"Food"

 I wonder if my parents ever had a moment when they were buying Tang and wondering, "Is this our future? Will we soon stop buying orange juice? Will everything eventually come from powdered concentrate?"

I remember when my mom brought home Space Food Sticks. They came in three flavors: Chewy Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Caramel. Other flavors were added later, but having three boys in the house and three flavors made all kinds of sense from an accounting point of view. And I would like to tell you that I was pleased and happy to be the lucky one who "got to" have chocolate as his primary flavor, It was not the taste of chocolate, I assure you. The texture was most definitely from outer space, and the foil packet from which they came held an element of science fascination, but the chalky aftertaste was there to remind you that this was Space Food. Not Real Food. Some time after the initial release of these cylindrical treats, they added chocolate mint. The mint was the saving grace. It covered up that space age chalky question mark. It was about this time that the "Space" drifted away and Pillsbury went with the not-so-enticing moniker, Food Sticks.

This was about the time that Space stopped being the future. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We went to the moon. We brought back rocks. We have rocks here on earth. And while were talking about earth, have you noticed what a mess it is? We should really start thinking about getting back to nature. Stop worrying about outer space. Let's focus on making our planet a nicer place on which to live. Which is why we started eating granola. My mom started buying granola. For us to eat. Chocolate was not an option here. Chocolate mint was out of the question. 

Meanwhile, Tang slipped to the back of the kitchen cabinet. Every so often my mom would mix up a batch of hot spiced tea which was a conglomeration of instant tea and instant orange juice. Just add hot water. Not very space age, but very comforting on a cold winter's day. Not like a cold day on the dark side of the moon, but still.

The Food Sticks went away. They were eventually replaced by, of all things, granola bars. We had to go all the way to space in order to figure out a way to mash granola into nice little portable snacks that could be delivered in foil packets. I figured we were on the right path when they started adding chocolate chips. By the time the space shuttle was making regular trips into the trackless void of outer space, you'll never guess what they took along. Granola bars with raisins. 

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And gnawed on granola bars with raisins