Real Mayo works best for me, but I don't use it much at all. It's a staple that lives in the fridge. I often find when I need mayo the most, for some recipe or other, the rarely-used jar has grown grey fuzz, so I toss it out and buy another. Who believes Sell By dates anyway?
I think cooking has evolved. My mother loved Miracle Whip. (I think she thought it was kind of exotic.) She graduated high school at the end of WWII, and her cooking was pretty pedestrian - very "Home Ec" from school. She was raising kids in the 1950's and 60's, and since she worked full time, she was never all that domestic. We ate a lot of recipes straight out of the Good Housekeeping cookbook from the 1950's. Jello molds with things in it were common centerpieces for family gatherings. Every vegetable came from a can, and was cooked until it was a bland, pureed mess. Every tossed salad she ever made was exactly,
only three ingredients: Iceberg lettuce, a quartered tomato, and sliced radishes. The only salad dressings on the table was either Kraft French or Kraft Catalina (but only if we were living large.) For me, it was normal life, and I knew nothing any different. We never starved, but our meals had zero imagination.
As an adult out in the world, food for me became a whole new experience. I discovered fresh vegetables, lightly steamed, or even served raw (OMG! Raw veggies were practically a religious experience.) Grilled things from the backyard barbecue were often tasty chicken, ribs, even steaks, and not just burnt black overcooked hamburgers that were about two inches across. Salads could be anything and everything, and dressings were a whole new epicurean delight. My friends looked at me like I was crazy for liking everything they made. "What do you mean, you've never had a yogurt salad???" (I was 18, and a Navy friend's mother was shocked to learn I'd never had yogurt in my life.)
I loved my Mom dearly, and she did a great job raising us kids. But there were some areas of life where there was a lot of room for improvement. I've embraced those differences, and raised my own kids to be adventurous in the kitchen. They aren't afraid to try new things, invent their own recipes, and they will eat just about anything. My granddaughter is a rather particular eater, but she'll try anything put on her plate, at least once. Nothing is off limits. She eats what she likes, and is healthy as a horse. But I don't think I've ever seen her eat mayo.
Dave
! Also makes a great brush-on for salmon, steelhead, etc.
