I remember back in the 80s and 90s, microwave popcorn was pretty much inedible. Anyone else remember that? It was coated in a synthetic, vaguely-butter-tasting industrial byproduct. Disgusting. My mom used to buy it, and my parents and sister would eat it, but I wouldn't touch it. For me, it was air-popped or nothing.

I became an air-popping popcorn maestro pretty fast as a child, because I was the only one in the household who'd take the time to make a proper bowl of popcorn. I can still make the most perfectly-seasoned air-popped popcorn you'll ever have.

And I spent most of the past few decades avoiding microwave popcorn, because of how awful I remember it being. But I tried some recently, and... it was pretty good. Not coated in biohazardous butter-flavored sludge. Just quite reasonably lightly oiled and salted. Not quite as good as air-popped, but not too far off. Certainly doesn't feel or taste synthetic in any way.

Was there some major shift in microwave popcorn technology that I missed? Because I'm kind of flabbergasted by this.