This morning, I ran across a fab retro magazine ad featuring two things that I’ve not tasted in a very long time – lime Jell-O and canned pineapple. In fact, scanning my memory banks for the last time I may have had the palette envelope pushing experience of having the two distinctive tastes (one an artificial lime infused, eye-crossing uber-sweetness and the other a tinny slab of fruit fleshy sugar loaf) comingled in my mouth would require a mental time travel machine the size of a semi.
Nevertheless, the kitschy joy and the in-your-face “we love chartreuse” art direction of this retro masterpiece of advertising is simply too much for me to resist.
Feast your eyes upon the culinary magic of the early 1960’s!
My parents were married in the early 60’s. And like so many young people at that time, my mother loved this kind of advertising and was drawn to it like a vampire to a virgin’s neck. If it was instant it was pure perfection. Instant coffee, instant orange juice, instant milk, instant oatmeal, instant rice, instant mac and cheese and much more were quite popular menu items of my childhood. I have little doubt that had this glistening and enticing manna blipped across her radar, it would have been proudly served the next time such a side dish was called for.
Simply open a can of sliced pineapple, pour out the juice, fill it with Jell-O, stick it in the fridge and voilà - instant dessert. Or, should you find the need, smack a slab or two down atop an acid-green leaf of lettuce and add a hefty dollop of pure mayonnaise to the plate party to create a slickened summer side salad from hell.
When Jell-O/Mayo molds were all the rage, I was fortunately young enough to be intimidated by the mix and to this day have yet to experience that questionable concoction. Though, mayonnaise is one of my favorite guilty garnishes. Perhaps I’ve been missing out all these years…
In any event, this ad has loudly plucked a string of culinary interest in my mind and there is a strong possibility that if I end up in the SuperFresh this afternoon, I may have to take a stroll down memory lane and check out the canned pineapple selection which couldn’t possibly be too far from the Jell-O selection…
Stay tuned, there may be photos…
1 comment:
Well, Michael? Did you ever try the recipe? Did you "create a slickened summer side salad from hell"?
Instant this and instant that. You remind me of the mindset that practically worshiped instant. My sister and I ate a lot of Chef Boyardee canned spaghetti products, that's for sure. It is good to have survived our childhoods!
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