My mom grew up in Colorado, where that was a thing. She had a whole bunch of ways to prepare Jello, each involving a different mold. I particularly remember one that started with lemon Jello, and used cinnamon candies dissolved into the hot water, resulting in Jello that tasted mostly like the candies. Then chopped celery, carrots and walnuts were stirred in. This was served only on the fanciest occasions!
There also seemed to be a sub-genre of “salad” that usually involved cool whip, pineapple bits, rice, maraschino cherries, and nuts in varying combinations.
When my grandmother passed away, I inherited her recipe box. The salad category did not contain any recpies which didn’t include Jello as an ingredient - lol.
@NoVADad99#253, I’d argue that the food discussion is actually incredibly germane to the original topic of the thread, considering the importance of foodways as a cultural marker.
I scored a 26. Not sure what it means, because I grew up in a working class family. My parents were immigrants who saved every penny and worked all the time. That being said, their income (based on the formula in the article) put them well-above the poverty level, which really surprised me because we had no luxuries. We didn’t have a car or a television until I was 14. Also, my mother refused to get rid of her b/w tv and buy a color tv because she was sure that it “caused cancer.” She also re-used paper towels and aluminum foil. Both of my parents were obsessed with saving money. It was like a disease and not a good thing because my parents lived joyless lives. They always worried about money, even when they didn’t have to do so.
@Bromfield2 --Your statement gave me a chuckle. My mother reused aluminum foil and plastic bags all the time. Both of my parents came from a very poor background. Happily, unlike your parents they were able to enjoy their money but some habits just die hard.
@Bromfield2 - that would be my parents and in-laws, although they were professional class college grads. They were compulsive savers who also contributed large sums to charities. (Perhaps that should be a question as well.)
fwiw, my children are also very frugal, even though they have grown up in affluent suburbia (cc “middle class.”) They just have little confidence in what the future will hold for their generation in general and for those educated in STEM areas outside of CS/medicine in particular.
One of the interesting things about bubbles is that some people see them as walls and others see them as windows. My former in-laws were highly resistant to any deviations from their traditional Thanksgiving meal. Suggesting changes was seen as an attack.
I got 70 on the original quiz but Thanksgiving this year will be worth 0-2 points, depending on the turkey and whether we add the orange zest and port wine to the cranberries. My, how my life has changed. My kids would score really low, maybe 25 (we have low-brow TV habits, evangelical neighbors and a rack full of custom fly rods, so a bit skewed) if they count their shabby upstate NY start. One night, from our bedroom window, we watched four separate drug dealers busted during a county-wide drug sweep.
My grandfathers were an immigrant sailor who had dropped out of the 6th grade and a farmer who had dropped out after 8th, both moving to SF in the 1920s. My father ended up getting a BA and MA while I was young, and mom got an AA during my teen years, eventually moving us to solidly middle class by my HS days.
Frankly, jello molds seem to appear across classes. And some chains are decent food, a convenience, if not always healthy.
My girls’ eye opener was when a new acquaintance raved about squirrel. I don’t know if we get/lose points for knowing people who eat it or for disdaining it.
I am a little confused about this jello salad thing. Are you guys talking about the jello that comes in those little square boxes in various flavors? Because I always thought that was sweet and people used it as a dessert in the summer months, especially for children. Yet, it seems what you are all talking about is a side dish for the main Thanksgiving meal. Is it a dessert or side dish?
^^ “Raved about squirrel” - my husband hunted and ate squirrels during his childhood. His verdict was that the small amount of meat wasn’t worth the trouble it took to skin and clean the squirrel.
He also trapped and skinned muskrats for money as a child.
Know him? I married him! Of course, I don’t think if I about the muskrat-skinning until after I married him. It’s not a topic that usually comes up during courtship, at least in my bubble…
Lol, that’s me although I will happily spend money on certain things (travel, sporting gear and education). I grew up in poverty (as in hungry poverty) and even as an adult and financially stable, I have quirky habits about food. I really don’t like food being thrown out, so school functions involving food are a real downer.
Side dish, @HarvestMoon1, in addition to or replacing cranberry sauce. Serves kind of the same purpose as a “palate cleanser” for all the rich food. Originates from the 50s I believe.
My mother saved aluminum foil, bags, plastic take-out/deli food containers, and paper plates (as long as nothing too wet was on it). I only save plastic food containers that I could reuse; the rest get tossed.
@MotherOfDragons brings up an interesting point that I can relate to with my family:
“My parents were lower working class, but they would have scored higher on the bubble score than me because they were constantly trying to pretend they were higher class than they were-you wouldn’t catch them dead in a Waffle House.”
On one side of my family, my grandparents were first generation. They tried very hard to assimilate despite always living on a very modest income. Their skills, like my grandmother’s excellent dress making abilities, always allowed them to dress fashionably by knocking off high end fashion at the time. They really pushed their kids to excel, not just academically, but with lessons in different cultural pursuits. You could probably accuse them of “putting on airs”. As a result, their children did very well, never learned their parent’s native language however, but the one thing that ties them back to their original homeland and that still shows up in our lives 2-3 generations later? Food. Family celebrations still focus on ethnic, heritage foods. Food is very telling in a culture although the NPR quiz doesn’t focus on immigrant families and their habits.
At some institutional functions/parties I’ve attended where food was involved, the organizers dealt with this issue by encouraging those of us who stayed to the end to hang out and help with the cleanup to take as much of the unserved leftover food/drinks as possible. Sometimes, they will even make it a point to drive us home to facilitate the transport of massive quantities of leftover food. And since I have no problems eating the same meal for days or even weeks on end, it’s great.
This was one reason why I saved a bit on my food/grocery bills…especially when I was just out of college. It’s also a reason why I keep getting free bottles/cans of beer/wine despite the fact I have a tendency to forget about them for years because when I do drink, it’s always in a social setting with friends at a bar/musical venue, restaurant, or party.
Personally, can’t think of anything more boring to do than to drink in my apartment. May as well watch the paint dry IMO.
I remember these served in silver bowls or on silver trays. Very, very fancy.
After thinking about it, I could remember some vegetable ones from my very distant childhood. It has just been so very long since anyone made one in my family. Maybe I’m adding one to my Thanksgiving menu.
