OT - Nagging doubts re tomato soup - was, Re: SC - American sugar consumption

[Chris Stanifer]

- --- Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com> wrote:
> "Laura C. Minnick" wrote:
> > There's even sugar in your
> > can of tomato soup. Unless you're eating your food
> fresh off the farm,
> > naked, you're likely to be getting sugar.
> 
> Now, can anybody who would bother to retain memories
> on such a matter,
> tell me if they remember canned tomato soup,
> especially Campbell's (you
> know, the company in NEW JERSEY who own Pace foods,
> the famous _Texas_
> salsa people) being significantly redder and less
> creamy than it
> currently is, say, 20 years ago? Please understand
> that by using the
> word  "creamy", I am not necessarily implying the
> presence of cream.
> It's just that I had occasion to look at Campbell's
> tomato soup fairly
> recently, and was confused by the fact that this
> appeared to be Cream of
> Tomato soup, while the label read simply, "Tomato
> Soup", and this looked
> considerably different from the product I remembered
> from my childhood.

I cannot provide any physical proof of formula change
for this one-time-staple of my childhood diet,
however... I can certainly attest to the fact that
something has gone terribly, terribly wrong!  

In my salad days (when I was green in judgement) the
soup in question was, and my memory serves me quite
well on this, I assure you, a rich, clown-nose red. 
There was no pretense of cream, no cellulose gum, nor
modified food starch to cloud the matter.  The slate
was blank, save for the deep, meaty gules of vine
ripened tomatoes.

Of course, if you have ever eaten a vine ripened
tomato out of hand, then you would be quick to point
out that, even in the mystical, carefree and fantastic
days of childhood, that soup never really tasted like
tomato at all.  Rather it was a pleasant blend of
saline, sugar and...and...something
elusive...something sublime...something...magical.

I won't touch the stuff now, though...

Balthazar of Blackmoor
(suddenly craving saltines...)

=====
"The half full glass and the half empty glass both contain the same amount of liquid...the half empty glass, however, has a fly in it."

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