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Memories of Low-Tech Popcorn
Made the old-fashioned way
A Saturday night ritual
It dawned on me recently that my kids were missing a pivotal and common experience that was a regular part of my childhood: watching popcorn pop in a big pot on the stove.
Making popcorn was a huge part of the TV-watching Saturday nights in my home. This was, after all, the 1970’s and the anticipated lineup for the night included Mary Tyler-Moore, Bob Newhart and Carol Burnett. A critical part of the anticipated TV-watching binge was what was promised and expected: hot, buttered popcorn. No, I’m not talking about popcorn from a bag with “edible oil product” and dubious chemicals added for effect; I’m talking about real popcorn and real butter, made with a mother’s love (and more times than we’d like to admit, a mother’s burn).
Today’s kids have no idea about the process and ritual of getting the popcorn to pop, resulting in the perfect bowl of salty goodness. Sure — it’s easy to pull out a bag of microwave popcorn, pop it in, and nuke it into submission in mere seconds.
Convenient, right?
Yet there was something to be said about the preparation, the anticipation and the ultimate end result. Sometimes it took a few pots to perfect it; this after some burnt oil or butter ruined the vibe…
