Do Minnesotans Know The Term “Soda” Crackers?

For those of us who are a little older, I’m 53, we remember when things were much simpler. We didn’t have a 24-hour news cycle of anything back in the day, let alone having technology at our fingertips at any time of the day or night.  

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Maybe it was just because I was a kid, but the 70’s and most of the 80’s seemed to be, well, simple. Let’s take food for instance, we didn’t have a wide variety of items to eat on a regular basis at home. My dad was pretty picky, beans and taters (pinto beans and fried potato’s) were his favorite.  

My mom would widen our culinary lane as much as she could while still being able to offer my father something from what she was fixing us. My dad never ate spaghetti, my mom would fix him a hamburger instead from the ground beef she put in our spaghetti sauce.  

If we didn’t have bread, we ate “soda crackers”, or as other people know them as saltines. “Soda Crackers” were what families who didn’t have much used when times were especially lean. 

Peanut Butter and Crackers has kept many a person from being quite so hungry.  

They were called “Soda Crackers” because the crackers were made with the leavening agent sodium bicarb. You may also know that as baking soda.  

I felt like I was in a time machine recently when I came across a post from Asheville Foodies from Asheville N.C. I grew up about 30 minutes east of Asheville, and when they shared the picture of what might be called a “redneck” adaptation of pimento cheese. Technically the same is "Cheese Slaw"  

It was Dukes Mayonnaise (which is the only mayo a true southerner will ever eat- or at least to admitting to eating), along with scallions, mild banana peppers, and grated Swiss cheese. This was served on “Soda Crackers” or saltines.  

I never ate this particular concoction, but if I dug back through the rolodex of my mind, I’m sure I’d find several similar things that served as a quality meal back in the day.  

It was a simpler time, and we adjusted however we needed to, to survive.  I sometimes miss the simpler days, but I’m sure glad these days taste a whole lot better.