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The Enduring Power of Food Nostalgia
For a decade, New Orleanians have been waiting for Hubig’s Pies to come back. A devastating fire took out its factory in July, 2012. Other residents might adjust, but Hubig’s wasn’t just any bakery.
Its hand pies, in their white, yellow and red wrappers, were ubiquitous at checkout counters across the city. Hubig’s return after Hurricane Katrina was a sign of hope, and a pie even figured in an episode of the HBO show, Treme. In the years since the fire, there have been numerous promises for its return, none of which bore fruit (no pun intended).
But finally, on Sunday, Hubig’s made their return to a pop up in a bank parking lot. Word spread quickly, and the pies immediately sold out. Shoppers arrived at area groceries on Monday, only to find that the promised pies weren’t there due to a broken wrapper machine at the factory..
It took another day for ample supplies to be available, only in two flavors: lemon and apple. Breaux Mart, the cheeky chain with a store in my neighborhood, limited sales to two pies apiece, while other stores allowed half a dozen.
It was amusing and a little touching to see New Orleans gripped by Hubig’s excitement and a reminder of the role that memories play in the food items we hold dear.
Beyond that, food nostalgia can be a big business, as stores, restaurants and chains have proved time and again.
A old-school dreamland
A perennial feature of our household has always been the Vermont Country Store catalog. I am such a big fan that I detoured on the way home to Boston from a speaking engagement at Dartmouth University to visit one of the store’s branches.
It’s truly an old-school dreamland of things that would be familiar to our parents, grandparents and past generations. The highlight, for me, at least, is its vast food section.
The Vermont Country Store has chocolate, candy, mixes, syrups and other ingredients with lengthy heritages. Some are regional favorites that no longer are distributed nationwide, but you can find them at the catalog. Dozens of its food items get five stars from customers, including original Dresdener Stollen, fruit cake, pancakes, preserves, maple leaf cookies and its own maple syrup.
I’ve always liked to shop there around Christmas time. I love ribbon candy, while my mother liked to put out a dish of hard candy including filled raspberries and peanuts with a smooth interior. Maxine was partial to butterscotch and you also can find root beer barrels, in case you need to stash some in your purse for later (a little easier than a marmalade sandwich).
The Vermont Country Store is owned by Lyman Orton and sons Cabot, Gardner. and Eliot. Together, they are 7th & 8th generation Vermonters, and 4th & 5th generation storekeepers. The store was founded in 1946, and currently has two physical locations in Weston and Rockingham, Vermont.
But I’d guess that the vast majority of its customers never got to its stores. As a privately held company, revenue projections are a little fuzzy, but most of the sources I checked estimate it takes in about $75 million a year, which would make it roughly the size of the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses.
To be sure, Amazon has made it easier than ever to track down the kind of products in which the Vermont Country Store specializes. But for some customers, nostalgia lives most vividly in the kind of dishes that have to be consumed on the spot.
Memories of marzipan
Food nostalgia is inherently regional. We grow up in different parts of the country and around the world with sensory memories of things we ate during childhood or dined up during key moments of our life. I was taken aback earlier this year at the excitement that accompanied the return of Mexican pizza at Taco Bell.
I can safely say we never ate at Taco Bell growing up and I’ve only sampled it a few times as an adult. However, Mexican pizza had great meaning to people from many immigrant groups. It’s especially loved by people from South Asian countries, whose cuisine often focuses on vegetarian dishes.
Taco Bell would happily swap out meat for beans in the Mexican pizza, giving new arrivals something they could order, before chains began realizing that not everyone wanted to their meals to center on ground beef. The joyful reception that Mexican pizza received led to its permanent return on the Taco Bell menu.
I was interested a few years ago to see that Del Taco added tamales to its holiday line up. Living in Phoenix, I learned that families from all background include tamales on their Thanksgiving and Christmas tables, something I never knew about growing up in Michigan.
People who know me know that I choke up over marzipan. (I realize you must be thinking, “This woman cries over the strangest things.”) Because my father worked for American Airlines, he and my mother could take little weekend jaunts from time to time, leaving us in Maxine’s care.
When I was in grade school, they shipped off to Boston for a weekend, and returned bearing a box from the North End. It contained a little assortment of bite sized marzipan fruits and vegetables, crafted from Italian almond paste. They were incredibly precise and beautifully colored — eggplants in deep purple, bright red tomatoes, purple grapes.
Marzipan is a rich and to a child, sophisticated flavor, so just one piece was enough for dessert (my mother cut them up for us to share). When I’ve visited New York and Boston, I’ve always been delighted to see marzipan on display, usually around the winter holidays.
You can imagine my surprise when I walked into Zingerman’s Coffee and Candy in 2020 and saw marzipan fruits and veggies on display. They were were a direct line back to my childhood. Here is a recipe if you want to attempt them.
I am sure somebody in New Orleans wept this week to see the familiar white Hubig’s wrapper, as well. You never know what will touch a nerve. In the case of my neighbors, it’s those little turnovers.
Is there something that brings back memories for you? Let me know, and if you need Kleenex, I’ve got plenty.
Robots Will Be Making Your Meals At Sweetgreen
Rocketing from the past to the future, Restaurant Business reported this week that Sweetgreen is about to deploy robots in its kitchens. The popular salad and healthy food chain expects to test fully automated restaurants, in a test dubbed the Infinite Kitchen. If the test is successful, it will roll out more automated kitchens in 2024.
Sweetgreen bought Spyce, a robot-powered bowl restaurant group, last year with an eye to applying the technology to its more than 130 restaurants.
““These restaurants will serve our food with even better quality, perfect portioning, faster speed and will create a more consistent customer experience, all while elevating the role of our team members,” founder Jonathan Neman said.
And let’s face it: if robots are doing your food prep, you need fewer of those team members. We’ll see whether this idea is scalable.
Our Next Giveaway: Bachan Family of Sauce
I am delighted to announce that our next giveaway comes from Bachan Family of Sauce, the maker of Japanese barbecue sauces. The gift pack includes Original, Gluten-Free, Hot & Spicy and Yuzu sauces.
Bachan was founded by Justin Gill, a third-generation Japanese-American, whose products are inspired by his Asian ancestors.
As the company says, this gift pack is suitable for foodies, vegetarians, vegans, Japanophiles, grill masters, carnivores, pescatores and pretty much everyone who likes to put sauce on something.
I have one gift pack (value: $44.99) to send to a paid subscriber. You’ll receive it directly from Bachan in time for holiday giving (if the mail doesn’t let us down). Current subscribers are automatically eligible, and you can upgrade and enter the pool here.
I’ll announce the winner the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I’d love to see you win.
Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman
In reading cookbooks this fall, I noticed an interesting trend. Rather than simply provide a series of recipes, writers and chefs were also recommending gear and ingredients in order to get the best results from those recipes.
I compared five cookbooks for The Takeout, looking at how their recommendations compared and where they were unique.
This is a big week for me and Satisfaction Guaranteed. Tonight, I’ll join Zingerman’s Bakehouse Managing Partner Amy Emberling at the Detroit Jewish Book Fair.
On Thursday, I’ll travel down U.S.-23 to Toledo, for the Northwest Ohio Jewish Book Fair. My interviewer will be Kripke Enterprises CEO Matt Kripke, and there will be Zingerman’s snacks and treats on hand.
Please let me know if you attend any of my programs — I’d love to see you.
The holiday season is coming and I hope you’ll consider giving Satisfaction Guaranteed as a gift. I can send you a signed bookplate with a dedication to the recipient. Email me at CulinaryWoman at gmail.com.
You can follow the CulinaryWoman Facebook page, and find me on Instagram under MichelineMaynard or Micki_in_Nola for my New Orleans adventures.
Have a good week and stay well.