This weekend was a movie weekend. I went to see Mamma Mia! on Saturday (I can't believe how many ABBA songs I actually know, wow!) and Tell No One on Sunday (enjoyable French movie with an actual plot arc). Sunday night was popcorn night, and I haven't had popcorn in quite a long time. Damn it's good stuff! And maybe I'm out of the loop, but I've never noticed a theater to have spices to top popcorn with before. Cajun spices definitely punch it up, mm mm.Having eaten a half a large (and by large, I really mean gargantuan, as in about twice the size of my head) bag of popcorn, I ask myself, what's the deal with popcorn? I have this vague impression in my head that it's a healthier option than say, nachos and cheese or a big box of junior mints.
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Studiously doing internet research
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Yikes....um....did I say I ate as much popcorn as all that? (backpedaling, big time)
Ok, so I found one page with info about movie popcorn, not sure how official it is because I've never heard of this university. Still looking for other sources. In the meantime, I love how they describe movie popcorn: "Why is movie theater popcorn so much worse than the supermarket variety? Because it’s usually popped in highly saturated coconut oil, and because the servings are on steroids." Ahem. Yes. Or it could be that I thought my stomach was the size of a kickball and I just keep eating and eating. But man was it good. But then, we know that fat makes stuff taste good.
It's not that popcorn is bad for you. It's actually a healthy snack. Without the butter, oil, so on and so forth. But then, I've popped popcorn at home, and no matter what spices I put on it, it's just not as good as movie popcorn (I made a spicy popcorn once that was actually pretty good, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was. I think there was paprika or something).
But then, I work out all the time. I won't stress about it, I'll just sit back and enjoy the good movie, good company, and yummy buttery spicy popcorn!
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10 comments:
I HEART the popcorn at movie theaters.
so my downfall (And I go to movies a lot. so I plan that sh** in my 'diet')
Im not gonna even click the link as Im with you on the IT IS SO GOOD IT MUST BE FAT LADEN. dont care.
sometimes you just have to not care ;)
Miz.
I'm with you Miz! And I figure, as long as I'm not eating it every day, I'm perfectly entitled to have a bucket of yumminess every once in a while :)
I haven't eaten theatre popcorn since forever was just a pup.
The smell is awfully enticing, though. It's only the huge sizes that put me off.
See, I prefer popcorn made at home, in a pot on the stove with a little bit of olive oil, then topped with a bit of butter and salt. To me, that tastes so much better than movie theater popcorn.
Java, I made popcorn for the first time at home last year. So I didn't realize what the proportions were (I don't have a popper, I used a pan). And there was popcorn everywhere!
I think it's because I grew up on microwave popcorn that I don't really like plain popcorn with real butter. My favorite was always Healthy Choice microwave popcorn, but I think they stopped making it...
Leah, some of the theaters are getting better with sizes, they do actually have more reasonable "small" sizes now (about the size of a standard brown bag lunch bag.
mmmm...popcorn. Friday night is usually my movie night...but I have to confess I will pop the "light" stuff at home - then add butter. go figure....
Popcorn ranks in my top 5 fave foods. I could eat it for every meal. Not that I do... And hey - coconut oil ain't as bad as people used to think! It actually has some healthful properties:)
That's true, Charlotte! It's going to be one of my "debunking the bunk" posts at a later date. But I think they also use some nasty chemical based butter substitute that has been known to cause respiratory problems in the lungs of people working at the butter substitute factories. Positive note is that the theater I went to uses real butter :)
Okay...You have to put a cover on the pot...otherwise...big mess!
My parents had this popcorn popper that was basically a hot plate with a lid. You would put oil on the plate, add your popcorn, then put on the lid and let it pop. That is what I ate for years. (This would be the 70's)
Eventually, that diet and my parents got a hot air popper. Took a while to get used to - definitely tastes different when it is not popped in oil. But we still added butter and I got used to that as well. (This would be the 80's)
Enter microwave popcorn. Which I can eat. But it's no where near as good as the real thing, as far as I'm concerned. And I feel pretty much the same about theater popcorn.
I do own a hot air popper, but I went back to the old fashioned method of using a pot on the stove when I realized how easy it was (thank you Giada Di Laurentiis for making popcorn on your show). As far as I'm concerned, it's still the best way.
Hmm...maybe I should try that with a big pot...I was trying to use a deep skillet last time, and after the first kernels started going everywhere, I put a lid on it, but the popcorn was too strong and kept threatening to toss the lid off! So I think a big pot is a much better idea...I think I've just had air popped before and it was kinda blah, so maybe it'll be more tasty with oil popped. Thanks for making the distinction!
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