According to Ollie: Maple Syrup

The other day Ollie started BEGGING, again, for a specific food item. Remember, he eats almost nothing so I am always hopeful and immediately put my thinking cap on.

“AUNT JEMIMA MAPLE SYRUP!!!!! I just LOVE that…I gotta’ HAVE it, Mommy!” he pleaded.

But being the refrigerator inventory shark, I argued that we already have (among other glass bottles of PURE maple Syrup) an almost full bottle of Mrs. Butterworth’s Maple Syrup that Ollie had begged for at another time in his consumer lifetime. Nope, that wasn’t going to cut it. “It has to be Aunt Jemima”.

I bought him a bottle. Maybe he’d try a whole grain waffle if he had the right syrup.

So I asked him to explain the difference between the 2 brands of syrup and our lil’ “food critic”: divulged the following:

·      I would have Aunt Jemima in the room with me…

·      …besides, she’s REAL! She really is…

·      …but I liked her better when she was fat (a sad face)

So, I asked why…and he compared the “cartoony” face, as he described her now, to the fatter face that she wore so many years ago, which “made her more REAL, like someone who would make pancakes for you”.

Good enough insight for me. Then he took me through the history of Aunt Jemima, as she was depicted throughout the span of her life as a branding icon – he had memorized the years as they correlated to her changing face (remember, he has Aspergers and this ends up being one of THE favorite activities – memorizing hoards of data).

Then he looked at the bottle of Mrs. Butterworth, almost like he felt sorry for her. “Mommy, she would FREAK me out if she was in the room with me…”

Really? Why?

“Look at her Mommy….she just would”.

Good point. I gazed at that bottle, sculpted into the surreal figure of the well known Butterworth (friend or foe? Not a relative…why is she even IN OUR KITCHEN???!!); as the syrup is used, her head and shoulders become clear, empty, lifeless…only a shell of the person she starts out to be…decidedly unappealing, certainly lacking the charm of the Honey-Bear bottle.

He convinced himself that Aunt Jemima tasted better but he couldn’t tell me why. And we did not do whole grain waffles. He ate Kellog’s Eggo Mini waffles separated into their little circles and placed on a plate like a flower, one circle in the center and the others surrounding it, smothered in Aunt Jemima syrup.

Bon appetit, Ollie!