HeyJaredShoddy Goods, from meh.com, by Jason Toon
A newsletter from meh.com, by Jason Toon, about the stories behind the stuff people make, buy, and sell
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 13
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- Sep 29, 2026
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- Jul 7, 2026
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The experimental fake meat of the '70s (opens the original)
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Hey hey, Jason Toon here with a new Shoddy Goods, the newsletter from Meh about consumer culture. There sure are a lot of vegetarian meat substitutes out there these days - but remember, trends are cyclical…The early 1990s was not an easy time to be a vegetarian in America. It wasn’t just that there weren’t as many choices - it’s that it was hard to even figure out what your choices were. Whole articles in vegan ‘zines would be dedicated to breaking down what to look out for in food ingredient l
The DIY origins of the salad bar: Shoddy Goods 115 (opens the original)
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As someone who (a) likes to eat and (b) is lazy, I’m always up for a salad bar. Jason Toon here with a new Shoddy Goods, the newsletter from Meh about consumer culture, where I discover that the salad bar hasn’t always come with a sneeze guard.<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2pYj!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9efbdec8-eb26-4
Do not remove under penalty of law: Shoddy Goods 114 (opens the original)
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Jason Toon here with a new Shoddy Goods, the newsletter from Meh about consumer culture, taking up the question a million schoolyard comedians have asked before me: “What’s the deal with those tags on mattresses?”The proceedings of the US House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce rarely produce comedy gold. But a bill they deliberated in 1957, which was passed into law in 1958, became the set-up for one of the most inescapable punchlines in Americ
J. Peterman's last ride: Shoddy Goods 113 (opens the original)
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<img alt="" class="sizing-normal" height="674" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-SOm!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f17cc11-10e9-447a-9fcf-f01dc0a9e2da_894x674.png" w
Insurance mascot devolution: Shoddy Goods 112 (opens the original)
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Rejoice! It’s time again for Shoddy Goods, the newsletter from Meh about consumer culture. I’m your host, Jason Toon, and while I like to complain about commercials as much as the next old man, I also try to understand how they got that way. This issue has a fair bit of both.It is a truth universally acknowledged that an insurance company in want of customers must be represented by some kind of allegedly funny character. Since GEICO
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