How Millennials Killed Mayonnaise

Philly Mag ^ | August 11, 2018 | SANDY HINGSTON

[EdnaMode]

The inexorable rise of identity condiments has led to hard times for the most American of foodstuffs. And that’s a shame.

[snip]

Along about a decade ago, though, I began to notice I was toting home as much of my offerings as I’d concocted. My contributions were being overlooked — or shunned. Why should this be? Mom’s extraordinary potato salad — fragrant with dill, spiced by celery seed — went untouched on the picnic table. So did her macaroni salad, and her chicken salad, and her deviled eggs. … When I carted home a good three pounds of painstakingly prepared Waldorf salad — all that peeling and coring and slicing! — I was forced to face facts: The family’s tastes had changed. Or, rather, our family had changed. Oldsters were dying off, and the young ’uns taking our places in the paper-plate line were different somehow.

I racked my brain for the source of this generational disconnect. And then, one holiday weekend, while surveying the condiments set out at a family burger bash, I found it. On offer were four different kinds of mustard, three ketchups (one made from, I kid you not, bananas), seven sorts of salsa, kimchi, wasabi, relishes of every ilk and hue …

What was missing, though, was the common foundation of all Mom’s picnic foods: mayonnaise. While I wasn’t watching, mayo’s day had come and gone. It’s too basic for contemporary tastes — pale and insipid and not nearly exotic enough for our era of globalization. Good ol’ mayo has become the Taylor Swift of condiments.

[jacknhoo]

Same here. Duke’s is the only really good mass produced mayonnaise left.

[heylady]

When my Mother packed our lunches for school back in the 50’s it was always Piccalilli on meatloaf sandwiches and cranberry sauce on chicken sandwiches, but Kraft mayonnaise on everything else even bologna sandwiches. She did put mustard on Deviled Ham sandwiches.

[sheana]

Can’t stand Miracle Whip but my relatives in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri love it. I was back there at a family reunion, potluck style, and there were 2 beautiful potato salads side by side on the buffet table. I thought since my family are massive potato salad consumers someone made 2. Got my potato salad and sat down to eat, took a bite and started gagging and spitting it back out on my plate. I was horrified and said....OMG this is made with Miracle Whip! Thy all laughed and said...the other one is mayo. Miracle Whip is some nasty stuff.

[elcid1970]

Groucho Marx did vaudeville as Napoleon, who observed,

“Hark! They are playing the Mayonnaise! The army must be dressing!”

(oof...)

[Rebelbase]

Yes. ketchup top mandatory.

[BradyLS]

The other “du jour” term Millennials use is “hand-crafted.” Whatever it is, it ain’t anything until it’s “hand-crafted.”

“Gourmet” is another one they like. Hand-crafted gourmet is the hands-down pinnacle of anything.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Full Disclosure:

I HATE mayonnaise! Just the thought of it makes me queasy.

That being said, I saw some talking head on cable news blow-this piece to smithereens with stats showing mayo consumption is actually UP over the past ten years.

[catnipman]

Thank you Songcraft for your post because it reminded me that too many of the supposed ‘Avocado’ mayonnaises are really mostly soybean oil with a tiny bit of Avocado oil; pretty much all the major brands are that way ... looks like the Sir Kensington’s is one of the 100% good ones ... the one i get at Costco is Chosen Foods brand ...

[ebshumidors]

The Tacoma area used to do some kind of mayo dip.

[ebshumidors]

Cold meatloaf on white bread with catsup.

[ebshumidors]

Ham, mayo and garlic salt on good Italian bread.

[Songcraft]

Sure!  (I don't have a Costco near me.   I keep looking for a lower-priced brand using those ingredients.   Hopefully some of the other brands will start using them.)

[Songcraft]

Just a quick followup post to shine a little more light on the actual ingredients, here is a quick comparison of the ingredients found in these three brands of mayonnaise:

Duke's	Hellmann's	Sir Kensington's (with avocado oil)
Soybean Oil	Soybean Oil	Avocado Oil
Eggs	Eggs	Eggs
Water	Water	Water
Vinegar	Vinegar	Vinegar
Salt	Salt	Salt
(no sugar)	Sugar	Organic Cane Sugar (very minute amount)
---	Lemon Juice Concentrate	Lime Juice Concentrate
Oleoresin Paprika	---	Black Pepper
Natural Flavors (?)	Natural Flavors (?)	Mustard Flour
Calcium Disodium EDTA (chemical preservative)	Calcium Disodium EDTA (chemical preservative)	---

[trisham]

I love mayo.

[trisham]

That’s always in our pantry.

[trisham]

I can eat it with a spoon.

[trisham]

I love all of them.

I forgot to eat lunch, now that I think of it.

[Songcraft]

:-)

[trisham]

:)

[Salamander]

Just eat it with a spoon.

Skip all that annoyingly superfluous frippery of bread and such.

:D