Novel Blog - Writing The Great American Novel

When we were kids, my mom let us eat popcorn on Saturday nights. The four of us usually were given a choice between a small amount of ice cream in a tiny bowl, or all the popcorn we could eat. Popcorn won almost every time. It was cheap, easy, and quick to fix. A little oil in a medium sized skillet and a ½ cup of popcorn and 3 minutes later you had a slice of buttery heaven.

We later graduated to a plastic see-through purpose-built electric “popper”. You put the popping corn in the Teflon coated base, slipped the lid on, and placed 2 TBSPs of butter in the reservoir. Three minutes later you flipped the popper upside down to serve it. Some of our relatives had the “air” poppers that shot the popcorn out of a tube and directly into a bowl. The first time I saw one of those, it was mesmerizing.

As a teenager, I ate microwave popcorn for the first time. In college, I think I lived on it for a few days when I was short on cash. I continue to marvel at the diversity of popcorn brands, flavors, and packaging available in the grocery store, vending machines, and quick marts. It’s a simple treat that has become an industry of its’ own and it's still relatively inexpensive 30 years later.

Where would movie theatres be without $7.00 Jumbo Sized bags of butter and salt to go along with $5.00 cups of corn syrup? The movie might not be any good, but I still enjoy the popcorn.

Interesting fact: Kernel Seasons resulted from one college student's love of popcorn and his desire to find new ways to enjoy eating it.