Throwback of the House: Please Don't Make Me a Pepper, Too

Not that aspartame did much good. Both the gelatin and the Dream Whip took on acrid odors when mixed with Diet Dr Pepper. Overpoweringly acrid. It tasted slightly less burnt. More tangy and bitter.

This might be the least-natural food item I've ever eaten. Only the animal by-product collagen in the gelatin came from nature. I guess it's possible that the oily finish of the Dream Whip came from petroleum wrought from old dinosaurs. Otherwise, we have a completely factory-made concoction -- and, damn, does it show. It's a melange of chemical aftertastes with an addictive power that compelled my husband and I to keep eating, despite saying, "This is so weird," and "It's making me gag so why can't I stop eating?"

Because only Dr Pepper tastes that way.



Robin Wheeler writes the blog Poppy Mom and is a regular contributor to Gut Check After years of making and eating fancy food, Robin is sick of it all. She's returning to the basics: recipes that haven't surfaced in three decades. She reports on the results every Monday.