Nostalgia is such a big part of food trends. It shows up in dining, cooking, cookbooks, food writing, even food packaging. Think of that old-fashioned truck on the Peach Truck boxes!

Why is nostalgia such a big part of food trends, dining options, and even flash-popular things in North American cooking? Let's talk about the part of nostalgia in both our career and even in the books we've written.

We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, authors of thirty-seven cookbooks. Our latest is COLD CANNING: small-batch preserving without the need of a steam or pressure canner. If you'd like to see that book, check out this link right here.

Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:

[01:14] Our one-minute cooking tip: Put your small children and pets out of the kitchen when you cook.

[02:40] What's with so much nostalgia in food, dining, and cooking trends?

[26:38] What’s making us happy in food this week: steamed Chinese riblets!

Hey, I am Bruce Weinstein and this is

the Podcast Cooking with Bruce and Mark.

2

And I'm Mark Scarborough, and together

with Bruce, my husband, we have

3

written 37 cookbooks, including the

latest cold canning, small batch, two

4

jar, three jar, canning without any

need for a pressure or steam canner.

5

You make a small batch of what?

6

Help me here.

7

Oh, strawberry jam, red,

current jelly, kimchi.

8

Mm-hmm.

9

Sauerkraut.

10

Fudge sauce, corn relish,

bennel relish, pickle relish.

11

There's all kinds of chili crisps.

12

There's salsa matcha.

13

If you don't know about that,

you need to know about them.

14

There's even dessert, sauces and liqueurs.

15

Anything you can put in a jar and

stick in the fridge or the freezer.

16

For Well in the freezer indefinitely.

17

That's all part of the 425 recipes of that

book called You can find a link to buy

18

it even in the player for this episode.

19

But otherwise, we're not

talking about that necessarily.

20

We're gonna talk about a one minute

cooking tip, and then the big part

21

of this podcast is about nostalgia in

food and cooking and why it's such.

22

Big part of food and cooking and

the culinary landscape, and then

23

we'll tell you what's making

us happy in food this week.

24

So let's get started.

25

Bruce: Our one minute cooking

tip, put your dogs and kids out of

26

the kitchen while you're cooking.

27

Basic, basic, basic.

28

In our cookbooks,

29

we refer to that as put

furry, well wishers and small

30

children out of the kitchen.

31

Our dog

32

Bruce: has a habit of constantly

coming over to the stove.

33

Mm-hmm.

34

When I'm cooking.

35

Mm-hmm.

36

Now, unfortunately, we haven't.

37

Open floor, plant house.

38

And unless I put him in the basement,

there's no way to keep him out.

39

But you should try and keep them out.

40

Every time I open the oven, he's

trying to stick his head in there.

41

It's

42

like not a good thing.

43

And this is, here's what's really wild,

is we don't feed our dog any people food.

44

So the dog is there just because

the dog knows, has figured it

45

out, or knows something, or there

have been splashes on the floor.

46

'cause he does tend to lick the

floor Incessently endlessly.

47

Yes.

48

Yeah, so it just because there are

splashes of grease, or this is out

49

on the floor anyway, to keep yourself

safe, put your dogs and maybe your

50

cats and your little children out

of the kitchen while you're cooking.

51

There's hot things going

on that can get burned.

52

You can fall backwards or trip, oh gosh.

53

Um, it's just best to put all that out of

the kitchen when you're seriously cooking.

54

Okay.

55

Before we get to that next

part of the podcast, lemme see.

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It would be great if you could

subscribe to this podcast.

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If you could rate it, if you could

like it, if you could even write

58

us a review, even nice podcasts.

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That really helps thanks in the

analytics because we are otherwise

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unsupported and this is the way that

you can, in fact, support this podcast.

61

Okay, we're gonna talk

all about nostalgia.

62

Hmm.

63

In cooking and food.

64

Bruce: I wanna start this

by asking you a question.

65

Okay.

66

Can you explain what

nostalgia actually is?

67

Oh, it's, that's really a hard question.

68

So what generally is understood as

nostalgia is a sentimentalization

69

of the past that is.

70

Things that have happened in the past

are stripped of much of their larger

71

meaning, and they are sentimentalized.

72

That is, they are turned into a

feeling of vibe, usually good.

73

That usually is the implication

of Sentimentalization and then.

74

Um, you know, anything that else is

surrounding that is taken away and

75

you're left with this kind of good

vibe based on a past experience.

76

People have all kinds of

nostalgia for, um, childhood

77

places, childhood restaurants.

78

They have, uh, nostalgia of

course, and we're gonna talk about

79

this for childhood food and how

that impacts the food industry.

80

It's this idea that somehow what

happened in the past was better than now.

81

Simpler than now, and

82

Bruce: probably better than

it actually was back then too.

83

Oh, it is.

84

That's why I say

85

it's stripped of all its complications.

86

It's like

87

Bruce: when somebody's spouse dies

and then 20 years later they were

88

the sainted person in their life when

all they did was complain about them.

89

That's not

90

technically nostalgia because generally

we think of nostalgia as a cultural

91

trend rather than a personal trend.

92

I mean, yes, people can be nostalgic for

something, but we generally think of that

93

as fitting into a larger cultural rubric.

94

Like, um, people are nostalgic

for the place they grew up.

95

That's because they believe

most people are nostalgic for

96

the place that they grew up.

97

So we tend to think of it in

terms of more groups of people are

98

nostalgic and your nostalgia fits

in with a larger group of people.

99

Bruce: Well, right now, the

people that are really leading the

100

nostalgia craze in terms of food

are trend marketers and influencers,

101

right?

102

Yep.

103

They are.

104

Become big.

105

You probably know this already.

106

People, uh, have made careers

out of cooking recipes from

107

the 1940s and the 1950s.

108

Uh, currently there are several

people making big careers in

109

the influencer space, you know,

outta cooking from church cook.

110

Books in the forties and the fifties

111

Bruce: Baking yesterday year.

112

Yeah.

113

Yeah.

114

And some of them are, uh,

bringing back these old recipes

115

as, wow, aren't they great?

116

And some of them, there's one guy,

particularly on a TikTok who cracks

117

me up, who is always making something

hideously disgusting out of a church.

118

Cookbook often with gelatin.

119

Yes, often with gelatin.

120

And then he's, uh, basically

gagging as he eats it.

121

He just cracks me up.

122

He's just always dressed up in some, he's

a large man and usually dressed up in

123

some giant fairy costume or something.

124

So, uh, he makes me laugh out loud.

125

But yes, that, that is part of it.

126

Is this baking yester year,

bringing back these really mm-hmm.

127

Old kind of, um, recipes.

128

Uh, you should know that right now, if.

129

If you're my age, you'll

be horrified by this.

130

But you should run right now that the

marketers and influencers are particularly

131

focused for no nostalgia on the 1990s

and early two thousands, but it's

132

Bruce: still 1990.

133

In my head.

134

It's still 19.

135

That's, I'm still 30 years old.

136

I will always be 30 years old.

137

That's, that's really nice.

138

And so what they are bringing back

and talking about and showing are

139

things that we lived on back then.

140

Things like Chicken Caesar.

141

Yeah, chicken Caesar

142

salad is, yeah.

143

Bruce: Big right now.

144

Well, I always loved it.

145

I still love it.

146

I love to make it for dinner.

147

And one thing I've never made, but

that I see a lot on social media

148

for nostalgia or pizza rolls.

149

Yes.

150

Remember those?

151

Those pizza, pizza oven rolls

are to Totino's pizza rolls.

152

Basically, they were burn bombs.

153

Yes.

154

They were.

155

You, they were.

156

Put those in your.

157

Toaster oven, and then you would think

they're cool and you bite them, and

158

then within 10 seconds the skin is

peeling off the roof of your mouth.

159

And I think the biggest trend right

now, or the biggest, um, nostalgia

160

trend for 20 something influencers,

people in their twenties is the vinetta.

161

And if you, that dessert, if you're

my age, you remember the vinetta

162

and the vinetta was so fancy.

163

Mm-hmm.

164

I mean, if you had

vinetta, you were upscale.

165

We just, we just ate.

166

Fricking Oreos.

167

But you know, meta

168

Bruce: basically, if you don't

know it was frozen, right?

169

It like a Sara pound cake

in a metal container, right?

170

And it was a layered loaf cake

with cream, and it was Italian,

171

supposedly it was kind a

172

Swiss roll, kind of pseudo

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Bruce: Tyra masseuse, Swiss roll mash.

174

That you got frozen with

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chocolate.

176

Right.

177

I'm surprised given that

I grew up in the south.

178

We didn't call it Vata, but

um, 'cause of vina sausages.

179

But, um, anyway, yeah,

this is, at least the

180

Bruce: VTA doesn't have any jelly.

181

This is huge.

182

Yeah.

183

This is a huge trend that there are

influencers making vitas, recreating them.

184

They're people, they weren't that good.

185

And I grew up with them.

186

I don't know.

187

It seemed like the absolute

height of sophistication.

188

Remember the commercials?

189

They served them in coops.

190

They would cut the pieces.

191

Mm-hmm.

192

And put them in coops on

the table and oh my God.

193

It just seemed so Doris Day Fancy

194

Bruce: and then you can drink with them

the general foods, international coffees.

195

There you go.

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Flavored.

197

Bruce: There you go.

198

Sweetened powdered.

199

There we

200

go.

201

I think that one of the things that

we've seen over our career is that,

202

uh, since the 1990s when we started

203

was the first one, but since we

started writing then we have seen a

204

consistent nostalgic trend for baking.

205

Mm.

206

It has.

207

Absolutely consistent, and it

always seems to come in a wave.

208

And the, you know, recent bakers,

the people who are baking now, the

209

20 something influencers who are

baking, it's again, it's as if this

210

is coming out of nowhere and oh my

gosh, we're making cakes again in pies.

211

But I have to say that in what, 25,

30 years of doing this, we've seen

212

this baking wave Crest and crest.

213

Mm-hmm.

214

And Crest.

215

And Crest, it's a continual

re invoking of a nostalgic

216

Bruce: thing.

217

It's interesting because

there are so many categories.

218

Of cooking that was done back when

we were kids from casseroles, right.

219

To hot pots, to ground beef things.

220

Right.

221

And yes, they all have their

few moments, but baking is the

222

one that continually comes back.

223

It does.

224

It continually comes back and,

well, because it's so comfort, seems

225

comforting.

226

It, it always seems new, right?

227

When it comes back, it always seems

like it's just coming back into vogue

228

and you hear all these marketers and

PR people talk about, oh, baking is

229

really coming into vogue and, and you

think if you like us and you've been

230

around the block a few times, you think.

231

Well, it's been in vogue like 20 times.

232

Mm-hmm.

233

In the last 30 years.

234

I, I think that there's, uh,

there are trends right now.

235

You may know them for trad wife.

236

Explain what that is, please.

237

Traditional wife, a trad wife, a

traditional wife, someone who stays

238

home, makes dinner, does the laundry,

cleans the house, takes care of the

239

children, and there are all kinds

of trad wife influencers online.

240

Now, I don't wanna make.

241

Fun of this.

242

Mm-hmm.

243

But I have to tell that's it's a

244

Bruce: valid lifestyle choice.

245

I have to tell you that there are

some tra wife satire accounts.

246

Well, they're hysterical.

247

That are absolutely hysterical about,

you know, my children wanted water this

248

morning, so I went out to our glacier and

chipped off a piece and blah, blah, blah.

249

My child wanted to

250

Bruce: thank you know, so I

chopped down a tree and poked it.

251

And and made paper.

252

Yes.

253

I know there's these satire tread

wife accounts, but T tra wife

254

is a big thing right now and it

is really, truly, honestly, a

255

moving trend in the marketplace.

256

And tread wifes, I think, go back

to this trend of a simpler time.

257

I don't wanna get into politics of this.

258

Mm-hmm.

259

And glorious stein.

260

And all that kind of stuff, but they

go back to allegedly a simpler time.

261

Now you and I are from this simpler time.

262

We are.

263

We're from the sixties and the seventies.

264

And we can say, I think unequivocally

that it was not a simpler time.

265

It

266

Bruce: wasn't a simpler time.

267

We had a different experience though.

268

Your mother was a little

bit more of a trad wife.

269

My mother, no, my mother

was fully a trad wife.

270

She

271

got up and made you a hot

breakfast every morning.

272

Single morning until I went to college.

273

My mother got up 30 minutes before

I got up and made a hot breakfast.

274

Bruce: As soon as I was tall

enough to reach the cabinets, my

275

mother's like, you're on your own.

276

You know where the cereal is.

277

As soon as I was tall enough to reach

the buttons on the washing machine,

278

my mother's like, do your own laundry.

279

And as I, so I didn't

kind of grow up with that.

280

As I've said repeatedly,

my mother washed and.

281

Ironed the sheets twice a week

and sometimes three times a week.

282

Bruce: Right.

283

No, we didn't have such a thing in

our house and my mother didn't bake

284

either, so it was a whole this, when

I see this, there's no nostalgia for

285

me 'cause I didn't grow up with it.

286

But there is something nice about it.

287

'cause I'm like.

288

Hmm.

289

That kind of would've been nice in a way.

290

I mean, this has

291

been around forever when we were kids.

292

Uh, as I say, we grew up in

this alleged simpler time.

293

Let me tell you that waiting in line at

gas stations for gasoline in your car for

294

an hour and a half during the gas crisis.

295

Hmm.

296

Uh, watching Nixon implode on

television, watching the Democratic at.

297

Convention explode in Chicago.

298

There was no simpler time back then.

299

No.

300

Nothing was simpler.

301

Watching our parents go through

marital distress and difficulties.

302

It, there was nothing

simpler about a childhood.

303

Bruce: No, but everybody thinks that

20 years before them was simpler.

304

No matter when it is.

305

If you talk to people in the

fifties, they'll tell you

306

the thirties were simpler.

307

People in thirties, oh,

nobody's gonna say the

308

thirties.

309

Simpler, I'm sorry.

310

Okay.

311

Alright.

312

Bruce: Alright.

313

The people in the forties

would say the twenties were

314

simpler and people in the, okay.

315

Maybe people in 19 hundreds

316

I don't know.

317

Nostalgia, I don't know that I can say

that since, you know, uh, um, my other

318

part of my life is worrying about.

319

19th and 20th century culture

to teach it in classes.

320

But I can't say that nostalgia was as

321

Bruce: now.

322

When, when electricity came into houses,

didn't, people weren't in nostalgic

323

for time when there wasn't electricity?

324

No.

325

They were afraid

326

of electricity, but

they weren't nostalgic.

327

No one kept gas.

328

Flames on their walls

because they wanted them.

329

I've never heard of such a thing.

330

No.

331

In fact, they were afraid of electricity.

332

Uh, there was all kinds of fear.

333

Do you know this one we're way off topic?

334

When electricity gave me to homes,

people were convinced that it leaked

335

out of the sockets into the room.

336

Well,

337

Bruce: gas did, so why

shouldn't electricity?

338

So electricity was leaking out of the sos.

339

There were all these things where

people allegedly burning up in their

340

houses, in their apartments 'cause the

electricity was leaking out of the sos.

341

This is not true.

342

That makes

343

Bruce: sense that you would think

that because gas did leak out and

344

kill you.

345

Right.

346

But again, I think that soldier

is particularly a piece of 20th

347

century and now 21st century

consumer culture and it is invoked by

348

marketers who did not exist in 1880.

349

No.

350

And it is this way in which childhood

is seen as something better now.

351

Yes.

352

Did Charles Dickens write novels

about orphans and children

353

because of his childhood?

354

Yes, he did, but it wasn't as nostalgic.

355

In fact, part of what Dickens was

doing was rehearsing the grime grit and

356

crime that he grew up with as a little

child in novels like Oliver Twists.

357

So, you know, despite musicals

about Oliver that clean it all

358

up, Oliver Twist is a rather.

359

Dirty book.

360

It's, it's a rea it's a rather difficult

story full of hideous antisemitism.

361

So, um, I don't know

that it's so nostalgic.

362

Bruce: Okay, well I'm gonna get nostalgic

today 'cause I'm going to the supermarket

363

later when we're done with all of this

recording, and I am going to get you.

364

Some TV dinners.

365

Oh, some box mac and cheese.

366

Maybe I'll get some yodel

if I could find them.

367

Oh,

368

no thank you.

369

No, thank you.

370

I think, I think that nostalgia is

particularly a problem for North

371

Americans, for Canadians and US citizens.

372

I do in terms of food, because I think,

for example, the French are not necess.

373

Nostalgic about croissants.

374

Bruce: Well, okay.

375

How can they be?

376

Croissants are part of their

everyday life and have been for

377

decades and decades and decades.

378

Well, you could say, if you wanna push

this is, you can say that croissants for

379

them has become a, um, what do we say?

380

Petrified nostalgia.

381

That it's, it's set in place

and it can't be moved now.

382

Yeah.

383

Ossified

384

Bruce: part of the culture, right?

385

It is.

386

But so much of French food is like that.

387

There are governmental agencies to

regulate what baguettes must be like.

388

There are what croissants must be like.

389

There are what peaches

must be like, right?

390

How much sugar there are in plums,

391

but I would argue that.

392

Two, uh, there are all kinds of pastries

in Dutch culture, in Austrian culture,

393

in Czech culture, and those pastries are

not necessarily nostalgic because they

394

are the same generation to generation.

395

There's this kind of stability and

it doesn't really take part of this

396

North American nostalgia thing to

hearkening back to a simpler time.

397

I think it's part of adulthood.

398

You know, the loss of what you had

as a child, no matter what else.

399

And yes, there were gas lines, and yes,

Nixon imploded and Spiro Agnew imploded.

400

And yes, the Democratic Convention

exploded and all that kind of

401

stuff happened when we were kids,

but still in, nonetheless, we

402

were outside playing my world.

403

We were outside playing with

the hose in the backyard.

404

I don't know what you were doing,

but we were riding our bikes

405

and playing with the hose, so.

406

It is this callback to

um, uh, simpler timing.

407

Is there something that you had

as a kid that now formed some kind

408

of nostalgia for you in terms of

409

Bruce: food?

410

Oh, it was penny candy.

411

On Penny Candy.

412

There was a little store, just the name.

413

What are you?

414

Victorian Penny Candy.

415

But you could go and it was basically bulk

candy, but you could buy it by the piece.

416

And the piece costs two or 3 cents.

417

We're talking.

418

Mary Jane's and Yes.

419

You know Little Taffies.

420

Yes.

421

And I would go to this

little store called Docs.

422

Of course, it was called Docs.

423

And in the front counter there were

all these open boxes of bulk candy.

424

And I could go and buy pieces and

I would hide them under my bed.

425

My box Spring had a zippered cover

and I would hide them and I would eat

426

candy all night and my teeth brought it

out by the time I was at high school.

427

Yeah.

428

Well, okay.

429

I'm noic.

430

That is a nostalgia.

431

That sounds like a nightmare.

432

I'm nostalgic for my teeth.

433

Oh, okay.

434

Well, I think mine, uh,

would have to be Dairy Queen.

435

Oh.

436

Uh, would be soft serve ice cream

because when I was a kid, so I would

437

spend the summers with my grandparents

in Oklahoma that my great grandparents

438

had a farm and they all kind of

decamp to this farm in the summers.

439

And I would spend the summers, a lot

of the summers out there at that farm.

440

Okay.

441

Anyway, my, there were dairy queens

around, uh, Oklahoma City at the time

442

when we would come back into the city,

and I should just say there were dairy

443

kings and dairy queens, and my grandmother

would only let us go to Dairy Queen.

444

It was, I think it was her, um,

Gloria Steinem thing, I guess.

445

And it, and we would always

get, of course, a cone, a sauce,

446

serve cone at Dairy Queen and.

447

I am very nostalgic for that.

448

And, uh, dipped

449

Bruce: in red

450

or chocolate.

451

I didn't like them plain when I was a kid.

452

No, that'd be dipped.

453

Well, excuse me, it's my nostalgia.

454

Um, I like them plain as a kid and um,

it is just a kind of piece of nostalgia.

455

And we have sent.

456

Stopped at Dairy Queens because

we'll pass one somewhere and

457

I'll be like, oh, dairy Queen.

458

And I tell you, it's just not the same.

459

It tastes now weird to me.

460

It doesn't taste like it's real ice cream.

461

No.

462

It's your partially

hydrogenated gum based beverage.

463

Yeah.

464

No it's not right.

465

It it.

466

Not what it was, but I still keep going

back to it, even though I know that

467

it's not the same as when I was a kid.

468

I still will pass a Dairy

Queen like we on vacation.

469

I'll be like, oh my gosh, we

gotta stop at Dairy Queen.

470

Hope Springs Eternal.

471

Hope Springs eternal.

472

There are lots of ways that nostalgia

has shaped our food career, I think.

473

Right.

474

Bruce: Well let's start

just with Ice cream.

475

Right.

476

Ice Cream was the first

book we ever wrote.

477

Right.

478

And ice cream really was something

for you that was nostalgic.

479

It was for me too.

480

We used to go to Carve and I do have

big nostalgia for that soft serve.

481

And then the big stews from our Instant

Pot Bible and Instant Pot books.

482

Those are the stews my

grandmother made all the time.

483

Well, yeah, I think, uh, just to

blow this out just a little bit and

484

explain it a little bit, I think the

ice cream thing is right because when

485

we wrote the ultimate ice cream book

and the ultimate frozen dessert book,

486

the making, homemade making of ice

cream was just coming back on trend.

487

I think a lot of people had grown up

with it with churning the ice cream.

488

And now we suddenly had this advent of

the home ice cream makers that had their

489

own chill unit and all that kind of stuff.

490

That's really interesting.

491

Or those ones you put in the

freezer, those canisters, and it was.

492

All kind of part of this trend backwards.

493

Bruce: That's really interesting because

your reaction to that was because

494

your grandparents turned ice cream.

495

So that reminded you of that.

496

And for me, I do.

497

When you take that homemade ice

cream outta the machine, the texture

498

reminded me of that soft serve we

used to get as a kid that I loved.

499

We never made ice cream, but it it.

500

Pressed all those buttons of

that ice cream I just got.

501

But I just say, I

502

don't think that's just for me.

503

I think that has to do with

the, the millions of ice cream

504

machines that were sold on QVC.

505

I think a lot of people were in my shoes

that they grew up with churned ice cream

506

at home and suddenly it was back in vogue.

507

And people wanted to know how

to make ice cream at home.

508

And again, there's this,

what were they called?

509

Do VAs or something?

510

Oh God,

511

Bruce: that was the first one.

512

Yeah.

513

Yeah.

514

Where you put the canister in the

freezer and then you hand cranked it.

515

Yes.

516

And you hand cranked it occasionally.

517

And then the machines started

coming out with their.

518

Own compressors in them,

which we got several of those

519

machines to test for the books.

520

And a big part of our early

career was the diet industry.

521

And that was happening just

as the obesity epidemic was

522

striking across North America.

523

Bruce: Big part of our career

was writing for Weight Watchers.

524

Right.

525

And cooking light and eating well.

526

Right.

527

And we were able to jump on

those trends and just, you know.

528

Do really well in that category.

529

And I think it's really interesting.

530

I mean just, just as a thought experiment,

I think it's really interesting to

531

think about thinness in the obesity

epidemic as a nostalgic component.

532

And it's why people ran to diets.

533

Now, listen, they ran to diets because

it's unhealthy to be very overweight.

534

It's unhealthy to.

535

Too much, I dunno, ice cream, for example.

536

Of course they, and, you know,

cardiovascular disease was on the rise.

537

That's all the truth.

538

And yet I think there's also

this component to it that

539

supposedly this is not true.

540

Uh, the fifties and

sixties were thinner times.

541

Mm-hmm.

542

And so in the eighties and

nineties, people were looking

543

back to these thinner times.

544

I mean, listen, all you have to

do is look at Alfred Hitchcock

545

and know that they weren't thinner

times, but it wasn't still.

546

But it's

547

Bruce: easy to be nostalgic about a

time when you might have been thinner.

548

Mm-hmm.

549

When you were, certainly, when

you were younger and you've.

550

Felt better and you could wear mm-hmm.

551

Clothes.

552

Mm-hmm.

553

That you felt better.

554

Mm-hmm.

555

Wearing, it's very easy to do that.

556

It's all about recapturing youth, right?

557

Mm-hmm.

558

I mean, the diet industry was about

recapturing your twenties or even

559

your teens and getting back into

the dress you wore, getting back

560

into some outfit that you wore.

561

That was a huge part of our early career.

562

It was, I, I, I should say that we

started writing for weight watchers.com.

563

When Weight watchers.com

564

was this kind of, as we always say,

the poor stepsister of the Weight

565

Watchers empire, and literally the first

meeting we had was Weight watchers.com

566

was in an empty, open

office space in Manhattan.

567

Do you remember this?

568

We went up to a floor of a

building and it was like.

569

Empty except for like two desks, just kind

of Jake leg set, somewhere in the middle

570

of the room of this giant open space.

571

And we were so dis wires

hanging down from the ceiling.

572

And it was, it was, it was nothing.

573

It was, 'cause everybody

thought online was nothing.

574

Bruce: We were so disappointed that

we weren't writing for the magazine.

575

Like, uh, we were, meanwhile we had

that column online for 14 years.

576

Yeah.

577

Meanwhile, and

578

meanwhile, eventually the.com

579

took over everything and ran

the magazine essentially out of.

580

Business and ran most things outta

business in the Weight Watchers

581

world because of course the online

site became everything, but when we

582

first went there, it was nothing.

583

Yeah.

584

It was literally, nobody knew what

it was and, um, and how it would go.

585

I think that there's a way, even that

our current book, cold Canning is

586

part of a bit of nostalgia, don't you?

587

Bruce: Well, yeah.

588

The idea of putting up things for the

winter of saving the fruit, saving

589

the vegetables, canning your own.

590

Yeah.

591

The nice thing in our book is you

don't have to deal with the hassle that

592

it was when our grandparents did it.

593

Nothing in our book is processed.

594

Nothing is put in a

steam can or no boiled.

595

Yep.

596

No bottles are boiled to.

597

You're not boiling, you're

not processing, you're just.

598

Making some jam.

599

Putting it in a jar and

putting it in the freezer.

600

Freezer.

601

And

602

I wanna say that I think, and this

is a very controversial sentence, and

603

I'm gonna really get flat for saying

this, but I'm gonna say it, I think

604

people often think of nostalgia in

food when it comes to the boomers.

605

People like me or the or the or, the.

606

As they call them geriatric Gen Xers.

607

Yeah.

608

We're

609

Bruce: not boomers.

610

We're geriatric.

611

Yeah,

612

we're geriatric Gen Xers.

613

But, um, nonetheless, uh, they think about

nostalgia when it comes to these people,

614

but I actually think that millennials are

particularly susceptible to nostalgia.

615

I think that that is that

sourdough craze with.

616

Millennials.

617

That whole chickens in the backyard

in Brooklyn craze, they are

618

particularly driven towards some

kind of rural, nostalgic pastor.

619

The Kin remember Kin Folk Magazine where

everybody stood around and preached

620

skirts and fields and ate, I don't

know, ice cream out of the container.

621

But that

622

Bruce: makes sense 'cause they

were the last generation before.

623

For the digital change.

624

They were, they came

over the digital change.

625

They, we came over it too, but

they were the last ones that

626

grew up with analog, anything.

627

Right.

628

They, they started out at five

years old analog, but then by the

629

time they were teenagers, they

had did all changed to digital.

630

Yep.

631

But we came over it as adults that change.

632

Yep.

633

And that may be part of why it

seems to me that millennials are.

634

All very suscept to it.

635

When we did, um, demographic research

for cold canning, what we discovered

636

is that canning searches on Google,

I know this is really weird to talk

637

about, but the canning searches on

Google, things we do worry about.

638

Um, we're particularly big in people.

639

Um, age 30 to 45, which means you're

talking about essentially millennials.

640

At that age, and those are the

big people searching for canning

641

recipes, big demographic, searching

for canning recipes online.

642

Bruce: Every millennial out there

listening buy a copy of our book.

643

Cold Canning.

644

You're like, if you know a millennial,

buy a copy of cold canning for

645

the millennial in your life.

646

Yeah, it is.

647

True, but the canning that

we're doing is really simple.

648

And one of the things that's interesting,

I think about the nostalgia, particularly

649

as it affects millennials in food,

is that many of them are nostalgic

650

for much more complicated things.

651

Mm.

652

Like sourdough starters and like, you

know, the appropriate Victorian sponge.

653

And it's really weird the the

way that nostalgia can play out

654

because it can lead to an idea that

it used to be simpler than now.

655

It also can lead to this idea

that things were more complex

656

and so better, they were harder.

657

Bruce: I think there's a,

and so they were better.

658

There's a fine line between

going from nostalgia to fetish.

659

Well, there is, oh my gosh.

660

But it, I don't think it's a fine line.

661

I think it just shades

right off into fetish.

662

And you could argue that.

663

The French aren't nostalgic for croissants

that the ants have become, uh, fetish.

664

Oh, absolutely.

665

For many French people.

666

Absolutely.

667

Um, but that's a whole

different discussion and one

668

not suitable for this podcast.

669

So, okay.

670

Before I get to the last part of

this podcast, let me tell you that

671

of course we have a TikTok channel

cooking with Bruce and Mark.

672

There's a YouTube channel, it's

not very active, called Cooking

673

with Free Saint Mark, but

674

Bruce: there's a ton and

675

ton and ton of videos

there, there, there are.

676

Many videos out there, hundreds.

677

Um, and, uh, they're of course

a very active TikTok account.

678

And let me see that there's a Facebook

group cooking with Bruce and Mark,

679

and this episode will be posted there.

680

You can tell us what you're

nostalgic about with food.

681

Okay.

682

As is traditional, the last

segment of this podcast, what.

683

It's making us happy in food this week,

and I'm gonna start, okay, so what's

684

making me happy in food this week is

Bruce steamed Chinese ribblets slash That

685

Bruce: was mine.

686

No, that's mine.

687

We can both have it.

688

But last night for dinner, uh,

Bruce, Bruce spent the whole day out.

689

He was running around the state, literally

running around our state doing various

690

things and came back home and I couldn't

believe you wanted to cook dinner.

691

I kept saying, don't

you wanna go out to eat?

692

And it's a long way.

693

It's a 20 minute drive even to a mid.

694

Place from where we live.

695

So he kept saying, no, I don't

wanna get in the car again.

696

So he steamed Chinese ribs.

697

Okay.

698

So since this is your, so you explain,

this is making me happy what it is.

699

Bruce: These are Cantonese,

ribs and black bean sauce.

700

So you must, if you cheated and put, uh,

a hot Fresno on top of it, I, I put put

701

some little hot sliced red chilies on

them, which usually is not Cantonese.

702

So you have to have your ribs

cut into one to one and a half.

703

Inch sections.

704

So the each piece is

just, you know, bite size.

705

You can get them that way at an Asian

market, or you can go to Costco,

706

which is where I found them already.

707

Cut that way.

708

Then you cut through each piece of bone,

you separate them all, and then you

709

marinate them in oyster sauce, light

soy, dark soy, little salt, MSG, a little

710

sugar, a little shing, cooking wine.

711

Mm-hmm.

712

MSG.

713

There it is.

714

I also put, um, a pinch of

ground up, dried Chinese,

715

tangerine, peel, and star anus.

716

And a little corn starch, and you let

that marinade a bit and then you steam

717

them in a bowl in a steamer and about 30

minutes and they are just spectacular.

718

Okay?

719

There is no way anyone would

define this as an easy recipe,

720

and I couldn't believe you did it.

721

I thought it was an easy recipe.

722

Okay.

723

It's not.

724

I'm, I'm here to just tell you.

725

Um, it's not, and we would be slapped down

by both our editor and our copy editor

726

forever calling, anything like that easy.

727

So, no, it's not easy,

but it was spectacular.

728

Delicious.

729

Oh my God.

730

I couldn't believe you put all

that effort into it after having

731

driven all over the state all day.

732

But you did.

733

That's what I went to for dinner.

734

It was really delicious

and we ate it with.

735

Deemed Chinese, what was it?

736

Uh, it was one

737

Bruce: of those choice sum, or,

yeah, it was a leafy green with a

738

long stem and it wasn't bok choy and

739

no,

740

Bruce: it wasn't bok choy.

741

I don't know the name of all of

742

those Asian greens.

743

Yeah.

744

One of those Asian greens with little

yellow flowers and pieces of it.

745

Right.

746

So anyway, and rice, uh,

yeah, it was really good.

747

That's what made me, I guess, both

of us happy in food this week.

748

Okay.

749

So that's the podcast for this week.

750

Thanks for being a part of

our audience, and thanks for

751

being with us on this podcast.

752

Bruce: And let me add that in a

world of AI now where you don't know

753

what's real and what's not, when

you're listening and watching things

754

online, know that everything here

on Cook at Bruce and Mark is real.

755

Everything on our TikTok channel or the

videos on Instagram, everything is real.

756

We are not using ai.

757

So you know what you're getting?

758

You are getting Bruce and Mark when you

watch or listen to cooking with gru.