I was really excited when I saw that the animated X-Men series was on Netflix. That show premiered at the height of my comic nerdiness and I was glued to the television for 30 minutes every afternoon. That excitement waned, though, when I actually watched an episode.
The show that I had once loved just didn’t seem that good anymore. The plotlines didn’t make much sense and the dialogue was slow and melodramatic. I had idealized the X-Men cartoon and nostalgia made me unable to see that it wasn’t very good.
I think the same thing happens with pumpkin pie.
I grew up eating my grandmother’s pumpkin pie every Thanksgiving. She would bake the pies, bring them from San Diego, and while my stomach was still bursting at the seams from turkey and stuffing, I would add a piece of pumpkin pie on top. For as long as I can remember we ate pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving; it was a tradition, as much a part of the fourth Thursday of November as buckled hats and Black Friday.
The only problem was that I didn’t care for the tradition of pumpkin pie; I didn’t really like it at all.
So three years ago I celebrated Thanksgiving with my sister in Texas. I told her that I wouldn’t be eating pumpkin pie and would appreciate if she made a pecan pie. Three years ago I took a stand and decided that I would no longer allow my Thanksgiving dessert choice to be dictated to me by convention and nostalgia. I made the choice to break free from the bonds imposed on me by tradition and eat something other than pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving.
It has been wonderful.
I realize that I am in the minority but I think pumpkin pie is kind of gross. It’s cold. It’s mushy. It doesn’t have much flavor. I doubt anyone would like pumpkin pie as much as they do if it wasn’t so directly connected to Thanksgiving and steeped in nostalgia.
If we take away the warm, nostalgic feelings associated with pumpkin pie, what’s left? Something that comes out of a can, gets dumped into a pie crust and is only made edible by of a mountain of whipped cream.
I thought X-Men was great but once I removed the goggles of nostalgia I realized that it wasn’t as good as I remembered. And perhaps if we can all remove the goggles of nostalgia and tradition, we’ll see that pumpkin pie isn’t that great and it’s about time it gave way to a more worthy dessert.
How do you feel about pumpkin pie?
I like pumpkin pie, but I can not eat a single dollop of whipped cream on top. For me, pumpkin pie brings up bad memories- not good ones, so the only reason I eat it is just because I think it tastes good. I am a big fan of pumpkin scents and flavors.
At least you eat it without the whipped cream.
I like pumpkin pie and Urth Cafe in LA has it year round 🙂