Do things Taste Better when you are a Kid? Or do companies change products....

Hostess Pies - This is what I loved growing up along with other things in life that tasted oh so sweet. ha ha
@brokentia (10389)
United States
July 5, 2007 12:48am CST
I sat here tonight thinking and trying to resist the boredom thing...eating. I don't need it. I'm not hungry. And I am not allowed to have it anyways. What am I talking about? Hostess Snack Pies. ha ha Oh man! Those Hostess Snack Pies were the bomb when I was little!!! I remember my dad getting them and my mouth would water at the sight of that little white and red wrapper that indicated there was a small personal glazed filled pie waiting to be opened! And just the other day, I went by the Wonder Bread store and they sell those Hostess pies. Has anyone ever told you never to shop when you hungry? Well, I don't know who made that rule, but that person made that rule for a reason...however, I never seem to follow it. Thus, I end up buying things I don't really want or really DO want but can't have. Are you still with me? I really am making a point here. OK, long story shortened....I bought those little pies that I am not supposed to have. And sitting here tonight, those pies called from my kitchen to me. They taunted me! Cherry...Pie...with...glaze...waiting...to be opened! Must resist! Well, boredom/insomnia won and I ate the pie. But much to my disappointment....I realized that little pie was not as tasty now as when I was little! What happened? Did they change the recipe? Do I not recall those pies that I loved so well with full memory? Did they taste better only as a kid because it has special kid chemistry? Is Hostess slacking because they want to make more money and produce less quality? Or do things just taste better when you are a kid??? Well, I am cured of wanting one of those Hostess pies again. ha ha Now, if only Snickers candy bars would do the same thing. Then at some point, I would stop eating the things I am not allowed to have. ha ha
8 people like this
22 responses
@magikrose (5429)
• United States
5 Jul 07
My favorites were the apple and the lemon. I havent been able to find them any where locally and I wish I could I would love to sit with my kids and have one of these pies with them. They were so good, sweet and tasty. Who knows what happins to the recipie over time. Maybe the recipie stays the same but our taste buds change over time so they may possibly taste the same but your taste buds have changed.
2 people like this
@brokentia (10389)
• United States
6 Jul 07
I was in luck! I was also able to get apple and lemon. But they even started to make strawberry too!!!
1 person likes this
@Ravenladyj (22904)
• United States
5 Jul 07
Naw...they've changed things without a doubt...I LOVE Alpha-Ghettis and have since I was a kid....You cant buy it over here in the U.S so last time I was home visiting I bought some to have and sure enough, the flavour has changed...BUT not from when I was a kid...They've changed it in just the past 5 yrs which oddly enough I'm noticing about a lot of foods....Fruit Loops is another one....I rarely eat ANY cereal at all so when I buy a box for myself you KNOW I'm craving it..well I lvoe Fruit Loops and it was on sale so I bought some but it tasted different and not nearly as good as it tasted the last time I bought it which was only about 2 yrs ago! I honestly think they (the companies making the stuff) are not only adding more fillers in order to get more product out without uppin the cost of production but they are changing the formulas etc and adding more chemicals etc for whatever reason.... same with portions...I have noticed over the past yr or so that the portion sizes are smaller (like with frozen hamburger patties for example) but the price has gone up!!
2 people like this
@brokentia (10389)
• United States
5 Jul 07
You make a bunch of very valid points! And yes, portions do seem to have a play with cost too! I used to like Lucky Charms with bananas myself. Which, I don't really eat that very often either. But a couple years ago, I had the craving for it. Well, problem solved, I have not had that craving again because the cereal is not the same. It is actually sweeter now than it was years ago! :( So to me...it is now too sweet. I guess when i crave cereal, I will stick to my other fav...Rice Chex. :)
@balasri (26537)
• India
6 Jul 07
Rambutan - My passion when I was a kid.
The things that you relish when young could turn out to be very normal and dull as you try them right now.When I was in SriLanka as a child my favorite fruits were Ramputan and verali a local fruit.All my allowance used to go forthese fruits in their respective seasons. After twenty years when my sister in law brought them for me as it is not available here I pounced on them.You won't believe that verali is so sour that my teeth become so sensitive I wasn't able to take the nest bite.The Ramputan was ok.But not as sweet as it used to in those days. Certain things whether they are food,places or memories should never be revisited to preserve the beauty you were nurturing in your all those years.
1 person likes this
@twilight021 (2059)
• United States
5 Jul 07
It's so funny you should use that particular snack as an example. Ihave the same experience with the sanke cherry pies not tha tlong ago myself. I used to be mad for those pies...Cherry wa my favorite, but I also loved the pudding pie version in vanilla. A few weeks ago I can across one of those little pies and jumped for joy. Sadly, when I ate it, I found harder, more bland and with less filling than I remembered from my childhood. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't the happy little treat I remembered so fondly. I wonder if something has changed in the recipe or the preperation. Maybe they use differnt frying oils, or flour or something. But yeah, I guess you can't really go back :-)
@easy888 (10405)
• Australia
8 Jul 07
Hello,brokentia,sometimes i also have a change of taste,i used to feel one brand of biscuit was good when i was a child but it is not good now anymore,there may be few reasons behind it,may be the taste has really be worse,or we have already get used to that taste which is not new to us anymore,our taste buds do not feel any 'excitement'on that taste.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
7 Jul 07
Well they might say never shop in a market when you're hungry but for some reason the moment I step into a supermarket my mouth drools--of course the arrangement of the supermarkets near me doesn't help--at the one store they have the deli just as you walk in, and they usually have those small chickens in the rotisserie...so you're bombarded with the smell of roasting chicken...NOT FAIR....if you weren't hungry before you sure are then...the other market...don't ask..they have a table set up near the door of with these sinfully delicious layer cakes...YIKES--NOT FAIR--I think they do this on purpose--and naughty girl...shouldn't be eating that Cherry Pie...no matter how much it's calling you But you're right...a lot of things don't taste the same as the did when I was a kid....Twinkies for one...and I used to be an avid Coffee Ice Cream eater...that was my signature flavor ice cream...it just doesn't taste very coffee-ish anymore...in fact a lot of the ice cream just doesn't have the zing it used to...taste kind of bland--and you know what happens then? I wind up eating more...Think maybe the companies do that on purpose? Make the thing taste blander than it used to be so you eat more?
1 person likes this
• United States
6 Jul 07
I remember saving my money up to buy a Hostess Pie. When I finally got enough money I was delighted to have my prize. We were given theses snacks very rarely when we were children. It made us want them even more. Now that I am older, a nice slice of homemade pie is best.
1 person likes this
• United States
14 Jul 07
I found that your taste buds evolve as you get older. So things that you LOVED when you were younger you might not like at all as an adult or things you hated as a child you might actually very much enjoy now as as adult. So most likely the hostess pies are the EXACT same thing you loved as a child...its just that your have grown from them some.
@rsmith512 (1561)
• United States
15 Jul 07
Well, I know one thing! I did not like peas when I was younger, and gave them to my younger brother...and, I still do not like them now! :D Hopefully what we like now, we still will like when we get older! :D
@rsmith512 (1561)
• United States
15 Jul 07
I have had a Hostess Snack Pies recently also, and I thought the very same thing! When I was younger, we use to get them at school, and they kept them warm for us also. They tasted so good, everyone wanted seconds! :D But, when I tried them recently I was really disappointed. Why did it taste so different? Was it because it was cold? Well, just to see if I didn't like it because it was cold, I warmed it up. No, that did not change how it tasted. The glaze just got all over my hand! haha I think that things taste better as a kid. That is what I think it is! They had a special kid chemistry in it where kids were addicted to it! LOL Great discussion! I was thinking the exact same thing! I hope that you will still be able to enjoy Snickers. Because if something happens and you don't enjoy it....I bet I won't enjoy it anymore either! And, I like my candy! haha :D
@ESKARENA1 (18261)
5 Jul 07
Well, Ive been mucking around with human psychology for a few years now and ive come to the conclusion we have two factors to look at here. First unless there has been some traumatic event we view our childhood as a majic time where everything is perfect and things taste better. However, there is a very real degeneration of our taste buds over time and we begin to lose our sense of smell from the age of about 30 so we taste less (just think how old people smell, and you can see why). What we remember is a product that our full senses experienced. As adults, what we experience is something much milder. Im a living example. After 30 years of smoking, I quit 10 days ago and I can now taste things i havent tasted sinse childhood blessed be
1 person likes this
• United States
5 Jul 07
I think that it's two things really. Our taste buds for one. And as adults we get to eat pretty much anything we want (aside from those things we're not suppose to have I mean) which means we eat some really great things. And that makes those pies for instances, not taste as good as they once did because we're use to having bigger and better things... Although I wouldn't totally blow off the idea of companies changing recipes or using less that great ingredients either.
@hahzen63 (157)
• Philippines
5 Jul 07
i agree with gnostic goddess...Most of the time, our food preferences change over time, and since we had eaten a much greater variety of food tendency is , we begin to classify and classify, until the simple taste of the childhood fave food still would not suffice. But I still do love tootsie rolls though... hehe...and baby ruths... ever since I was a kid...till now...
• United States
5 Jul 07
LOL - somethings like that never change ;) I still love tootie rolls too. I've never been much for Baby Ruths though :)
@brokentia (10389)
• United States
5 Jul 07
And I still love Hershey bars with Almonds!!! That taste hasn't changed! :D ha ha
1 person likes this
• United States
6 Jul 07
Things that have gotten better: -Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with the packet of squeeze cheese! -Hershey's Dark Chocolate (especially the cacao with nibs) -Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with the packet of squeeze cheese! -Multigrain Cheerios (they are actually sweet) -Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with the packet of squeeze cheese! -Caffeine Free Diet Coke -Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with the packet of squeeze cheese! -Oreos with coffee filling -Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with the packet of squeeze cheese! -Hershey's Kisses in a variety of flavors -Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with the packet of squeeze cheese! ~Donna
1 person likes this
@alindahaw (1219)
• Philippines
5 Jul 07
yeah, things used to taste better. I think many companies compromised their products to earn more profits. I notices that some of my favorite brands no longer taste as good as they used to before. Such a waste!
1 person likes this
@Mayuko (1268)
• United States
6 Jul 12
I heard that taste buds in adults and children are quite different. I'm not certain, but I believe it is that children taste things more than adults. That's why they despise vegetables so much -- it tastes much more bitter to a child than to an adult. So maybe since you're older now, the pies taste different to you because of your taste buds. But it is also very possible that Hostess has changed the recipe.
@Lydia1901 (16351)
• United States
8 Jul 07
I think that used to happen but now I think that they all taste the same regardless. I think food is food no matter how old you are to me anymore.
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
5 Jul 07
They have changed sizes and most recently ingredients. What made them so good is now a thing of the past. Also our tastebuds change as we age and in time the flavors will be harder to discern. So it is a combination of things really. Good luck fighting that urge for things that are harmful to you.
@sunshinecup (7871)
14 Jul 07
I think it's between my tastes changing and the companies using diffrent things in their food. I remember loving things as a child, that I just don't like now.
@kareng (54841)
• United States
5 Jul 07
I think that most things do not have the flavor that it used to have when we were kids due to the fact that companies are using more and more fillers, preservatives and artificial colorings. I've noticed the taste is not the same in a lot of things from processed foods to fast food.
@paidreader (5143)
• United States
14 Jul 07
I think you're right about the recipes getting changed over time. There are several snacks that I won't buy anymore since they just don't taste the way I remembered. I think our tastebuds change somewhat too, but without having that darned sweet tooth pulled, I don't know if we'll ever get cured, lol. ps. Please don't jinx the snickers recipe! That's one that still tastes as good as I remember. Mmmmmmmm
• Canada
5 Jul 07
I think it is more of a psychological thing. When you are young you don't care about your health asmuch so you eat these things and you don't realize their effects, whereas when your older you know what they can do and when you're eating them, perhaps the guilt makes them taste less good.