Whatever happened to Green Jello and Carrots?

OK I am tired of writing about passing gas.  There is a much bigger concern that needs to take precedence.  A major part of our culture that is slowly melting away and disappearing into a colorful sticky mess.   I made a joke last week at dinner and everyone over 30 laughed and no one else had any idea what I was talking about.  We were eating a jello and pudding dessert my 8 year old daughter Payton made and I asked where the green jello with carrots was.   No one had any idea what I was talking about. 

I loved going to church pot lucks as a kid and seeing the variety of jello salads.  Some had bananas, others had shredded carrots, some had fruit cocktail mixed in some even dared to add little marshmallows.  Then occasionally someone would go all about and put  cool whip topping on theirs.  The funny thing is, I did not like them as a kids and I like them even less as an adult.  I just liked looking at the creative use of the gelatinous material and how it hid or helped transport the other foods I did not like.  Its like the cook was thinking hey no one likes these items separately lets mix them together and make something even more “wonderful”.  Or more likely the thought process was “What do I need to get rid of out of the fridge that the kids won’t eat?  Nobody at church will know I brought this nasty dish anyway. 



The strawberrys make it look a lot tastier than it is!

This looks like some punch that went really really wrong!

Is that cheese? YES!  Is that marshmallows? YES! Is that fruit? YES! Is that pudding? YES! Is that all held together by jello? YES!  Was this person thinking clearly when they created this?  OH NO, Heck NO!!

Are bananas to supposed to be that color?



The funky jello salads may be fewer and further between but no worries they have been replaces with bags of chips, deli pasta salads and bags of lettuce.  All things that people will eat and all things that require little to no effort to fix.  I remember attending an elders quorum pot luck in a singles ward.  The quorum provided the burgers and buns and that was it.  The quorum members brought everything else which consisted of Ketchup packets and fries from McDonalds, 10 bags of chips and I tub of potatoes salad.  We had to use the plastic lid from the potato salad as the spoon because we forgot those as well.  Needless to say it was our last Elders Quorum Picnic.  After that we invited the relief Society and let them take care of the food we did the games. 

I guess it is not so bad seeing the jello salad concoctions go away.  I just wish that could have taken liver and onions, cottage cheese and lentils with them.