A Quick Diagnosis of Jim's Problem [by David Stafford]

[Thom Courcelle]

A story in four pictures...

This looks like an advertisement for the 1956 anniversary edition of the Hormel canned goods recipe cookbook

Thanks David!  Let me know if I should mail you back some antacid tablets or something for "Jim"...

[Thom Courcelle]

LOL!!! ...The thing is, y'all think you can top my childhood food experience...which was living in the household of a country village butcher. I'VE SEEN IT ALL: sweetbreads; fried fatback in milk gravy; "parts" served as the centerpiece of a meal. When I was like 6-or-7-yrs-old or something I actually once asked for TRIPE for my birthday dinner. My uncle's favorite food—I shitteth you not—is Rocky Mountain oysters, which for the uninitiated are actually...well, no, actually you don't want to know. His second favorite food is head cheese, which is not in truth related to "cheese" at all, but I refuse to describe it on this otherwise genteel forum space. It is small wonder that I turned vegetarian shortly after leaving for college...

Years of therapy have helped regress the horrors of my childhood dinner tables.

[David Stafford]

Well, then we might as well go all the way....

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Actually, this all makes me homesick.

[David Stafford]

Interesting factoid for foodies: the pictures of Jim's Breakfast and the background pictures are all vintage (30s, 40s and 50s) but that Hormel from Hell on the envelope, Thom, is straight outta olive magazine, Spring 2019. Everything old shall be made new again.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

You people are killing me, with "crushed gout pills" and the most barf-worthy pictures of so-called food I've seen in a very long time. It all looks familiar, though, because my poor mother had 4 kids and no fast-food joints to give her a break. 

[David Stafford]

We try to get him to consume at least one of these a day.

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

or fried? A lot of "GREECE" :-)

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

How about instant cholesterol:

SPAM in a CAN?

[David Stafford]

The crushed gout pills are an interesting variation. Mom tended to use crushed children's aspirin to give it that tang so beloved of salmon loafers everywhere.

[Thom Courcelle]

I think I've seen that "Salmon Loaf" recipe, David...  It consists of 2 parts mayonnaise; 1 part butter; 1 part beef fat (lard); 2 pounds of process cheese; and crumbled saltine crackers (filler); 3 drops red food coloring; 1 drop yellow food coloring...et voilà!!  Salmon-colored casserole loaf.   Sometimes grandma used to throw some pimentos into it and pretend it was salmon "roe."  My family has updated this recipe and now adds some crushed gout pills to the crumb topping. Let me know if your family recipe is similar!