Hello, Wow, we haven’t seen one of those boxes for quite some time. They were regulars when we were small, but as young adults, it was no longer in our rotation of foods… "foods," that is a good one, too. A friend of mine never liked going to the dentist. But, somehow, he decided in his third year of college to become a dentist. That was certainly a 180 degree switch and direction. The odd thing was, after college, he and his wife moved to Northern California to work in a private reservation and was provided free rent for the time spent there. They were in the forefront of “giving back” what they could. So, for several years, they were missing from our So Cal circle of friends. Upon returning, he opened up a business in Long Beach and became a popular dentist locally. During some of our get togethers, the topic came up about preventing cavities. The world wide question for adults and children, which we had none at the time. (Cavitites and children) But, we all laughed at what he thought was the main cause of cavities. Yes, a box of the ever popular Cracker Jacks was the main culprit. That along with our other favorite: Fritos. What??? And Cokes, too… Yikes! There was never a time when we were not eating some Fritos. Yes, even at our teenage future dentist's house. It was just tasty and crunchy... It was not a sugary item like bar candy, a handful of M&Ms, or real cake deserts, we grew up with, but something as simple as Cracker Jacks… it was popcorn, with a little flavoring and nuts. Jnaki But, the straight face when he was talking made us become serious and worried at the same time. We all laughed, so our friend started to tell us about eating Cracker Jacks and Fritos. We all remembered that this conversation was from a dentist. Not just another 20 something free style adult having a great time being away from the confines of home. The main thing was not sugary things, although those do similar things to the surface of teeth. (ever see a film of Coca Cola syrup being poured on a real tooth in time lapsed filming? Yikes ) We were all listening carefully and the bowl of Fritos was not being touched by anyone… ha! It was the content of the Cracker Jack that got stuck in the crevices of the teeth and stayed there. Also, the Fritos composition when eating them also contributes to getting stuck in the small crevices and starts it journey… we all chuckled and then, grabbed another handful of Fritos. Not because of being older, but my wife and I used to eat CRACKER JACKS and Fritos until our conversation with our young friends at the time… Now, we no longer eat those yummy items. The memories satisfy our taste buds for now… and, we always get a clean bill of health from our local dentist...YRMV
The Jalopy Journal
