I was thinking about popcorn yesterday. Actually, popcorn and age.
When I was a kid we'd get out an old dutch oven and pour some oil into the bottom, heat it up, then pour a scoop of popcorn into it. One of us would have to shake the pot regularly to keep the kernels from burning on the bottom, and another had to melt some butter in a pan on the stove top. We made huge bowls of popcorn, because everyone in the family would have a generous helping. You could buy corn right from the farms where it was grown, grow your own, or just buy it at the grocery store.
When I was newly out of college and knew everything, we purchased a hot air popper. It was healthier for us to prepare our popcorn that way, but I noticed that the maker of the device included a little cup where you could melt butter as you popped the corn! I don't think the issue of noise pollution was ever discussed as we made popcorn, because you wouldn't have been able to hear the conversation.
And now, we microwave popcorn. I can't believe the endless variety available to us. Buttered, Lite butter, No butter, Cheese flavored, Kettle corn, JUMBO kernels, the choices just go on and on. You can get generic popcorn or name brand popcorn. You can buy it in packages of three or twenty four. Is it an improvement? Maybe. Especially if you pick a version that is plain. Less oil in our diet has to be a good thing. I actually prefer the taste of microwaved popcorn because it's less greasy.
I worry about kids not knowing that they don't need a microwave to have popcorn. I remember my father saying that he wanted to try to find an antique corn popper, the kind you used over a fire. I wonder if we need to institute a semester of history on how to live without creature comforts? There are several fascinating programs on TV about modern people who try to recreate life during certain periods of history. I don't think we need to go quite that far in our education of kids, but it would be nice for our children to know that there are solutions to a number of things that would make them self-sufficient. But, how do you decide what to include in the course? Having to use an outhouse, cutting firewood, milking a cow, cooking over a fire...is that what camping or scouting or reenactments are for? Should we focus on the broader issues or stick to simple things like popcorn, and making a cake from scratch?
My mind wanders on a quiet Saturday morning. Stream of thought leads me here and there, the way a real stream chooses to meander and respond to the land which it travels through. I can hear the history teachers groaning....saying "I don't have enough time to teach the curriculum now! Don't add anything more....especially something I'm not equipped to teach!" Perhaps the idea is not a bad one, but maybe it would be better taught if each faculty member contributed several lessons. We could even encourage community members to participate. I wonder if this is how Thoreau got started on Walden?
Comments (6)
Cop car is having trouble with my censor. This is the message that she wanted to share:
Buffy--I think that your idea is wonderful, but I (like you) would not want to add another burden to our school teachers. This part of the curriculum, like religion, can easily (and should be) taught by parents, grandparents, and (in your case) favorite aunts.
As to popcorn. I am astounded by how much popcorn I consume, now, when we have it. My first remembrance of having popcorn was, as a kid of about 3 years, visiting our next-door neighbors with Grandmother. The neighbors lived in a "modern" house--with indoor plumbing! (The neighbors, like us, lived on a several-acre country site and Grandmother on about 80 acres--less than 1/4 mile down a lane from us.) The owner fixed popcorn in the fireplace and spread the kernels on (several thicknesses of) newspaper that was spread before the fireplace. We kids had a great deal of fun trying to eat the popcorn without using our hands. In later years, when mother fixed popcorn in a heavy aluminum pan on the gas range, she gave each of us a cereal bowl full. This serving would have been perhaps 1 or 1 1/2 cups of popcorn. Today, that doesn't seem like much popcorn. Popcorn servings, like many other food servings, have grown huge!
BTW: Our gas stove works during a power outage--as long as we light the fire with a match. When the kids were young (1960s), we had a corn popper to use in the fireplace. Sears still had them in their catalogue.
Posted by Buffy | August 13, 2005 12:07 PM
Posted on August 13, 2005 12:07
Your point about disappearing skills is a good one but my own view is that as long as there are those who keep and practice the skills, whether of cooking, self-sufficient activities or even gardening, and that there are books, tv programmes, magazines and internet pages that those who become interested can take something up then it will work. Attempts to force learning activities on the reluctant, or by a totally bad teacher, can do nothing but harm to the person who would possibly have really liked the subject. I well remeber dire cookery classes (I am now a good self taught cook) and sewing classes with a dragon in charge. Enough to put me off, except I chose to follow the subjects of my volition.
Incidentally, although the Husband and Stepkids like popcorn personally I think it tastes like polystyrene. LOL
Posted by Adele | August 18, 2005 2:46 PM
Posted on August 18, 2005 14:46
Adele--What kind of polystyrene have you been tasting that you can compare popcorn to it????? I like to sprinkle the popcorn with the same mix of spices that I use for blackened chicken. It kicks the taste up a notch.
Posted by Cop Car | August 18, 2005 4:35 PM
Posted on August 18, 2005 16:35
Good point, Adele. I can remember the dragon who taught home ec for our eighth grade class. I kept forgetting that I wasn't supposed to backstitch the point of a dart, and I took the stitches out so many times that the fabric shredded. It wasn't until I got into college and had to sew if I wanted new clothes that I resumed sewing (and came to enjoy it).
I have to agree with Cop Car....what kind of popcorn are you eating???
Posted by buffy | August 18, 2005 9:16 PM
Posted on August 18, 2005 21:16
The sort of popcorn that is sold at the cinema. Whenever the family go tosee a film the three of them each buy a huge bucket of the (sweetened) stuff. I find it totally flavourless and unappetising. So I always buy a small tup of ice cream instead.
I must admit I've never tried savoury popcorn at all. But then I'm afraid that we probably get second rate types of popcorn and only at a very few places. It is not a staple over here. I believe that on your side of the pond it is much more commonly eaten.
Posted by Adele | August 19, 2005 4:38 AM
Posted on August 19, 2005 04:38
Life without popcorn is not to be considered!
I can give up a LOT....but don't ask me to give up the occasional bowl of popcorn.
Posted by Cop Car | August 19, 2005 9:25 PM
Posted on August 19, 2005 21:25