Milk Cracker Memories

Do you have a food that you associate with a particular childhood memory...like a certain candy or a holiday dish? I have a few. Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, frozen peas and green salad with homemade buttermilk dressing remind me of Sunday dinners at Grandma Cramer's house. Huge, crumbly, lard-laden cookies {whose yumminess can only come from a real Mexican bakery} remind me of trips to the desert with Grandma and Grandpa Parks.

Two of my earliest childhood food memories come from my sweet "Sugar Grandma" {my Great-grandma Parks...who earned her name from the way she would stand out on her Spring Valley, CA porch (on Troy Street) and wave to us as we left, saying, "Bye, Sugar"}. The first were butter mints...which she kept in a little white dish with a cat on the lid. The other was Nabisco Royal Lunch Milk Crackers.

I should back up, though...because until about a month ago, I just knew them as "milk crackers". I remember each and every time I visited, (and I'm talking preschool age here) Sugar Grandma would ask if I wanted a milk cracker. Of course I did. They were large, tender, flaky and had a very distinctive, mildly-sweet flavor. My favorite thing about them was the way you could use your teeth to break them open and they'd split evenly through the middle and you'd have TWO crackers. How cool is that?

No one else but Sugar Grandma ever had those crackers, so I only associated them with her. She died in 1980 (when I was ten) and I don't remember ever having another milk cracker...although I do remember looking for them in the store from time to time as a teen and young adult. I never found anything remotely close. Butter crackers...no. Water crackers...not even close. Digestive biscuits...nope. Since I was so young when I last had one...I had no other info about them...I just knew they were milk crackers and they didn't taste like anything else.

Well, a few weeks ago, it occurred to me to Google it. {What did we ever do before the WWW? Honestly!} Anyway, I put "milk crackers" into the search, and it didn't take many hits to see a picture of the Royal Lunch Milk Cracker box that took me RIGHT back to Grandma's house. I recognized it instantly and was SO excited...until I read that they were discontinued about four years ago...and apparently, I was not their only fan.*

I couldn't help myself...I spent a couple of hours reading blog posts and comments calling for Nabisco's boycott, letter writing campaigns, etc...to bring back the beloved Royal Lunch crackers. How did I miss out on all the fervor? Well, from what I read, these crackers were no longer available in California around the 80's (about the time I left) and then were only available in the New England area up until their demise in 2006. So my great Google idea came too little, too late.

One thing I learned through some of the comments was that there was a close second...Heritage Mills brand milk crackers.


They are only available in Canada. Before I knew it, I was spending $17 for 2 boxes to be shipped here to me in Japan. They arrived inside of a week. I opened them as soon as I got to the car and was amazed that the flavor took me back 30+ years. The secret ingredient....malt! (No wonder I loved them so much...I LOVE malt.)



These crackers have the same basic look as Royal Lunch, only smaller.



Except that these are flat on one side...Royal lunch was rounded on both sides...



Kind of like this. Not quite as satisfying as jimmying them apart with your teeth...but close.


Anyway, my husband and kids were not as enthusiastic. They didn't get the hype. To them I say, "GOOD...more for me!"

It was very satisfying to have this 30+ year mystery solved. I said I'd only buy them once, just for old time's sake. After all, $17 is a bit much for 2 boxes of crackers. However, now that I only have six crackers left, $17 isn't seeming so steep. {My, how the human mind has an infinite capacity for rationalization!}


*The source of the first image above.