JUDY HOLMES: Yogurt, spinach and pizza, Oh my!

In the early sixties, I saw my first commercial for Dannon yogurt. After pleas from me, our mom bought one container of Dannon’s strawberry yogurt. What was she thinking?! A single-size container for five people?!

Much to my disappointment, the yogurt tasted sour to my sixties’ taste buds! Two of my sisters thought so too, screwing-up their faces as they swallowed. My mom and my brother loved the yogurt — go figure!

The next desired food item from television was spinach – Popeye’s canned spinach. My brother loved Popeye and persuaded our mom to buy Popeye’s muscle-producing spinach.

The heated spinach looked like all other vegetables in the Sixties – an overcooked mushy mess. Again, only our mom and brother Bob liked the spinach. Bob flexed his muscles a few times while happily eating the spinach.

Our next food adventure influenced by television was Chef Boyardee Pizza. The pizza box was not the flat pizza box we know today. Instead, it was a small rectangular upright box.

Inside the box was a package of flour and yeast to make the crust; a small can of pizza sauce; and a small cellophane package of parmesan cheese. Preparing the pizza was easy and fun. And, we all loved the pizza!

We continued trying foods our television sang catchy tunes about. We loved Campbell’s tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich. We thought my mom’s fried chicken was much better than Shake & Bake chicken. We liked making Jiffy popcorn but preferred the taste of Indiana popcorn.

We loved the television jingles. With gusto, we sang “I Wish I Were an Oscar Meyer Wiener”. We argued over the words in the Lipton soup song. We laughed doing the jolly Green Giant’s deep “ho-ho-ho”.

We grew up with a huge garden and orchard, canning and freezing. Our parents bought meat from farmers they knew. We understood that our garden and orchard along with nearby farmers were our primary food sources.

Over time, we grew more savvy about television commercials, recognizing that not everything advertised was as delightful as it seemed. Still, a great jingle stays with you!