Wading through the seething hoards of bargain hunters at the school’s white elephant stall offered its rewards. There amidst the debris, alone and neglected on the floor were a box of recipe cards from days gone by. Including..
Ham in Aspic
Lurking within the high sheen gelatin lie perfect cubes of once-was-ham held in timeless stasis.
But this over-processed Spam Han-Solo is in good company.
Deep within.. ( yet in plain sight ! ) lies a classic mix of fine and complimentary ingredients.
peas
olives
whole boiled eggs
boiled egg yolks…
..and prunes.
Yes. Prunes.
A veritable teflon cocktail of intestinal irrigation.
Note that this card was no rogue exception. Breath was clearly never considered. Herrings, spam, shrimp and sardines all received liberal mention. This stack of cards read like a single man’s guide to advanced hermitry.
The point?
This was once an example of food that people WANTED to eat for reasons other than a dare.
This was food that made people happy.
But today, despite a genetically identical palette to the people of the 70s, I do not see the value of decorative chunks of gelatine, I do not relish the taste sensation of a pea-prune-egg-olive-spam matrix. But back then.. I WOULD have. * shudder *
So what’s changed?
Not us.
We are the same hunks of wobbly carbon that we have always been. Creatures countless years old. We have the same taste buds and instinctual appetites.
It’s the contexts we invest value in. Those have changed.
But we don’t often realise how narrow and context-specific our experiences are, or how much they are shaped by fashion. That’s a shame. If we knew that I think we’d be happier.
Ham in Aspic is a reminder that we’re in our own special world in our heads, and we’ve been there so long we think it’s reality.
If we’re not happy with that then we may have a lot to do with it.
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March 13th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Why is it that everyone is talking about THIS post but comments on Obama? Something sinister behind this….
Now, remind me again when the next post is due, please?