Regional Food Nostalga

Call me crazy,( but i know at least one other person in the Northeast who feels this way..).......there is nothing like Poland Spring Water !
When i get to an airport that has that familiar green label i know I'm on my way to the homeland.

That made me start to wonder is it a regional thing? Do you tend to get nostalgic and love the things you can not have? At least once on a trip home I will try to get to a Stop and Shop and just walk the Portuguese Food aisle with the reverence i usually reserve for the cosmetic dept at Barney's.

A few weeks ago i went to a Gallery show where the photographers' comments said his inspiration was "GOYA ". My first thought was the Portuguese Food brand? Turns out it stands for Get Off Your Ass ( and do something) in the art world.

That's very different from the packets of " seasoning" that my mother put in everything from scrambled eggs to pork dishes. It wasn't until i was in my 40's and begging for someone to ship them to me that i started to think, what's really in there ?
They are small packets filled with obviously paprika and turmeric, because no matter what you make its all the same shade of " Portuguese orange ". I think really its nothing but colored MSG, but damn if it does not add magic to whatever you put it in ! In my middle years i kind of scorned it but in recent years as I've gotten less snobby and actually started to miss the ethnic foods they tried to push on me as a kid, I've hauled out the old GOYA and been very happy to have them.
The strange thing is GOYA is actually pretty strong in all Ethnic markets, but i think there must be some very selective demographic research going on there because although they may own an aisle in the markets around town they don't waste any shelf space with the one or two Portuguese people in the area !

So today's Eye Spy I Buy moral is don't skip those unknown food aisles in your market, the several dollars you spend could be just the excitement your menu needs
and you can get a basket of stuff for the price of a few " real saffron" buds.
Course you may be begging for water because of all the salt, but what the hell, if it was good enough for my momma, then its good enough for me !