Childhood Memories: The Foods I Used to Eat

Time flies so fast! It feels like I was just an elementary pupil weeks ago. I feel happy right now after realizing how far I’ve come in this wonderful journey called life, however, there’s still this feeling of sadness whenever I think about the past – how simple our lives are, how we play with our friends outside from morning to night. A lot of things have changed since then, and I can’t help myself not to miss those simple things we did when we were little.

But you know what I’ve missed the most? The foods I usually eat during those old days that are already phased out or maybe a few of them still exist but are not that popular anymore in the society we live in today.

This nostalgic feeling started yesterday when I was having a videocall with my girlfriend. We usually work and help each other out in doing school-related works through the phone because we’re kilometers apart. After working for some time, we felt hungry and grabbed something to eat. On the phone, I saw her eating jelly ace, a flavored-gelatin snack that was very popular among kids back in the day. And at that very moment, it felt nostalgic, and I began remembering things that happened during my childhood, especially the foods I ate.

Without further ado, here are the some of the foods I used to eat when during my childhood.

1. Jelly Ace

Jelly Ace is actually a brand name of a gelatin snack but as Filipinos, we often use specific brand names as the common term for a product. A famous toothpaste brand name “Colgate” is sometimes used to call all toothpaste products. Some would say, “Can I buy Colgate, the Close-up one?”

Anyway, when I think about Jelly Ace, I think about 2 things: its flavor and the struggle of opening it. This gelatin snack comes in various colors and fruit flavors. It is usually contained in a small plastic cup sealed with a plastic cover with a boss-level difficulty of opening it. Other brands of gelatin snacks also come in different shapes and sizes including long ones.

2. Nata de Coco drink

This drink was our Mogu-mogu back in the day. These flavored juice drinks have real chunks of nata de coco in it and were known for their rich citrus taste. For me, these were top-tier quenchers in the old days.

3. Boomer Magic

This bubblegum was actually what made me appreciate the magic of colors. Boomer magic only comes in 3 colors namely: red, yellow, and blue. During those times, I usually chew 2 or more different colors of this gum to create a secondary color. And as I was searching about this gum on the internet, I think I just realized the reason why the manufacturer only made the gum with those 3 primary colors,  I think the company wants children to explore the world of colors and appreciate the magic of mixing two colors together to form a new one.

4. Popping candy

If the modern world has popping boba in their milk teas, back in the day we had popping candy. I don’t know why but, when I was a kid, it felt amazingly weird putting popping candy on my tongue and just let them dance until they stop.

5. Hawhaw Milk Candy

I loved milk ever since and this milk candy was one of my favorites. It is sweet and taste like milk, well, it’s a milk candy after all.

6. Mik-mik

Speaking of milk, this snack was probably one of the best milk snacks ever made. This sweetened milk powder was once a popular treat here in the Philippines and it is usually eaten using a straw. Yes, you read it right, eating powdered milk using a drinking straw. However, some people add water to it and make it into a milk drink. Mik-mik can still be found in supermarkets these days and aside from the famous milk flavor, it now has chocolate, ube and peanut butter flavors as well.

These are only some of my favorite snacks back then and I assure you, there are many more that are not included in the list. Yes, I have a sweet tooth, but I brush my teeth often so don’t worry.

 All photos are from google.

Disclaimer: This is not a paid promotion. I only used the brand names and pictures of the products to illustrate my thoughts and ideas.

I hope you enjoyed reading this article. Stay safe!