Did pastries and fast foods use to taste better?

[MineralMan]

112. I used to live in a small coastal town in California.

Maybe 6000 population. In the single strip mall in that town was a bakery, called Carlock's. It was owned by a guy who showed up at work every morning at 3 AM. His family all worked in the bakery. There was a newspaper article about the bakery at one point, simply because everything made there was so good. People would drive from neighboring towns just to buy his stuff.

Anyhow, Mr. Carlock made everything sold there himself. All from scratch recipes using just the basic ingredients. No commercial baking mixes. No nothing that wasn't needed. I can't remember how many 100 lb. bags of flour the article said he used each day, but the bakery had dozens of items that were always available, plus specialty items he made once in a while. Everything in the place was to die for. He was of German ancestry, and made some German specialties, too.

Sadly, I moved away from there in 2004, and don't know if he's still in business. He was pretty old when I was there, and I lived in that down for 35 years. Carlock's was the place. Wonderful, local, authentic bakery. I haven't found a replacement within easy driving distance here in St. Paul. I'm still looking.