The Persistence of Memory of Food

....or what not to get at Arby's.


My family will say that whenever I talk about a vacation I've been on or a place I visited, I will link that memory with food I ate while I'm there. They're quite correct, as there is no other combination of smell, taste, and texture, that will bring up memory responses as quickly as food. If you ask me if I've ever been in an Earthquake, I will happily tell you about the 7.0 Earthquake that hit Bear Lake on the other side of Los Angeles, where we were visiting for the month. Aside from going to Disneyland (which was much more hype and not enough substance, but that's another blog altogether) and seeing the sites of LA and falling asleep on the traffic-clogged interstates (I think it was Jet Lag), I will tell you about the hotel that we stayed in, near the airport, and how, when the Earthquake hit, I saw the pool water move from one side of the pool to the other in unison, as if a teeter-totter were underneath it. And I will tell you about reading C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, and how much I enjoyed it. But mostly, I will tell you about the exquisite Danishes they had in the Hotel Lobby for breakfast. Cheese, Cherry...I have had no better Danishes before or since, and no that I Think on it, the sleepiness probably had something to do with blood sugar.

And I can tell you about the Nachoes I had at Mustang Valley Elementary school, of which I have never found their equal, or the homemade salad dressing I put on the Fiestadas when we had them. Fiestadas...mmmmmm.... there were times I sat in the middle of my college classes craving a Fiestada with the veracity of a pregnant woman.

I've talked about other foods in blogs in the past, such as the Hot Ham & Cheese sandwich from Hardees', or the Tripledecker Pizza from Pizza Hut. I will leave these to my other writings.

Why I'm writing this... I went to Arby's to try out their Angus Beef, Bacon and Cheese sandwich, as it is similar to the three cheese sandwich they promoted back in the 1990's. I remember the last time I had that sandwich was in Milledgeville, around 1999, and the flavor was exquisite. This time, however, while the beef was good, I had to hunt to find any cheese, I got two bites of bacon, and the sandwich was much smaller than I remembered. Perhaps this is the lesson to be learned from food, that the memory of the sensual aspects of an object is often times inflated and will only cause an anticlimactic feeling afterward. Very rarely is something as good the tenth time as it is the first. We must continuously be looking for new variety, and savor those memories so that when a certain spark of synapse travels through the brain, igniting a smell or taste or other memory, it will be all the more pleasurable. We cannot recreate the past, only create new memories for what is to come.

To Be Discontinued....

On every TV show that I've ever watched, there are always the thrilling and anticipated season finales. And at the end, there is always this suspenseful cliffhanger, with the words "To Be Continued..." written on the end. You get to the good part, and then it cuts off.

Well, the same thing goes for everything else that's good in this world. If it's something I like, chances are it will be "discontinued" very shortly. The exceptions being Plinko on TPIR, and Transformers, which will go on forever. Here are some of the things I loved, but are now gone:

Josta. Pepsi does this constantly. Come out with a great idea, and then pull it because, in their mind, it didn't work. Josta was amazing, ahead of its time, and about the most addicting drink ever made. I loved the fruity taste, the high caffine content, and the guanara extract which kept me going at my grocery store job for hours. There was nothing that kept me going while studying for a test. Why oh Why did they pull it!!!????!!! I want my Josta! And while we're at it, how about Crystal Pepsi? Wonderful stuff, but as usual, it was gone in about 3 months.

Bar None. Hershey's crowning achievement. A chocolate lovers dream! I remember the last time I had one, at the Omniplex in Oklahoma City (look it up, wonderful museum, needs your support), got it out of the vending machine in the lunch room near the plant exhibit. For those of you that like to take apart your candy bars (Twix takes me like, 15 minutes to eat just one bar.), this one was amazing! There have been sugar free and low carb attempts at this one since, but nothing tastes better than the original.

The TripleDecker Pizza from Pizza Hut.. it's a limited time only pizza that they might bring back... Clogs my artries just thinking about it.

And it's just not food. Howabout Press your Luck, a game show on TV. Amazing show, way ahead of it's time, and it was on forever as reruns on the USA network. Probably the most visually stimulating game show to come out of the 80's, early 90's. The host died John Denver style in a plane crash (self made). A game show that any ADD kid craved. Oh well, have to make do with TPIR.

Or The Wizard. Only lasted one season. A midget toymaker turned detective/James Bond person. Sure, he never got the girl, but oh, those toys!!! Find it on IMDB.com

In the book world, there was a series started after The Sixth Sense with a very talented writer, David Benjamin, who wrote the books as well as M. Night made the movie. Trevor (HJO) was as real in the books as he was on screen. Unfortunately, there were only three books ever made. The series was better than other drivel that's out there. They should have made more.

There are other things, I'm sure. But I'll leave it at that. What things did you love, but were destined "to be discontinued..."?