Is popcorn the favorite snack food for you and your family? If so, you are among generations of Americans who have grown up liking popcorn.

For more than thirty years, October has been celebrated as National Popcorn Poppin’ Month. Most of us don’t need a special month to indulge in regular popcorn snacks. Whether it’s at a sporting event, the movies, playing games, reading a book, or attending the county fair, popcorn is indeed a fun snack for all ages.

Not only have we grown up with popcorn, chances are most adults in the Tri-State area have learned about its importance to earlier generations from parents and grandparents.

Who doesn’t remember Cracker Jack which some food historians have considered it to be the first “junk food”? The Cracker Jack name was registered in 1896, and boxes are displayed prominently in our grocery stores here in 2018!

As a child of the Great Depression years (the decade of the 1930s), I remember popping corn over an open fire in a big fireplace. We used a wire basket with metal lid to contain the corn until popping was complete. And, yes, that was before Jiffy Pop and Act II … before lots of other microwave-friendly popcorn packages.

Looking back further, with some of the history included on the internet pages of a non-profit organization headquartered in Chicago [The Popcorn Board], one can find more facts about popcorn and its popularity in this country.

Much further back, the Aztec Indians reportedly used corn as food and also as adornment for ceremonial necklaces, headdresses, and on statues of deities.

Early settlers told stories of native American Indians popping and eating corn. According to tradition, popcorn was served at the first American Thanksgiving. So, we can see from those early days that our ancestors embraced popcorn! No wonder, perhaps, that it’s become our favorite snack food.

Colonial families reportedly would sometimes eat popcorn with sugar and cream for breakfast. Try that on your children or grandchildren sometime soon. To get their attention, before you serve them breakfast, tell them a popcorn joke or two.

For example: “Why aren’t there many jokes about popcorn?” Answer, “Because most of them are so corny.” Or, “What did the baby corn say to momma corn?” Answer, “Where is pop corn?”

Except for the possibility of popcorn for breakfast, you are not likely to have a problem when you suggest popcorn – America’s favorite snack food – to family or friends. Enjoy!