It’s human nature to want what we can’t have. Usually when we get what we want the value of that which we desired is diminished in our eyes. The phrase “familiarity breeds contempt” comes to mind.
Within the first week of every month, when I’m at a grocery store or drug store (preferably CVS) I look at the candy aisle. I always try to make sure that there are not other Torah observant Jews around (due to Moris Eyin issues) and pick up a package of Skittles. I quickly turn it over and look toward the end of the ingredient list to see if it has an OU and then put it back with it’s friends on the shelf.
The rumor was, ever since M&M’s got an OU in the mid 90s, that the OU would pursue certification for Skittles in the future. There are very few foods, if any, that I miss after keeping kosher almost 18 years (over half my life, which is pretty cool). I was, actually, never a big fan of Skittles. Yet I check.
I guess, as I think and write about this seemingly-trivial-issue it boils down, like a good pot of Shabbos soup, to two things:
1) Do I really miss something that, in the big scheme of things, plays no really role in my Avodas Hashem?
2) Hey, I’ve survived this long without it. That’s not too shabby.
Both of these items might become future posting material, as in my mind, they contain hashkafic concepts that I sometime forget about.
Funny thing is, that when (if ever) they DO get an OU, you won’t want them anymore!!! lol
Good Shabbos!
Ah the food issue, I ask myself those same two questions.
Without trying to be a psychologist, I think that the the memory of food is similar to what we experience with smell. An odor can trigger a memory of a place and event from our distant past. So too with taste. For example: I may associate cold pizza for breakfast with living in a college dorm, so if I am feeling nostalgic for my college days I may experience a craving for pizza.
As you point out, I might enjoy, physically, eating pizza or clam chowder, but I don’t need to eat it and can live without and don’t need the paranoia that someone might see me while I am eating it, or the guilt that I would experience afterwards, which would really ruin the whole dining experience.
But mostly it comes down to, I am no longer the same person that I was when I ate those things, and the person that I am now, doesn’t have any desire or wish for them.
I still pick up the Hostess Apple Pies for the same reason.
Of course, usually it’s because I’m starving and there’s nothing else that’s appealing in the snack machine…
Glad to see that I’m not the only crazy one (also glad to see that some is commenting). PT, I found on the way to Lake Geneva, WI at a rest stop the “Cloverleaf Bakery” brands’ version of a Twinkie w/ an OUD!! IT’S NOT BAD.
In terms of the apple pie, there’s always the heiliga Drakes or the alright Entenmann’s knock off (it’s not so sweet as the Drakes).
If you’re really jones’in for Drakes this is pretty interesting…
http://www.drakescakesonline.com/
I wish they would sell Drakes here. But I’m better off without it.
However, it kept me going during medical school call nights.
They were a quick energy fix during finals. OK, the are great anytime. But, like, the most unhealthy thing ever created.
You might be happy to know (or not, based on the contempt factor) that Skittles produced in Ireland are, in fact, kosher!
Are they “magically delicious”?