On a rain-slicked Sunday afternoon, I found myself standing in the fluorescent glare of a convenience store, holding a pack of neon-orange gummies shaped like dinosaurs. I hadn’t eaten them since I was nine—back when sugar highs were currency and cavities were a distant rumor.
I bought them. Not for my niece. Not for irony. For me.
Because somewhere between adulting and anxiety, we’ve forgotten how to indulge in the gloriously pointless. And on weekends—when time stretches like warm taffy—weekend nostalgia snacks become more than junk food. They’re time machines.
I tore open the bag at my kitchen table. The first bite hit like a Proustian madeleine dipped in high-fructose corn syrup: artificial, sticky, and instantly transporting. Suddenly, I was back in Mrs. Callahan’s fourth-grade classroom, trading Fruit by the Foot for a pouch of Capri Sun, convinced I’d struck gold.
We weren’t just eating. We were building worlds.
Dunkaroos weren’t cookies—they were diplomacy tools. Push Pops? Stealth candy disguised as chapstick, smuggled past lunch monitors with spy-novel precision. Even the mystery flavor of those twin-pop ice treats felt like a dare from the universe: Will it be grape? Will it be chemical regret? Only fate knows.
Today, wellness culture scorns these relics as “empty calories.” But what if their value wasn’t nutritional—but emotional?
Dr. Lena Cho, a behavioral psychologist specializing in memory and consumption, explains: “Nostalgic foods activate the brain’s reward system and social bonding centers. They’re not about taste—they’re about belonging.”
That’s why we still crave them on slow weekends. Not because we miss the sugar—but because we miss the simplicity. The unguarded joy of wanting something just because it sparkled.
Of course, reality bites back. My dinosaur gummies left a film on my teeth and a vague sense of shame. But also… a smile.
So go ahead. Buy the Gushers. Unroll the Fruit Roll-Up like it’s sacred parchment. Let your inner child win for one lazy afternoon.
After all, adulthood is overrated. But nostalgia? That’s forever.
What childhood snack would you resurrect for one weekend indulgence? Share your edible time machine with us @the–businessnews.
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