I was fascinated with deviled ham when I was a little kid. Maybe that was because I had a religious upbringing and anything with devils was alluring. I mean, there’s a red devil dancing right there on the package! That’s so… naughty!
And maybe it was the commercials. Look at the happy people gobbling it up. It must be delicious. It’s ham, after all. Ham is great.
And maybe it was because there was an Underwood Street at the end of our block.
I managed to harass Mom into buying some, and… My child tongue thought it was nasty. And it felt weird.
So, what would I think of the stuff about sixty years later? I tried a bite. My first reaction:
gack. But I told myself to give it a moment, let the flavors work. Maybe something nice would happen—something mustardy and turmericy. Maybe it would stop being gritty.
Okay, the gackiness wore off a little. I took another taste. Nope. No more of this. I condemn thee to hell (the wastebasket).
There’s probably a culture, or subculture, or cult (devil worshippers?) to whom deviled ham tastes amazing. I’m not part of it.
I don't think I could eat that right from the can but maybe if it was mixed into deviled eggs?
ReplyDeleteYeah, since it's a spread, it's probably meant to be eaten on/with something. I was out of crackers and didn't want to waste bread or other fixings.
DeleteTo hell with it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for being our taste tester! Now I know that never have to try deviled ham. :-D
ReplyDeleteWhat is your underlying motivation for this series of subjecting yourself to 1940's and 1950's processed foods? Is it a reaction to the current pandemic?
ReplyDeleteThat's part of it.
DeleteThose foods did come into being from the food rationing during WWII and there was a continuing mindset from the food processing companies for them after the war year which is why we saw so much of it in our baby boom childhood.
DeleteBut it looks like Underwood deviled ham dates back to 1868, just after the Civil War which ended in 1865. Pretty chaotic period in time with reconstruction still going on.
DeleteSpread thin on crackers is doable. I can't imagine gulping a big bite of it like you did!
ReplyDeleteI grew up on that stuff! It needs to be on a saltine cracker, none of your artsy fartsy crackers, saltines. Too bad it's been consigned to the underworld.
ReplyDeleteYup, saltines at the bare minimum. Mom would use it every once in while for Dad's lunch pail. She would add: mayo, chopped onion, hard boiled egg and pickle relish, finely chopped celery if she had any. Then put it between two slices of bread. That's as close to Spam as Dad could handle.
ReplyDelete