By Garland Pollard
One of our favorite Partridge Family episodes was when Shirley Partridge met up with a millionare man who had made a fortune in Melba toast. Lucky for us, you can read about the episode, which starred John Astin, on IMDB. Forever and forever, Melba toast has been amusing. I think at one time in the show, Danny just said “Melba Toast!”
And there is no melba toast brand more amusing than the best known Melba brand, Old London, a brand that appeared in a recent Mad Men episode.
Old London Melba is about 70 years old; at right a box from the early 1980s when it was owned by Borden. In the 1950s, it was made by the New York-based King Kone Corp, the company that made the Old London Cheesewich. In 1960, King Kone became Old London Foods. Today, the company is part of Nonni’s Foods.
Back then, Melba was sold as the solution to being fat. Today, it’s just another dried bread.
It does, however, go into the WASP cocktail pantheon of consumer foods. Here are our top seven WASP cocktail foods. Actually, one might be able to live on this, at least for awhile.
- Old London Melba Rounds, served with something very wet
- Pepperidge Farm Goldfish (the cheddar ones in the small bags are best)
- Rubschlager Cocktail Breads (the little dry rye breads and such)
- Triscuits (yes, some WASP people dare), and Ritz.
- Bremner Wafers, those great white crackers in the classic green tins.
- Planter’s Dry Roasted Peanuts
- Blue Diamond Salted Almonds
- Braswell’s Red Pepper Jelly and Kraft’s Philadelphia Cream Cheese
3 responses so far ↓
1 rechercher // Oct 17, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Knorr veggie dip and Carr’s Table Water Crackers, anyone?
2 John Schott // Oct 20, 2009 at 8:55 am
Stoned Wheat Thins?
I’d never heard of them til my WASP-y college roommate from Greenwich CT got a “CARE” package from home.
3 Why Do High WASPs Eat Wheat Thins For Lunch? | Privilege // Sep 1, 2011 at 8:17 am
[...] out that Stoned Wheat Thins have replaced Nabisco, here and there, mostly people get it wrong. These guys just don’t understand. For example, High WASPs find Ritz Crackers too decadent. After all, they break without discipline, [...]
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