Like a local celebrity who is still loved but maybe isn't packing in audiences anymore, crack seed has faded from its former glory.

Not "crack seed" as an umbrella term covering all the various dry, preserved, sweet, salty and li hing-powdered fruits; but actual crack seed, where the pit of the plum is smashed into tiny bits that lodge painfully in your dental work. That crack seed. The one that took so much work and care to eat. The one that made such a wonderful mess.

It used to be a daily requirement for after-school walks home with friends. It was packed like an essential alongside underwear and toothpaste for Mainland trips. Christmas wasn't Christmas without crack seed in your stocking (or the Yick Lung crack seed stocking!) It was a badge of local pride, one of the exotic foods you foisted on Mainland cousins, one of the things local kids in East Coast colleges asked for in their CARE packages.

Crack seed hasn't gone away, but it has lost its prominence. Now it's retro.

You can still find crack seed with cracked seeds in the Crack Seed Center at Ala Moana Center. But there's only one vat of it among the li hing guava and kam cho olive strips. Not that there needs to be more than one vat of crack seed, but it is so out-shined by the dazzling array of related (and unrelated) exotic snacks.

For the uninitiated, crack seed is Chinese in origin. It came to Hawai'i during early plantation days. The seed is broken with a hammer to add a nutty, bitter note to the otherwise very sweet preserved plum. It is as sticky as jam and as intense as chutney.

Our modern world doesn't quite accommodate a snack that requires the deliberate action of separating out sharp little pit shards with your tongue and frequently spitting them out. It's not something you can easily do while on the computer or commuting. It's a snack meant for simpler times and wide open spaces — afternoons spent sitting under the mango tree in grandma's big backyard letting the bits and pieces of seed drop where they may. A wastebasket next to your computer terminal just doesn't cut it. It doesn't work well with texting, sticky fingers being an unavoidable side effect. Today's snacks are like the "meals in a cup" on Wall-E: Jamba Juice, bubble tea, mochachinos. Those allow for multi-tasking. Eating crack seed IS multi-tasking, and we just don't have that kind of time anymore.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.