Saturday, February 06, 2010

Of bagged milk and ketchup chips

I sometimes suspect that Alana thinks I'm pulling her leg when I talk about cross-cultural stuff. For instance, when I talk about "milk in a bag" she looks at me as if to say, "No, Canada boy, you've gone too far this time." Or maybe she's just thinking "How/why would someone sell milk in bags?"

I tried to describe bagged milk, but pictures (and video) do much better than I could. So, here's a video from the Canadian desert vlogger "pincstuff" talking about bagged milk:



A few comments.

First, she doesn't mention the little "knee thump" I learned from my Dad when seating the milk in the jug. This helps drop the milk to the bottom of the jug, causing a tighter seal.

Second, cutting the corner might be "crucial" but after you've done it a few times the actual size becomes second nature. Her video makes it seem like it's a disaster waiting to happen, but it's not all that bad.

Third, we never bothered closing off the milk bags. Maybe we always went through it quickly enough, I don't know.

She also doesn't mention that bagged milk is more space friendly in the fridge (the jug with the milk stays on a top shelf and takes up much less space than a gallon plastic jug here in the U.S., and the rest of the bags can lie, or be stacked, in the bottom of the fridge). Nor does she mention that you can actually freeze milk, though you have to be sure to mix it well when defrosting it.

Bagged milk comes in the usual varieties: skim (I can't remember what they call it here, no fat I think), 1%, 2%, and — I'm not making this up — homo. (Homo stands for "homogenized milk", known as "whole milk" in the U.S.) Oh, and I seem to recall that you can get bags of chocolate milk, too.

While we're at it, this vlogger also has a video about ketchup flavoured and dill pickle flavoured potato chips. I was never a big fan of those, but the very idea that they exist seems to frighten Alana. Here's proof of their existence:



I personally was never a huge fan of the ketchup potato chip. My personal favourite is Ruffles All Dressed potato chips. I also like Lays salt and vinegar, but while I can get those in Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida, except for a weird two month period I haven't seen them here in northeastern Louisiana.

Finally, here's a video from an American band who went up to Vancouver, and while there sampled Canadian chips. You can see what they thought of ketchup chips, though the All Dressed did get a thumbs up.



So there you have it, bagged milk and All Dressed potato chips, the best Canadian inventions since the Robertson screw:

6 comments:

edward2962 said...

Ketchup potato chips...that just seems weird.Ha!

Unknown said...

I saw ketchup potato chips in a local grocery store. It wasn't Ruffles, it was another "specialty" brand, but it was available.

Lux Mentis said...

Some of us are old enough to remember 'grape' or 'orange' flavour potato chips. I tried these experimental flavours in Northern Ontario around 1977. Not recommended. Ketchup chips were the survivor of that period as the best flavour.

I mean, you see chips that are flavoured with smokey bacon, with chipotle BBQ, and so on nowadays. Ketchup really wasn't all that bad - if they'd called it something hoi polloi like 'salsa' or 'tomato florentine' or something, it'd be chic.

My favourite runs to dill pickle flavoured chips.

As for milk, bagged milk is soo much better for not tasting like a plastic jug. Glass bottles might have been good for that too, but no one uses those that I know of here.

Like Allan, I observe that milk bags store well. I'd never freeze them, I never find the milk returns to the same quality upon thawing.

I used to thump the jug on the countertop, not my knee (might spill the milk).

The cuts aren't that hard, but you can screw them up and sometimes remedial action like holding the other top corner of the bag are required to get a 'non flopping' pour. When a bag flops in mid-pour,that can lead to a spill. But that's a rare thing and usually a result of not paying attention when you made the cut.

Milk in bags also means you only open smaller amounts at one time, leaving the rest sealed.

I haven't seen chocolate milk in bags anytime recently (all 1 liter cartons), but all the other sorts of milk including Natrel and True-Taste varieties are bagged. No soy milk in bags as far as I know, but that isn't milk....

The US has a number of oddities and defficiencies where food is concerned (from a Canadian perspective).

They just don't know about butter tarts. Their raisin tarts are poor parodies. Pecan tarts can be better, but the Pecan or Raisin Butter Tart as made up in Canada is the mecca of sweet pastry and sugar goo ambrosia.

I'm also confused at why anyone thinks grits are actually edible.

And when I order a Coke, I'm not ordering a Pepsi, some other cola or non-cola beverage. I want a Coke. Substitutes are not acceptable.

Plus I don't think anyone in the US knows about Poutine, Joe Louis, or Beavertails.

Food-culture impoverished are our poor Southern neighbours.... *grin*

Unknown said...

We can get pecan tarts in the local Wal-Mart. They look very similar to the butter tarts sold in Loblaws, except they have pecans in them. They are made in Canada, so if they actually sold the raisin butter tarts, I'd buy them in a heartbeat.

Down here, when you order a Coke they will assume you want a Coke or they will ask what you want. I find that they are better down here at not assuming you want Pepsi. I've never been given Pepsi down here when I order a Coke (Diet Coke, actually, and prefer caffeine free) but that had happened a few times in Canada.

Alana agrees with you about grits, and she's Southern. I've only had them once; not horrible, but I wouldn't go out of my way to get them again.

There are a couple of people in the U.S. that understand Joe Louis, most of them in my family when I can get an order sent down here.

Unknown said...

Do you know where we can order bags of milk in the US?

Unknown said...

I haven't seen bagged milk anywhere in the South.

You might be able to get it in the north, near Ontario, but I suspect it's just a Canadian (and, mostly, eastern Canadian) thing.