I've been intending for ages to ask an American about that!
I wonder if it's the same thing as UK Instant Whip - a powder that you whip into milk?

We keep powdered milk in the house in case of emergencies but, really, why would one want to eat processed, chemicalised stuff when one doesn't need to?

Compared to whipped cream, it is disgusting. What is it? It's one of those things which is not real food but "processed." I've grown up with processed foods, processed cheese for example. If you don't think about it you can eat it. And why do we? I don't know. I think during the 50's and 60's commercials made the case that processed was better than natural.

So sad....

We're suckers, aren't we? TV tells us crap is good and we believe it.

I will wait to be squashed! Don't know if I believe in "tempting fate!. My mother told me when I was small to "count your blessings, one by one, and you will see how much the Lord has done". Maybe the Powers That Be like to be acknowledged. I have had my share of crap too but I don't like to dwell on them.

It's amazing how things we are told in childhood imprint themselves on our psyches. I know this is a baseless superstition, but there's no way I'm going against it.

CoolWhip is a matter of convenience, I guess, rather than anything else. For people who are (like me) a party of one, whipped cream is just too much. Making it isn't so bad, but storing the leftovers is impossible. And there's this matter of cholesterol...whipped cream is whipped butterfat. Of course, here in America it seems like no one ever heard of moderation. Anyway, it comes in a plastic tub, pre whipped. You must stir it up before you use it...

It's not so bad. When it first came out, it tasted a lot like whipped kaopectate, but it's gotten better tasting as time's gone on. Last time I had my cholesterol tested, it was high. So I eat 'fake' butter (smart balance) and 'fake' whipped cream, lowered my intake of red meat and have skimmed milk on my cereal in the morning. If I think too hard about it, I guess I'd have to say I am prolonging my life - maybe! - but perhaps lowering the quality of it. Still...

I use skimmed milk. I moved over for reasons of health and over time I've gotten so I prefer it.

But the whole point of cream is that's it's creamy. I don't eat a lot of it, but when I do I want the real thing. Double Devon clotted cream is the best.

Cool Whip = softened whipped styrofoam. Never cared for it myself.

And I don't suppose it contains any milk....

As halfmoon_mollie says, Cool Whip has gotten better and more cream-like over the years. It reflects the weird American attitude that the worst thing you can possibly eat is a product with real butter-fat. That said, it tastes fine to me unless I've just eaten real whipped cream. *g*

Listing things you're thankful for is just something American LJers like to do on Thanksgiving Day. As I wrote in my post, gratitude is a healthy spiritual attitude/discipline. But I'm not surprised by your attitude of not jinxing things by being grateful out loud; it seems very English to me.

Yes, I think it is a very English thing. It's not that I'm not grateful- I am- but if you ask me about my blessings I'll shuffle my feet, lower my eyes and say, "Mustn't grumble...."

It is.

Along with "Miracle Whip" and margarine.

They are the Unholy Trinity of Food.

Ailz says they make margarine out of old tires. I've never checked to see if she's joshing me or not.

As a patriotic American, I feel as though I should spring to the defense of Cool Whip.

It's not vile stuff ... it's sweet and frothy and tasty ... and it holds its shape well (due to the fact, as someone else pointed out, that it's made of plastic microspheres.) But it certainly can't hold a candle to whipped cream, especially not Double Devon clotted cream.

Maybe I like it *because* it is second-rate. Poor Cool Whip, always living in the shadow of her more delicious older sister. Her beautiful, perfect, "all-natural" older sister. But it's not her fault that she's kind of artificial. She's a product of a culture she never made. She does what she can with what she's got. Someone's got to love her ... and that someone is me.

I'm quite fond of a stuff called salad cream- which is the poor man's mayo. It's thick and vinegary and yellow and- well- it's what we had when I was growing up.

Oh dear... maybe our streak of bad luck was caused by my saying that I'm happy and lucky... :-(

Ach- I should have kept quiet. I'd hate to plant this superstition in anyone else's head.

Well, as an American I'd like to stand up for those like myself who have never experienced Cool Whip because our parents (and later us) believed in eating real food. My folks liked convenience, but not at the expense of taste.

Yes indeed.

On the whole I'd rather go without cream (which I do most of the time) than make do with a substitute that looks similar but doesn't taste as good.

Others have defined what Cool Whip is. I'll just add myself to the list of Americans who think Cool Whip is vile. I've eaten it, and I'd eat it again if someone served it to me, but I would rather die than buy that stuff for my Thanksgiving pie.

Excellent.

You'd use proper whipped cream, right?

You are so right. I dont know if you got to see any of the vitriole my younger daughter posted in my LJ before I wiped it out. That was my "Happy Thanksgiving" from her. Anyway, like I said in my own comments I do have other things to think about - good things. Meanwhile, so that my LJ friends will not be subjected to her extreme profanity I have shut her out of commenting.
I am still thankful for a lot of stuff, like LJ friends who have been most helpful during this stressful couple of days.

I read what you said about her comments but I felt it would be a betrayal of our friendship to read the stuff itself.

2. What's this Cool Whip stuff you Americans put on your pie? It sounds disgusting. Whatever happened to cream?

I cannot answer for my country; I have never eaten Cool Whip. I try not to eat things whose ingredient list sounds more chemically complex than my shampoo.

Hehehe.

More and more I try to avoid eating stuff that ain't really food. Apart from anything else it all just tastes so gross.

The secret of Kool Whip is that it is resistant to all types of radiation. Therefore in the event of nuclear war if one covers one's body with Kool Whip, one will survive, but then be eaten by roaches.

That is a riot! He he he! ROFL. I needed a good laugh. Thanks!