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Loving the foods from my hometown, I fondly remembered my favorites: Philly Cheese Steaks, soft pretzels, scrapple, tomato pie (the early local name for pizza) as well as a host of others.  It was great fun recalling these gastronomical memories and my mouth watered as I yearned for just one taste, which would hardly be enough.

This got me thinking about food and drink from coast to coast.  So I contacted a few friends who grew up in different parts of the country and did a bit of online research to come up with some of the snacks and drinks New Seniors enjoyed when we didn’t have to worry about our waste lines or our cholesterol.

New Englanders’ had a drink called Moxie which was popular until Coke (first formulated in Atlanta) and Pepsi (the alternative to Coke that moved from its North Carolina roots to New York City) began to make inroads against the stronger tasting Moxie.  Even the endorsement of Boston Red Sox star Ted Williams’ could not stop the slide of this once famous drink.  That section of the country, as with other regions, had lots of flavored drinks produced by local bottlers.

In New York, besides Pepsi, there were lots of bottlers.  Among them was Dr. Brown’s a soda which appealed to the areas large Jewish population and spread nationwide because of it.  In the Midwest, where carbonated soft drinks (“sodas”) are called “pop,” Vernor’s Ginger Ale was popular as was Faygo, with all its flavors.  Dr. Pepper was a big in the Southwest and there was Shasta on the West Coast.  There were no diet drinks back then.

Any of these drinks was perfect for washing down our favorite sub sandwiches.  But that’s not what they were called everywhere.  Grinder was the name for this Italian specialty in the Northeast.  A Hero is what New Yorkers ordered.  In Philly it was a Hoagie.  New Orleans spawned the name Po’ Boy, which was Poor Boy in St. Louis.  Chicago had the Italian Beef sandwich.  Blimpie, Torpedo, Rocket, Bomber and Zeppelin are all names used for this hearty sandwich that may change its ingredients, but not its shape, depending on the part of the country where it is made.

The differences by geographic areas are sometimes striking.  By the same token you may surprised by the similarities of some items, except for the name the locals call it.  Whatever the case, our memories tell us how much we enjoyed the tastes of our favorite foods and drinks from long ago.

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We pre-boomers lost our desire to idol worship a long time ago.  Sure, I had my favorites while growing up.  There was Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams in baseball, plus the 1950 Philadelphia Phillies “Wiz Kids” team that lost the World Series to the Yankees in four straight games.  I still remember the names of entire starting lineup from when I was thirteen.  There weren’t any recording stars on my list since the rock and roll hoopla didn’t get going until 1954; however, the girls of my era did go crazy over Johnny Ray and a couple others.  My football heroes were college players until the mid-60s, when I was working in New York, and became a Jets fan; because Giants tickets were impossible to get.  I’m not suggesting Joe Namath or any of the others were angles, but they didn’t use being in the spotlight as an excuse to be downright hostile every time they came in contact with reporters or fans.

That was then and this is now.  It could be the expansion of the news media and the 24/7 coverage.  Or, the stress of being in the public eye to the degree that there is no privacy anymore.  Of course, it might be the simple fact that attitudes have changed.  Stars get paid a lot of money and many have a deep-seated feeling they can never live up to what they earn.  The cocky ones, in particular, express their internal fears with outward demonstrations of anger.  The ones that perform the best on the stage or the playing field are those doing it because they love what they’re doing and love pleasing the fans.

People have said that everyone wants to be a star.  Maybe it should be restated to say every young person wants to be a star, to be noticed, to be idolized, to be loved by everyone.   This concept is what’s behind the amazing display of poor behavior that pops up on the Internet in the form of home video or cell phone photos and clips.  Why else would anyone post this trash that is degrading to them or others – making their 15 minutes of fame available for the world to see forever?  Even acts of defiance are still cries for attention, suggesting that without help they could go off the deep end.

As pre-boomers, and the grandparents and possibly the great grandparents of the youth of today, you and I can be an example to them.  Tell them about your early years and what you did to overcome insecurities through hard work that produced results in the classroom, on the playing field, and throughout your life.  Even small successes have endowed you valuable experience to share with these young folks.  And, while nobody can live their lives for them, you can help by providing the tools and the know-how to live and enjoy life.  Because of the special bond you have with these loved ones, you can be their best role model.