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Food 🍱Vanishing foods
Posted March 27, 2026 by hellamomzilla in Women

I’m old. I eat some odd stuff. I acknowledge this but I often wonder how many other people eat stuff that they understand will likely end with them?

The known weird thing I (used to) eat is chipped beef gravy/shizz on a shingle. It’s a bechamel with dried beef and we always served it over Pillsbury canned biscuits. Up until she stopped cooking recently, this was the thing I would request my mom make me when I visited. I tried to get my kids to eat it, but they refused. Also, my husband makes sausage gravy and HOMEMADE biscuits and I’m pretty sure I’ll never have chipped beef gravy again.

But for lunch I had the thing my dad used to make and I think I’m the only kid in my family who still eats it. It’s Kraft mac & cheese mixed with baked beans that you add additional brown sugar to. I never asked my dad why he ate this — I suspect he had a plate at a BBQ and the baked beans mixed a little with the mac & cheese and he was all, “I could eat A BOWL OF THAT!” (I know he ate potato chips with mustard because some dripped on his chips while he was dressing a burger or hot dog, so there’s precedent.)

Anyway, I have never tried to push this on anyone. But I do love it. It’s kind a quick American convenience food version of pasta fagoli. Pasta and beans. Complete protein.

What do you eat that no one else will?

50 comments

ElizabelchMarch 27, 2026

This thread has made me so nostalgic for shizz on a shingle. We had it on toast - biscuits would actually elevate the experience, I'll need to try it that way - and I actually enjoyed it. When I got older I was surprised to find out most people thought of it as bad food. Maybe my mother just had the magic touch to make it taste good. I've made it a handful of times and it came out pretty good, and then I had a harder time finding chipped beef and stopped making it.

I have no nostalgia for cinnamon toast because I never stopped making it. I always have the ingredients around, and it's such a quick snack to make if my sweet tooth is demanding something.

My "thing I eat that I'm not sure anyone else does" is plain puffed rice cakes with jam spread on top. I don't always keep rice cakes around, or even jam. But when I do have them around, it's another quick sweet-tooth satisfier. If I don't feel like having something overtly sweet, I eat the rice cakes plain. Something about puffed rice just agrees with my taste buds.

vulvapeopleMarch 27, 2026

I don't know if it's dying out, but I never hear anyone mention cinnamon toast anymore (toast, butter, sugar, cinnamon). That was my go-to snack when I was a kid and we didn't have anything else snackable in the house.

faerieberryMarch 27, 2026

Oh I love cinnamon-sugar toast! My mum always had a specific shaker for it (we had salt, pepper, and cinnamon sugar always available!)

JernsaxaMarch 27, 2026

This reminds me of a classic that I don't hear anyone eating here anymore (I'm sure some do, it's just never mentioned). A slice of white bread (not toasted) butter and white sugar, and that's it. Or you could go with brown sugar like in my family... You know, the thick brown sugar that falls so slowly into place it looks like it's alive :b

hellamomzilla [OP]March 27, 2026

That reminds me that my mom used to make us a bowl of bread and milk and sugar.

JernsaxaMarch 28, 2026

Like white bread with milk poured over and sprinkled with sugar?

hellamomzilla [OP]March 28, 2026

Yep. You kind of tear the bread up.

FemmeEtalMarch 27, 2026

I love cinnamon toast, I had some as a midnight snack last night! Try it in a rolled up tortilla, the ultimate munchie.

ALoudMeowMarch 27, 2026

I eat that with eggs all the time!

hellamomzilla [OP]March 27, 2026

I still eat cinnamon toast.

Also, within the past ten years, there was a weird thing in San Francisco where people would go out to eat cinnamon toast. It seemed like an odd way to burn $15.

vulvapeopleMarch 27, 2026

I never saw cinnamon toast on the menu, but there was an attempt around these parts to make toast a thing, it might have been inspired by avocado toast, but the attempt was short lived. Making your own is too easy compared to other small business trends (cupcakes, ice cream, craft beer, et al).

NancyMarch 27, 2026

This sounds like a variation on the Norwegian food 'Läfse' which is basically this but with untoasted flat bread, because it's from before toasters were readily available. These days, it's a known food hack to throw it into the toaster.

So it lives on, rest assured. Just maybe not with loaves.

vulvapeopleMarch 27, 2026

Now that you mention Scandinavians, I'm also reminded of the Danish putting slices of chocolate on buttered bread, and the French will make a whole sandwich along those lines.

hellamomzilla [OP]March 27, 2026

Don’t the Dutch do that too? I seem to recall reading about it and maybe putting the bag of chocolate shavings they use on my Amazon list…

JernsaxaMarch 28, 2026

The Dutch use chocolate sprinkles/shavings. Danes use thin (or slightly thicker if luxurious) squares of chocolate (pålægschokolade). It's best on newly baked, slightly warm bread with butter. The butter and chocolate will melt slightly 😍

MobymaybeMarch 27, 2026

Oh wow, I haven’t had cinnamon toast in forever. I used to make it in the microwave until I was old enough to use the toaster.

AmareldysMarch 27, 2026

I make it!

pennygadgetMarch 27, 2026

I used to have this all the time as a kid! Now you have me wanting to make it (and see if my kid will eat it)!

FemmeEtalMarch 27, 2026

This is the thread for me, I am a weirdo grazer and have made some questionable concoctions that end up converting my friends. Never tried beans and Mac but I totally would, that sounds delicious. I like to scoop baked beans with salt and vinegar chips. Also peanut butter, banana and honey in a tortilla. Leftover curry with scrambled eggs in a tortilla for breakfast, I call it a currito. Cream of wheat with bone broth, so good when you’re sick. My grandma used to make green jello with carrots, still a go to, but thankfully I never had to try the aspic frankendinners she used to make.

This channel, Tasting History is one of my faves. He recreates recipes from all sorts of historical sources. Theres one from the titanic menu from a survivors pocket, cuneiform tablets, hieroglyphs, so many cool recipes.

drdeeMarch 27, 2026

I'll tell you what I miss, frozen juice in a tube used to be my staple. I'd defrost and dilute it a little at a time so it wouldn't go bad. I haven't seen that in grocery stores for years.

Someone mentioned cream cheese and honey - this reminds me that there are many Roman recipes that are actually really good (I was thinking of honeyed leeks, and libum).

pennygadgetMarch 28, 2026

My family got most of our juice from the frozen tubes back in the day.

Killer_DanishMarch 27, 2026

My grandfather always insisted that there be head cheese at New Year's dinner... drowned in vinegar.🫣

That one can stay in the past.😅

delicate_silicateMarch 27, 2026

I suspect he had a plate at a BBQ and the baked beans mixed a little with the mac & cheese and he was all, “I could eat A BOWL OF THAT!”

Lol, Sunday cookouts will do that to a person.

Speaking of, I almost never see pineapple upside-down cake. Hello fresh has a version that slaps, but otherwise I never see it in restaurants or trending on social media. Bring it back! It's so easy and cheap!

hellamomzilla [OP]March 27, 2026

My husband just mentioned pineapple upside down cake last week and I agree. So easy. So tasty.

Does anyone still eat graham crackers with milk? I loved dipping them until they were almost structurally unsound and then getting them in my mouth.

The soggy texture was the thing.

Oh, and something I saw online was getting a soft serve cone at Dairy Queen and asking for a cup of the shell sauce on the side. Then you basically eat your cone WITH A SPOON, dipping each bite into the sauce, so each bite has crispy chocolate on it.

When I saw it, we had just gone to DQ the night before. But I am gonna have to try that.

Luna_LovegoodMarch 27, 2026

I’d heard of shit on a shingle before, but I’ve never had it. The name is pretty unappetizing! My mother is the daughter of Irish immigrants, so I’ve been exposed to foods that aren’t endangered, just not commonly eaten in America, (e.g. black pudding). I remember once telling a friend that my mom had made soda bread and she genuinely thought I meant bread with soda pop in it. My mom likes to claim that “Americans just don’t know about” certain foods that she thinks of as being Irish/from the British isles more broadly, even things that sound far fetched, like roast potatoes.

GenXerMarch 27, 2026

A toasted english muffin topped with colby jack cheese and toasted again. When it comes out of the toaster slather it with peanut butter and have with a glass of cold milk

MochaIcedCoffeeMarch 27, 2026

I’m so curious about this lmao. Peanut butter and cheese? That’s not a cheese cracker peanut butter sandwich? I’m intrigued.

GenXerMarch 28, 2026

It's a salty, sweet, unami delight

faerieberryMarch 27, 2026

I loveee Kraft mac and cheese and am so intrigued by the baked beans addition… I think I have to try this one!

Something I love is cheese + sweet things…. cheese and fruit is fairly common, and I like cheese and jam sandwiches (Swiss with raspberry or peach? Omg…) and I have been known to eat a slice of cheddar with an Oreo…. it’s actually so good 😂😭 (And I’ve never even been pregnant so frankly can’t wait to see what cravings I might have then! lmfao)

Another sweet and savory combo I love is rice with avocado, sriracha, and mango!

(Ngl I really can’t tell if these are weird things or not lmao)

AmareldysMarch 27, 2026

I knew a gal who swore by cheddar and nutella.

faerieberryMarch 28, 2026

Yesss I’ve had that before too and it’s so delicious!

KrokodilMarch 27, 2026

Oh yes I love cheese and sweet.I think that's why cheese and branston pickle is so nice - the pickle is a little bit pickle and a little bit sweet. I also cream cheese and honey sandwiches, and goats cheese with pears. Where I live we have a special fruity sauce that only appears in shops at certain times of year and is perfect with ripe brie.

faerieberryMarch 27, 2026

Oooh cream cheese and honey! That reminded me of the cream cheese and jam sandwiches I grew up eating (had a peanut-allergic sibling, so that was our PBJ substitute lol!) Whatever that special fruity sauce is sounds amazinggg, I love brie too

ALoudMeowMarch 27, 2026

Cream cheese and jam sandwiches were a favorite when I was a kid too!

hellamomzilla [OP]March 27, 2026

If you do, let me know if you like it.

I always finish it with a sprinkling of flaky salt because I’m all about the high/low, ha.

faerieberryMarch 27, 2026

Oh I will, just have to procure some Kraft and some baked beans first LOL!

hellamomzilla [OP]March 27, 2026

Oh, and just to be clear — American baked beans, not British. Ha

faerieberryMarch 27, 2026

I’m American (unfortunately) so that’s what my mind went to 😂

spiderberriesMarch 27, 2026

Pickle sandwich!!! I chop up a regular pickle (or use slices, but I can never find those anymore) and put it on bread with mayonnaise and yellow mustard and some pepper. Best eaten with a side of plain walnuts too. People are disgusted when I mention it, but it’s one of my favorite foods. I don’t know why people are so taken aback by a pickle sandwich, it’s just a regular sandwich minus the meat and cheese (which I don’t eat anyway).

AmareldysMarch 27, 2026

My kid eats pickle sandwiches

faerieberryMarch 27, 2026

Have you heard of peanut butter pickle sandwiches? It sounds so weird but I swear, peanut butter + dill pickle is INCREDIBLE

AmareldysMarch 27, 2026

My family hates eggplant and I LOVE eggplant parm.

CattitudeMarch 27, 2026

Nothing, I am far from adventurous or quirky with food. I avoid sweet and savoury mixed, don’t like that at all.

ILoveKaleALotMarch 27, 2026

along the lines of your dad's mustard on potato chips, I like dipping mozzarella sticks in honey mustard. Why? Because close to 15 years ago, a friend and I shared an app sampler at TGI Friday's and the exact same thing happened. Magic.

DoxxyMarch 27, 2026

Fish roe in a tube. Mills kaviar never kalles though.

JernsaxaMarch 28, 2026

I love Kalles, never tried Mills. How is it different?

DoxxyMarch 28, 2026

Two reasons:)

  1. Taste: mills is a less salty more creamy roe

  2. Dra til helvete sverige (I'm mostly joking but as a born and raised Norwegian I will never pass on the opportunity to tease the swedes:)

JernsaxaMarch 28, 2026

Fair points, fair points :b

I do like the salty taste, but maybe I should look for Mills. I don't think we have it in our shops here, though. Last time I was in Norway, I hadn't remembered that the shops are closed on Sundays, and ended up not bringing any of the great foods home 😭

DoxxyMarch 28, 2026

Noooo 😓 Next time hopefully when you go you can get some; it's really good. I have a cousin who will pack it up and send it because I can no longer just buy it at the speciality stores over here in the States. Unnskyld jeg glemte at du er svensk 😭 forlåt mig

JernsaxaMarch 28, 2026

I actually found an online speciality store selling Norwegian foods, because I was so didappointed I didn't get any smurt lefse and smultringe, so maybe they have it 😊 It's very sweet of your cousin to send you the things you miss ❤️

Hov, hov, jeg er ikke svensk! Den vil jeg alligevel ikke have siddende på mig :b jeg er ganske dansk.