Lyna Mohammad
When I visited a weekend bazaar at Muhibbah Hall a few months ago, I came across some things that brought me back to my school days.
Among the many stalls in the spacious hall was a vendor selling candies and snacks popular among children in the 1980s.
With much excitement and nostalgia, I snapped photos of the candies and tried one – pop rocks – out of curiosity to see if it was how I remembered it.
Children from the 80s will remember the excitement of emptying the small packet of candy to experience the popping sensation as if there are mini explosions in the mouth.
It brought me back to the time when I told my mother that I needed the candy to help me focus in preparation for the Primary 6 examinations.
Another popular childhood candy was chewing bubble gum. We would blow balloons and pop them in front of siblings and friends to annoy them. It was hilarious to startle them with the popping sound.
I also recalled that my friends and I would chew bubble gums because we thought we looked cool as we walked down the school bus aisle towards the back row seats that we had laid claim.
A cousin who accompanied me to the weekend bazaar also pointed out her favourite snack – buah kana. It is a red preserved fruit that has a mix of bitter, sweet and salty tastes. It is still widely available now but it tastes different from yesteryears’. Thankfully, the stall’s buah kana still tastes the same as the ones we used to love.
My cousin asked if I remembered what we used to do with the fruit in our secondary school. I laughed because I could picture our lips covered in the fruit’s juice. We would let it dry on our lips to make it look like we were wearing lipstick.
Once, I slept over at my cousin’s place, we sneaked to a shop next to her apartment to buy buah kana while our mothers were busy in the kitchen. Back at my cousin’s bedroom, we would apply our ‘lipstick’ to get ready for a family function. It is a fond childhood memory that we both cherish.
The ‘vintage’ candies and snacks brought to mind pandan-flavoured cookies that became a staple during my girl guides days. We made sure we had enough stock for midnight snacks during the camping tricks.
Back then, there were only five of us girl guides and we would camp next to the jungle, so bedtime was right after dinner. We would pretend to sleep, waiting for our caretaker went to sleep in her own tent. We would then take out the cookies to snack on and then whisper and giggle quietly among ourselves until we fell asleep. The first to wake would clean up the mess before the caretaker checked on us.
Although some of these candies and snacks are still widely available today – some even on sale under new names – the tastes are different from what we had in the 80s. It could be due to healthier ingredients they use now, with less sugar and other additives or simply the fact that that children nowadays prefer a different flavour profile.
I find it fascinating that there are people catering to those of us looking for candies or snacks of yesteryears to bring us back to the past.
