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Throughout college (and seminary, as well), my summer job was ushering in the movie theater. Sometimes it was my second job, sometimes it was my only job. Sure, it was only minimum wage, but when I calculated the free movies for myself, family, and friends, I was making a decent wage. And when you threw in the free sodas — and especially the free popcorn — I was definitely in the upper brackets.
I would bring a bucket and a cup to work. I would fill them up at the beginning of my break and catch a bit of a movie. I could eat a lot of popcorn through a shift. I also swept up a lot of popcorn – little spills in the lobby, whole cups spilled in the theaters (not to mention change and occasional bills on the floors of the theater, bumping my night’s earnings up even more).
Sometimes I worked behind the snack bar. When I sold popcorn, the phraseology was very important. “Would you like that with golden flavoring?” was acceptable. “Should I top that with butter?” was not. Neither was “butter flavoring.” We wanted to stay far away from lawsuits.
And at the end of the night, sometimes I would think that I never wanted to see another kernel of popcorn again.
But then I would get home. My dad would have popped popcorn, and there was always some left in a bowl on the coffee table. I would find my hand reaching and grabbing, and I’d be stuffing my face.
Popcorn is still an important part of my diet, Bobby K.’s inverted food pyramid be darned.
Today, of course, is National Popcorn Day. It’s a snack that has been with us a while. Fossil evidence shows they were popping corn in Peru over a thousand years ago. Through the 19th century, it was called “Pearls” or “Nonpareil” when it was sold on the East Coast of the U.S. The term “popcorn” appeared in Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms in 1848, and by the 1890s, the same technology used to roast peanuts was used to pop corn, and carts began appearing on city streets.
During the Great Depression, popcorn sold for a nickel to a dime. During WWII, when sugar was harder to come by, popcorn’s popularity as a snack grew. In 1938, Glen Dickinson installed popcorn machines in the lobbies of his chain of movie theaters, and soon the theaters were making more money on the snack than on the tickets.
In 1970, Orville Redenbacher's namesake brand was launched. In 1981, General Mills received the first patent for microwave popcorn. Both Ben and Jerry’s and Baskin-Robbins tried to make popcorn ice cream, but neither markets it today.
And now, of course, popcorn has its own day, like cheeseburgers (May 26) or cheesecake (July 30). It’s in the food big league. JANUARY 19TH IS NATIONAL POPCORN DAY.
I will celebrate. Either popcorn with butter and salt. Or kettle corn. Or chocolate-covered popcorn. Or peanut butter popcorn.
How will you celebrate this important day? Please share any popcorn recipes you enjoy.
Discussion (24)
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My only recipe is popcorn drenched with butter, then garnished with extra butter.
Popcorn is either sublime, as above, or spawn of the devil when someone has burned it in the microwave. Worse than a skunk.
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I figured if I would ever rage quit an office job I would put a popcorn bag in the break room microwave and set for 3 1/2 hours. They'd smell it for the next 7 decades.
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Burned popcorn was even worse than when someone used the microwave for fish.
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Now, don't go all crazy on Us.
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I didn't even realize when I air-popped a bowl a little while ago. I miss the burnt kernels but not the oil. There may have been some melted butter involved in my unwitting celebration of this most excellent holiday.
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