
Why Do We Eat Popcorn at the Movies? - shrikant
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2013/10/why-do-we-eat-popcorn-at-the-movies/
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crazygringo
> _Popcorn wasn’t widely eaten in homes, mostly due to how difficult it was to
> make: consumers needed a popper, oil, butter, salt..._

That's wrong, it's insanely easy to make. You don't need a "popper", just a
pot with a lid. Any pot. And what kitchen doesn't have oil, butter and salt
around?

But since TV wasn't around yet, what were you going to eat it to? ;)

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jeltz
I have never actually seen a popcorn maker in anyone's home. Either people
have used pots or microwaves, and it is very easy to use a pot.

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yareally
I bought an air popper for popcorn on clearance a while ago. Has a few
advantages to the "stove and pot," but it's not necessary really. Mostly it
keeps the popcorn from burning if you're not paying close enough attention and
the ratio of unpopped kernels is much lower.

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dllthomas
Air popper also means less (or no) oil used.

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ars
The amount of oil used is tiny - less than a tablespoon for like 8 servings,
plus almost all the oil stays in the pot.

You just need enough for heat transfer from the metal pot to the kernels. You
can add more for flavor if you like, but you don't have to - the thinnest
coating of the bottom of the pot is enough.

~~~
dllthomas
Fair point. Not saying it's a huge difference, just that it's a difference.

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dandrews
I used to run a small community theatre group, on a wing and a prayer and a
shoestring budget. When we discovered how much of a money-maker popcorn was we
were elated. Basic materials were cheap, and we sold a small bag of popcorn
for a dollar - _lots_ of those little bags. Wonderful stuff, worth even the
extraordinary mess that patrons always left behind. (Cleaning up the house
after a show is part of the biz. Ah, the romance of the stage!)

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Aldo_MX
> Popcorn, it seems, was the original clandestine movie snack.

Haha. I have a big coat with inner bags where I can fit two 1.5 lt sodas, I
always sneak snacks when going with my friends, since, at least in my country,
every snack is ridiculously overpriced (around 5 to 10 times the original
price).

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Osmium
> sneak snacks

It may be a bit of a faux pas, but I've often openly gone into cinemas with my
own food/drink and no one seems to mind. (Side-note: I highly recommend
edamame-in-the-pod for a cinema snack. Quiet, healthy, cheap, comes with its
own hydration and lasts a long time.)

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lobster_johnson
At least in NYC cinemas, the person who takes your ticket will demand to check
your bag for drinks (not sure about snacks). You're not allowed to bring your
own. Feels a lot like going through a TSA security checkpoint.

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mwilcox
Wow, seriously? That's ridiculous.

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saraid216
It's really that the movies are something of a loss leader. People don't come
to the movies to buy snacks, but snacks are how theaters _really_ make money.
Which means that you're ripping them off worse by sneaking snacks than you are
sneaking a video camera in.

Though with the way the prices of movie tickets are going up, I've begun to
suspect that this is no longer true.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
> _Which means that you 're ripping them off worse by sneaking snacks than you
> are sneaking a video camera in._ //

You're not "ripping them off", you pay for your seat. They're welcome to
advertise at the payment desk that people who may have food with them aren't
welcome however.

Not being a persons most profitable customer is not the same as ripping them
off.

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narwally
The theater I used to work at was never that strict about bringing in food. If
you made it obvious you were bringing in food we would ask you to throw it
away, or finish it before entering. We would never search someones bag, or
throw someone out that we didn't catch on the way in. For the most part people
sneaking in food were the type of people that would never pay the crazy food
costs at a movie theater anyways, so it was always better for use to keep
customers happy.

We were much stricter about people sneaking in camera equipment though. In
fact if an employee caught someone trying to record a movie the MPAA would pay
you a $5,000 reward, and our theater would match that with another $5,000.

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brspangler
My wife pointed out is that one of the disposable lines in the article
mentioned that until "talkies," movies were less of a "bread and circuses"
pasttime - the illiterate don't get the full experience of a silent film.

Considering the storylines of many silent films, I'm rather amused to
contemplate what that implies. Seriously, "Keystone Cops" is kind of like the
"America's Got Talent" of its day - "Othello" it ain't.

~~~
caf
I'm skeptical of that claim - I don't think you needed to be literate to
follow the story in a Buster Keaton film.

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dreamdu5t
How difficult it was to make? lol. Popcorn is extremely easy to make, cheap,
and every typical kitchen had the supplies to make it back then.

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methodin
I can never eat popcorn at the movies because it's gone by the time the
previews are over. Am I the only one?

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vyrotek
Gone? I've never heard of it running out before. In fact I've heard of staff
leaving their shift with trash-bags filled with extra popcorn they didn't
sell.

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freehunter
But the bag sitting in my hand is empty. That's what's gone. There's still
more to purchase, but what I already purchased has been eaten.

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sudomal
To me cinemas / movie theaters are about the film. I never eat or drink while
I'm there... maybe I missed the memo.

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kleiba
To me, it depends on the film. If it's some brainless Hollywood sequel to a
sequel of some action flick, I don't mind eating some popcorn every now and
then. But that's not the only kind of movie I watch so, plus I'm getting older
and more calorie-aware now, so more often than not I don't eat anything during
a movie either.

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kzisme
I feel as if the best reason to eat popcorn is because it's not terribly
crunchy. If i eat chips while watching a show the crunching of the popcorn
makes me unable to hear the movie.

~~~
hrkristian
I was looking for this as it's what I've always assumed. The salt and fat I
would think also makes for good fill and makes you want more fluids ($$$) and
lets you retain more in your body (practical).

I do wish theaters did a better job of becoming a great experience again, as
I'm a fan of the concept, the two nearest movie theaters here are considered
world class (Norway) so I much prefer it to home theater, but it's not enough
for the average Joe to bother (barring the top blockbusters.)

~~~
kzisme
That thought crossed my mind previously but I didn't know if it had occurred
to anyone else.

I mean it's not horribly priced here in the US. For a couple it's around 9$
each ticket, but if you want 3D or anything special it's 12-13$. A lot of that
seems overpriced to me, and the one complaint I have is: you purchase a 5$
drink and they don't allow fountain drink refills.

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kleiba
It's interesting to learn that movie theaters originally tried to establish
themselves as highbrow institutions that drew inspiration from actual
theaters. Sadly, not much is left of this ambition today.

The introduction of popcorn may have been one of the first steps of movie
theaters to "open up to wider audiences", but as another thread points out,
the artificial flavor and smells that surround the product today has not just
found friends. Movie theaters, in their fight for customers, have had to lower
their standards so drastically to attract new movie goers that others turned
away in bewilderment. With the advent of home entertainment technology, both
for audio and video, a fair amount of people now prefer the quiet, clean,
comfortable, distraction-free screening in their own living room to a night at
the movies.

At the same time, we're witnessing a big cultural landmark of the 20th century
is dying out. It already has in some forms that had to make space for the mega
multiplexes and super blockbusters.

In this context, the introduction of popcorn may have marked the beginning of
a development in which the original attraction, the movie, became just one
factor among many in the "movie going experience", thereby being devalued. In
the end, movie theaters will have to answer to the question why they expect
their customers to pay premium prices for these factors.

The business model of movie theaters, with or without popcorn, is not
sustainable any more. Whether the disappearance of the cultural entity "movie
theater" in its present form would still constitute a big cultural loss, or
whether that loss has already happened long ago, is certainly worth debating.

~~~
dinkumthinkum
On some level this seems like sn interesting debate but the realist in me sees
this a useless navel gazing. Why don't you go to a movie theatre, see that
there are, in fact, many people there regardless this death of sophistication
or whatever you're talking about. :)

It's a bit like reports of Mark Twain's demise.

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fatjokes
Isn't the Smithsonian shutdown along with the rest of the gov't? Or is
Smithsonianmag.com not affiliated with the museums?

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toyg
From their website, it looks like the magazine is part of the Smithsonian
Institute, i.e. they _are_ affiliated with the museums (you even get a
membership when subscribing to the mag).

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lnanek2
Kind of price tiering as well. People with little money can come and just pay
for the show, others can buy lots of extras.

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shrikant
Also of related interest is this article from 2009 that says:

A "small" at Regal has 670 calories and 34 grams of saturated fat. That’s
about as many calories as a Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pepperoni Pizza—except the
popcorn has three times the saturated fat. Even shared with another person,
that size provides nearly an entire day’s worth of the kind of fat that clogs
arteries and promotes heart disease. And every tablespoon of "buttery" oil
topping adds another 130 calories. Asking for topping is like asking for oil
on French fries or potato chips, according to CSPI.

[http://www.cspinet.org/new/200911182.html](http://www.cspinet.org/new/200911182.html)

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randallsquared
Er, we do ask for more oil on potato chips. The marketing name is "kettle
cooked", but "oilier chips" is basically what they're selling.

~~~
ars
Kettle cooked tastes totally different, crisper, less grainy, thicker, and
less oily.

And you can get low fat kettle cooked which tastes identical to me.

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barrkel
I've never eaten popcorn at the movies, and have long thought popcorn smelled
disgusting. I wasn't pleased when that American tradition was imported into
Ireland when I was a kid.

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enraged_camel
Popcorn by itself actually smells good - it's just fried corn. It's the
ridiculous amount of butter Americans put into it in movie theaters that makes
it smell terrible.

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johnbm
Nope, it's a specific chemical that smells like buttery popcorn, it's what
they put on microwave popcorn. It also destroys the lungs of the factory
workers who produce it (or people who eat too much of it):

[http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57516710-10391704/col...](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57516710-10391704/colorado-
man-wayne-watson-wins-$7-million-in-popcorn-lung-lawsuit/)

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noonespecial
Whoa. There's a truth stranger than fiction for you. It lures you in by
smelling like tasty popcorn but its really a diabolical chemical that kills
you if you breath it for too long? Seriously? That sounds like something that
kills people in red shirts on funky planets with numbers in the name.

~~~
ars
Note that after some successful lawsuits by both employees and consumers
Diacetyl is being phased out.

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politician
Why indeed? I'd rather have a beer than popcorn, so Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in
Austin, TX gets my vote.

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johnnyg
Cause it is tasty.

Not everything needs a blog post.

~~~
adlpz
You see, there is this thing called historical reasons for things to happen.
That post was actually very entertaining and informative.

