Travel has a way of opening doors not known before. had a person visited China a dozen years ago the most common form of coffee that was available raised eyebrows. Starbucks was just beginning to open its stores and McDonald’s had yet to roll out their corner cafes. One would go to a meeting and the staff would offer coffee. Those of us who drank the brew would get excited. Then we would be offered a variety of flavored coffees that would make the finest coffee bar blush with pride. What was served was direct from instant packet to cup, and add the hot water, barely passable at best.
Still, one learned to be polite, and many of the classes taught would get a dose of what coffee was.
Here in the States, coffee has been a staple of the diet for a long time. The earliest forms were to chop the beans and throw the debris into a pot, add water and boil. Take it off the fire and pour. Those bits added flavor and crunch to the beverage. Today it might be called camp coffee and is certain to restore vigor, vitality and hair. The eyebrows again rise up.
This memory comes to mind of the amused responses when we coffee drinkers learned that we were getting instant, dehydrated and dessicated coffee. Surprise is a kind word; right idea for space exploration but leaves much to be desired.
In the late 1960s, CBS actually had some funny sitcoms. In a rare period of quality television, the Eyeball network had “Petticoat Junction” and “Green Acres.” Both were situated in rural areas and played on the mix of city culture with country culture. Running jokes abounded, from the old codgers trying to be modern and the tools, devices, and implements that made the modern life possible. Food was always part of the gag repertoire.
At the time, Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker were just beginning to offer instant cake mixes. These two shows played on the ease of life that such products were to bring to life in the country. Zsa Zsa Gabor, city wife who could burn water, had to make cakes for the table. Something always made the experience interesting: leftover implements in the finished cake, or cake batter that could set a foundation. Then she discovered the cake-in-a box at the general store. America’s imagination was thrilled. Break two eggs throw all into the box. Add milk. Close box. Put box in oven and bake. No mess, no fuss and wonderful response from the husband. Sadly, everyone knew it was not possible.
About that same time, “Star Trek” was showcasing the first flip phones on the Starship Enterprise. The imagination was ahead of the technology.
Now comes a new product: cake in a cup. Hines and Crocker have perfected a cake mix that can make a single cake in a coffee cup. Get a pouch, add some water, stir until smooth, then nuke it in the microwave for a minute plus. Remove and let it stand for a couple of minutes, and there it is: a fresh cake, warm and moist. Just enough for one. And one does not even need to break an egg.
Marie Antoinette would be proud. “Green Acres” is definitely the place to be.
Orpheus Allison is a photojournalist living in The County who graduated from UMPI and earned a master of liberal arts degree from the University of North Carolina. He began his journalism career at WAGM television later working in many different areas of the US. After 20 years of television he changed careers and taught in China and Korea.
