In 1898, you could order giant boxes of cheap candy and chocolates, colored and flavored with all kinds of industrial byproducts. Nothing was off the table. “Artificial” is semantic, they just called it “glucose” instead of “corn syrup”. Source: 1898 Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog. I also read up on contemporary recipes for commercial candy making.
I feel like when most people think of 1990s food, they’re (accurately) picturing brightly-colored snacks and candy.
I’m also inclined to think that kids today are VERY aware of the 80s due to the popularity of the aesthetic and it feels weird that someone would assume we went “backwards” with candy like that
None of this is certain, of course. They could just be reminiscing about a time as a kid when they made candy with their family, too!
In 1898, you could order giant boxes of cheap candy and chocolates, colored and flavored with all kinds of industrial byproducts. Nothing was off the table. “Artificial” is semantic, they just called it “glucose” instead of “corn syrup”. Source: 1898 Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog. I also read up on contemporary recipes for commercial candy making.
I feel like when most people think of 1990s food, they’re (accurately) picturing brightly-colored snacks and candy.
I’m also inclined to think that kids today are VERY aware of the 80s due to the popularity of the aesthetic and it feels weird that someone would assume we went “backwards” with candy like that
None of this is certain, of course. They could just be reminiscing about a time as a kid when they made candy with their family, too!