sawyl | The dangers of nostalgia food (Reply)

Very funny piece by Tim Hayward on the Guardian food blog on the dangers of returning to nostalgia food. Definitely not one to try and read in public:

The sardine and tomato paste still smells as unholy as it ever did. It could incubate in a Tupperware lunchbox through a morning of double Nuffield physics until it smelt like an abandoned fishing smack. Much like Marmite though, eating it was about sensation more than a flavour, a brutal mouth mugging which somehow fixed in my teenage mind as enjoyable.

Now it sits on the bread, the consistency of baby poop and - there's no other word for it - mings. A mouthful produces the faintest ghost of recollection but then so would the abandoned fishing smack. The ingredients list features mackerel in large proportions. I screw the lids back on and consign the lot to the bin. It's then that I notice that the lids of the jars still bear the same legend they did then, "reject if centre can be depressed" - which, under the circumstances now seems prophetic wisdom.

Although I'm not sure I approve of the disparaging of Camp Coffee — surely it's the only way to make a decent coffee cake...