Popcorn Is Life
For many months now, Kim has been in the habit of snacking at night on popcorn. She buys bags of popcorn or kettle corn and I find it hard to resist taking at least a few handfuls. I was mildly disappointed the first few times when I realized her request of whether I wanted some popcorn or not was not followed by the sound of popping corn on the stove, but rather the sound of her opening a bag of store-bought popcorn. That did not stop me from taking a few handfuls, but it’s just not the same. I am reasonably lucky not to be a committed evening snacker. I have a lifelong tendency towards bad eating habits, but, strangely enough, nighttime snacking is not one of them. On a recent visit to my nieces house I noticed that they had a dedicated, freestanding popcorn machine in their kitchen and I thought that was very cool. So when Mr. Hammacher and Mr. Schlemmer sent me an email pitch that highlighted a freestanding popcorn maker, it didn’t take me long to rationalize that it was the perfect Christmas gift for Kim. My rationalization is that she’s the one who always wants the popcorn and it is a sort of kitchen appliance, so its a gift for her even though I expect to be the biggest beneficiary of the gift.
But what a shame if we find that we don’t have the right provisions on hand, so I researched the best popcorn to buy to use with the new machine. What I found was an acknowledged best-of-breed popcorn packet that held popcorn kernels, special popcorn hydrogenated oil, and flavored salt. In other words, this packet contained the perfect pre-packaged ingredients to make movie theater popcorn of the most delicious kind. I chose to ignore the whole kettle corn variant (which I know Kim’s sweet tooth tends to crave) on the theory that it would be too hard to replicate and hot buttered popcorn was the obvious choice for this sort of popper. I bought a big box with 48 packets, so I know I will be reordering soon and will seek out kettle corn in addition to the hot buttered variety I’ve already bought.
The first time Kim popped a batch for me I was immediately in heaven. Having the ability to go into the kitchen at any time of day and go to a plexiglass box of yellow savory popcorn is a surprise treat for me. I had no idea I would enjoy it as much as I do. Of course, it is early days and I have a habit of overdoing things that I enjoy, so I may well wear through this honeymoon with the hot popcorn and find myself craving potato chips or Fritos again real soon. That happened with the great Dot’s pretzel sticks we discovered. Now, after a cooling off period I can enjoy a small dish of them again, but for a long time the bags and bags of pretzels that I had Kim buy just sat in the cupboard until she gave most of them away to our work crew on the theory that she didn’t want them to pass their sell-by dates before I came back around to enjoying them again. I’m betting that the same won’t happen with the popcorn, not because its better than the pretzels, but because it has to be fresh made and I have been enjoying movie theater popcorn like this every week for many years only to have this COVID-induced absence from the theaters.
That COVID issue is also something that occurred to me when I ordered this popper. If the world is permanently changed now in that movie theaters will not be the ubiquitous structures they have been in malls across the landscape, I think the popcorn addition to the kitchen utensils will make watching movies at home somehow a sufficient substitute for risking infection in a crowded and dark movie theater with everyone sharing each other’s popcorn. I know I am conflating popcorn with movies and movies with pre-COVID life as we knew it, but I’m not sure that is so off-base. No food screams moviegoing and escapism like movie popcorn. We drink fountain drinks in many places, but with the possible exception of those rare “State Fair” occasions, we really don’t eat buttery hot popcorn all that often away from the movie theaters. Movies have been a big part of my entertainment life and while I do not mourn their passing with all the other things to occupy my concerns in these days of COVID, I don’t mind stumbling on a subtle reminder of the pleasures of the movie theater and spending a few bucks and taking up a few square feet of kitchen space for my newfangled popcorn contraption.
That’s the other thing about popcorn, it is a thick slice of Americana as well as a reminder of movie going. Corn is a crop of the Americas. It sprang from Mexico about 10,000 years ago, so it is strangely appropriate that I am so focused on its most effusive product output, popcorn, while living here in what some people call Northern Mexico instead of Southern California. The presence of corn in all forms in Mexican cuisine is notable from tamales to tacos to mole. Popcorn dates back almost 6,000 years, also in the areas between Mexico and the American Southwest. It immediately became a snack food of choice, not just because it was so easy to make and accessible to all, but it was also affordable and knew no class or economic lines that kept it as an elite food. It was the snack food of the masses and thus was available on the streets, at carnivals and in homes throughout the year. When I think of popcorn I somehow think about the gay 1890’s with Pollyanna and the gazebo in the town square. I can’t be the only one who thinks that way since many of the popcorn carts that are sold still have that same olde tyme feeling to them as though they were wheeling through the streets of River City and the Music Man is going to jump out in front of it and belt out a song.
Over the years people have done many things with popcorn and they are all American at their core. There are drawings of Indian chieftains in headdresses of popcorn. People have used popcorn as the base for many sweet snacks too with kettle corn and Crackerjacks being the most notable. Take me out to the ballgame, but don’t forget the caramel and molasses covered popcorn while you are at it. I am not really a foodie, despite my corpulence, but I do feel the need to wax eloquent about my new favorite food, popcorn. I was eating it during a Zoom call the other night and someone called me out on it and said, “that looks awful good and with those yellow kernels it looks like movie theater popcorn, is it?” I had no idea that someone could identify it over a video link and that there was such a broad shared consciousness about this American snack food of note. We all crave what we know and I’m guessing that popcorn is something we all know. That tells me that popcorn is life and even if we can’t keep life the same as we work through this nasty stretch of COVID, we can keep our attachment to life by keeping hold of some small things that remind us of the life we all love. Popcorn is life.
Dear Ranger,
You have put an interesting take on theater popcorn superiority which I would have agreed with until I met my wife. How in hell is there a connection? Wellllll….. HALF a CENTURY ago (ow), one of Mary Jane’s part-time jobs was working the concession stand at a theatre. She would dole out the popcorn and many customers asked for extra butter. That would make her inwardly cringe because she knew that it wasn’t butter at all. It was 99% lard & 1% coloring. It was printed on the label on the container. So, in reality, it was just a slippery adhesive for the salt. I must admit that I was a little crest-fallen at this (not fake) news. I can only hope that situation has changed. But you are making your own and can be certain it’s butter you are topping it with.
Also, I did learn from my dentist that popcorn is about the worst food for your teeth that you can eat. Thinking about it, I do recall the many times I fruitlessly attempted using my tongue to get a piece of a kernel stuck between teeth. Not to mention me stubbornly trying to crack an un-popped kernel because I wanted to see if I could. I couldn’t. But I give myself an A for effort and an F for even thinking to try.
Though, even with this knowledge, I still enjoy popcorn and gladly dig in.