sudden and inexplicable craving for Oh's cereal. I used to eat Oh's all the time as a kid, but they're really hard to find these days. I told MB that if he ever stumbled across a box while shopping, it was his sacred duty to buy them for me. A week or so later, we stopped by my parents' house, and they had a box of Oh's in the kitchen. I immediately demanded to know where they were purchased, and MB and I went by that store on the way home and bought a box.


I was almost ready to swear that there used to be a cinnamon version, too, which came in a red box, but I can't find any evidence of its existence online. I did find this awful 1987 Oh's commercial, though, which proved there used to be blue Oh's as well as yellow Oh's:



The Oh's were just as delicious as I remembered, which got me thinking about other snacks that I loved as a kid. Some of them, I still love. Others, it's hard to believe I ever ate them without hurling.


Fun fruits, for example! Does anyone else remember fun fruits? They were like the original fruit snack or something. I remember two things about fun fruits:  ( 1 ) I once sucked one halfway into my windpipe while playing in the backyard and snacking simultaneously. I'm extremely glad not to be the world's only known fun fruit fatality. ( 2 ) the yellow fun fruits always gave me terrible stomachaches. I'm sure they were mostly wax and food coloring.

There's very little evidence of fun fruits on the internet, but here's another awful 80s commercial. I actually remember seeing this one on TV:



I also remember sandwich cookies that had faces on them. I think they were called Rascals or something similar, but Google neither confirms nor denies their existence.


What about Fla-Vor-Ice? My mom used to buy these in bulk at Sam's and keep a stash in the chest freezer in the basement for me and my cousins to eat in the summer time. We used to suck the flavored syrup out, and then eat the plain ice that was left behind. Or we'd carefully move the popsicle up inside the plastic sleeve, letting the melting syrup collect in the bottom. At the end, we'd drink the syrup. I've only had a few Fla-Vor-Ice pops since reaching adulthood, because the syrup has enough sugar to induce chemical burns on the back of my throat.



Here's another perennial childhood favorite:


The official circus peanut wikipedia page says it best:  "They are a fairly polarizing candy as most people have a strong opinion about them one way or the other." Seven-year-old me was solidly in favor of circus peanuts. Nearly-27-year-old me is pretty strongly anti-circus peanut. Or at least anti-circus-peanut-in-my-mouth. Blech.

According to wikipedia, circus peanuts inspired another one of my favorite childhood cereals:  "In 1963, General Mills vice president John Holahan inventively discovered that Circus Peanuts shavings yielded a tasty enhancement to his breakfast cereal. General Mills formalized the innovation and created Lucky Charms, the first breakfast cereal to contain marshmallow bits (or "marbits")."

I will still eat Lucky Charms like they're going out of style, I have to admit.


The "polarizing candy" comment reminded me of another polarizing candy from childhood:  the classic love them or hate them seasonal snack...Peeps.


I'm firmly in the "love them" camp, which is further subdivided into three factions:  only good when fresh, only good when stale, and good anytime. I'm a love them / only good when fresh kind of girl.

Peeps are a cultural institution as well as an Easter basket classic. I've already linked many times to Peeps research and Peeps surgery. I am delighted to report that some people participate in Peeps jousting:  The messy and largely self-entertaining game, "Peeps Jousting" is played with a microwave oven. One takes two Peeps, and licks the right-hand side of each until sticky. A toothpick is thereby adhered to each Peep, pointing forward like a jousting lance. The Peeps are then set in a microwave, squared off against one another, and heated up. As they expand, the toothpick lances thrust toward each opponent, and the winner is the one that does not pop and deflate (or fizzle and die). Both usually are eaten after the competition, however, regardless who the victor was, calling into question the nature of "winning" in such a circumstance.[1] This folkloric tradition has been noted by the Washington Post. Peeps jousting has also been called such names as "mortal peep fight."


Also, because it's fantastically weird...Peeps Jesus:



Tell me...are there any foods from your childhood that you sampled as an adult and couldn't figure out why you ever liked them?


Reading:  The World Without Us by Alan Weisman (it's really, really good)

Playing:  the Juno soundtrack (listen to it at the official movie website)