This morning my world was made right again by the discovery of the smallest jar in the supermarket.
A solitary jar of Peck’s Paste. I squirrelled that jar away and at a total cost of $1.99 thought I’d done well for my personal distancing, my budget and my weekly meal preparation.
So when I bragged on social media about my purchase I was surprised to find far flung feedback about Peck’s Anchovette paste – some other die hard fans, some others not so sure and yet again others in New Zealand who had never heard of it but definitely wanted in.
This prompted me to do a quick product research and what I found was horrifying. Product Review
Why change something to create an inferior product? I know there are costs, product availability issues, sales, forecasts but there are also loyal customers, fans of your product that through ‘word of mouth’ recommend your product, who in my mind eventually can make your product iconic.
Peck’s Paste is a vintage brand and now have four items available in Australia General Mills
I have not opened my jar of Anchovette paste yet I was saving it to have when times got really lean, or when I just needed something with my scrambled eggs for Sunday night dinner. I am too scared I’ll be bitterly disappointed.
Peck’s Paste a food group in my mind. Whether it is Anchovette, Lobster Salmon, Devilled Ham ….

Who would have thought something so small yet so piquant could make such a difference. Like others I find ‘consistency’ calming in these strange times, and I like my toast and tea to be just so. I think it’s also a bigger issue of being a 60’s baby and being born just on the other side of a Boomer that makes the loss of some of the icons hard to swallow. There is a large age gap between 1965 and 1980. Peck’s Paste transcends and I hope on opening my jar it translates right back to 1967.