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Last week, dragged down by one of the worst colds I’ve ever endured, I crept slowly to the supermarket, hoping no one recognized me in pj bottoms and a long coat. My object: to find the comfort foods my mother made for me. What I found shook my world!
I found the canned tomato soup, my favorite brand, way down on the lower shelves by my knees. When did they move the famous can that Andy Warhol once painted? Why wasn’t it front and center?
And the mac and cheese. The kind that is nearly complete in a box. Not knee-deep, but certainly below my sightline on the shelf. When I finally located it, the box looked different. Smaller. Differently shaped. And, way too many choices- different shaped pastas, cheese product, etc. Where was my day-glow orange powdered cheddar and skinny elbow macaroni?
Don’t kids want these classics? Don’t Moms remember them? Aren’t they still easy to cook, just add milk and heat? I fear they will soon go the way of the dinosaurs. Today’s Moms find the drive-up easier than “old-fashioned” convenience foods that you actually have to heat up yourself.
One good thing: my comfort foods taste the same. And are just as comforting.
Author and culinary school teacher Linda Bassett provides recipes for and tips on the season’s freshest ingredients. She is the author of "From Apple Pie to Pad Thai: Neighborhood Cooking North of Boston." Reach her by email at KitchenCall@aol.com.
