I think we've all hit on something. For many of us, much of the food we ate was tasteless, bland, and over-cooked. No wonder we didn't eat much of it and had less trouble losing weight.

My mother was a good cook, and yet some things I shake my head at even now. She used to get those 1/2" pork chops and cook them for 90 minutes. Veggies were canned (store canned, not put up by her), which makes them mushy to begin with, and then cooked forever. I don't ever remember having a fresh veggie growing up, though I do remember my sister always loved a wedge of cabbage with lunch or dinner.