Popcorn?

I like popcorn. I eat a lot of it, or so I’ve been told. But I don’t really like microwave popcorn. And yet I’ll eat it anyway.

I was at a faculty tech committee meeting yesterday. There’s always a bag of microwave popcorn there. So it is a popcorn-friendly crowd. Well, I had some popcorn in tupperware at home that wasn’t getting any fresher, so I brought it with me to the meeting.

You’d have thought I wondered in with the Shroud of Turin. Adults commented with shock and awe, “Wow, you popped this?” Uh, yeah, it’s popcorn. “I haven’t done that in years, I mean, since I had a little air popper in college, I think.” Another thought it was, “neat.”

One man even decided that my popcorn had salt while the microwave popcorn (it was “lite,” of course) didn’t.

I mentioned that I was sure that the microwave bag had more salt than mine, even if you couldn’t taste it. He wasn’t convinced.

I mentioned that even “lite” microwave popcorn comes literally caked in fat (and hydrogenated at that, though I kept that part to myself), and it’s better to get your popcorn fat through butter.

I didn’t feel it was appropriate to mention that I don’t have a microwave. Maybe after I get tenure.

Well, I pop popcorn a lot. Popping popcorn is neither exotic nor difficult. I used to come home from school and pop popcorn when I was nine-years-old (often ruining my appetite for dinner).

Perhaps the more disturbing part, judging from where the hands reached, was that about half of the people there actually preferred the microwave popcorn to my delicious (albeit day old) popcorn with butter.

bad


good


great!