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Feeling NOSTALGIC!!
*smirks as Nos' does mental double-take, then realizes I'm not referring to her*
My hometown's elementary school & middle school food wasn't half bad - though not on the same level as a nearby, very small school district that my dad worked in early in his teaching career back in the early 60s, which had a cafeteria with its own cook, excellent menus, and fresh, homemade bread daily! (You can safely bet it's been some decades since they'll have had their own personal cook - doubtlessly some food service or other has long ago Assimilated them.)
Anyway, I was nostalgically ruminating on those past menus - gourmet they weren't; suitable for kids, yes.
Did you know, I quite liked the chicken/turkey a' la king over mashed potatoes, with SPINACH? It was actually a great way to eat that dark, strong-flavored vegetable usually so hated by children - the chicken and gravy offset in several ways (in taste & texture) the spinach, and the whole was rendered quite palatable. IE, none of the individual items would have worked alone - mashed taters and meat too bland, the spinach too strong - but together, they did.
But I digress.
Today I was trying to recall what else they used to have that I'd liked. There were the usual traditional hamburgers, fish sandwiches, plain cheese (only) square of pizza on a fairly thickish, bready (soft) crust - Bertucci's it wasn't. Chipped beef (known to some as 'shit on a shingle' - we humans are so Droll). Fridays probably occasionally featured some form of fish and chips - but only bland, breaded sticks, vaguely fish-shaped. There would have been fries and tater tots now and again. I recall neither fried chicken nor those chicken fingers so ubiquitous today. Were there chicken patties? Don't recall, but I think it was McDonald's who popularized those, and they might not have yet caught on for school consumption back then. Mac & Cheese - maybe. Likewise, shepherd's pie. Likely had spaghetti and meatballs, or ravioli with tomato sauce, but probably not anything more exotic. Would have likely come with some standard over-dressed (with Italian dressing only) salad heavy on the iceberg lettuce, with a few other desultory items like shredded carrot thrown in. There might have been soup and sandwich combos, such as grilled cheese and tomato, but this one is hazy and not guaranteed. Likely occasional grinders (heroes / hoagies). I don't recall rice-based or Asian-inspired dishes - remember, we're talking the 70's, here. It was all very basic, white-bread stuff. Hot-dogs were boiled and served with potato chips.
A few cafeteria specialties not often had by me since but fondly recalled include: sloppy joes and pizza burgers. The two are NOT synonymous - the pizza burgers were an open-faced (on a bun) sandwich, had been broiled or baked, and unlike sloppy joes, were not at all runny. I discovered the reason for their unique texture when I stumbled across a recipe for them a few years ago - the ground beef, sauce and cheese was stretched out with - sandwich meat (bologna)! I made some...and found them to be just as they used to be. They hold their shape, and are d@mned tasty. They'd serve them with carrot sticks, and milk.
Desserts I recall ranged from puddings, a more moussey form of fruit-flavored pudding (which I've not really encountered since, but which I now suspect was a 'bavarian dessert' - made with gelatin and whipped topping), fruit cocktail or other fruits from a tin like peaches or pears, raw whole fruit, a few cake recipes (including a rather nice soft gingerbread cake with powdered sugar on top). There were probably a few other cake flavors as well, and brownies. I don't remember if there were ever cookies or not. I think there was a cold rice pudding or custard with fruit cocktail mixed in...
One thing I do recall, is there being one entree - and one only - take it or leave it. We were also a small school district, and it was not yet the era of multiple entree choices and vegetarian options. No breakfast, either. I don't even think we had an option other than the little red cartons of whole milk - no low fat, never mind lactose-free! And I doubt that the idea of fast-food franchises operating branches in schools were even yet a gleam in the eye of enterprising CEOs (though you never know).
So...any of you harbor any fond school food memories? Even if you found it to be pretty eccchh, did you still have your occasional favorite meals? Did I forget one of the universal classics of school cafeteria menus?
*goes looking for her pizza burger recipe* (Cripes, am I in the mood for Comfort Food or what??!)
My hometown's elementary school & middle school food wasn't half bad - though not on the same level as a nearby, very small school district that my dad worked in early in his teaching career back in the early 60s, which had a cafeteria with its own cook, excellent menus, and fresh, homemade bread daily! (You can safely bet it's been some decades since they'll have had their own personal cook - doubtlessly some food service or other has long ago Assimilated them.)
Anyway, I was nostalgically ruminating on those past menus - gourmet they weren't; suitable for kids, yes.
Did you know, I quite liked the chicken/turkey a' la king over mashed potatoes, with SPINACH? It was actually a great way to eat that dark, strong-flavored vegetable usually so hated by children - the chicken and gravy offset in several ways (in taste & texture) the spinach, and the whole was rendered quite palatable. IE, none of the individual items would have worked alone - mashed taters and meat too bland, the spinach too strong - but together, they did.
But I digress.
Today I was trying to recall what else they used to have that I'd liked. There were the usual traditional hamburgers, fish sandwiches, plain cheese (only) square of pizza on a fairly thickish, bready (soft) crust - Bertucci's it wasn't. Chipped beef (known to some as 'shit on a shingle' - we humans are so Droll). Fridays probably occasionally featured some form of fish and chips - but only bland, breaded sticks, vaguely fish-shaped. There would have been fries and tater tots now and again. I recall neither fried chicken nor those chicken fingers so ubiquitous today. Were there chicken patties? Don't recall, but I think it was McDonald's who popularized those, and they might not have yet caught on for school consumption back then. Mac & Cheese - maybe. Likewise, shepherd's pie. Likely had spaghetti and meatballs, or ravioli with tomato sauce, but probably not anything more exotic. Would have likely come with some standard over-dressed (with Italian dressing only) salad heavy on the iceberg lettuce, with a few other desultory items like shredded carrot thrown in. There might have been soup and sandwich combos, such as grilled cheese and tomato, but this one is hazy and not guaranteed. Likely occasional grinders (heroes / hoagies). I don't recall rice-based or Asian-inspired dishes - remember, we're talking the 70's, here. It was all very basic, white-bread stuff. Hot-dogs were boiled and served with potato chips.
A few cafeteria specialties not often had by me since but fondly recalled include: sloppy joes and pizza burgers. The two are NOT synonymous - the pizza burgers were an open-faced (on a bun) sandwich, had been broiled or baked, and unlike sloppy joes, were not at all runny. I discovered the reason for their unique texture when I stumbled across a recipe for them a few years ago - the ground beef, sauce and cheese was stretched out with - sandwich meat (bologna)! I made some...and found them to be just as they used to be. They hold their shape, and are d@mned tasty. They'd serve them with carrot sticks, and milk.
Desserts I recall ranged from puddings, a more moussey form of fruit-flavored pudding (which I've not really encountered since, but which I now suspect was a 'bavarian dessert' - made with gelatin and whipped topping), fruit cocktail or other fruits from a tin like peaches or pears, raw whole fruit, a few cake recipes (including a rather nice soft gingerbread cake with powdered sugar on top). There were probably a few other cake flavors as well, and brownies. I don't remember if there were ever cookies or not. I think there was a cold rice pudding or custard with fruit cocktail mixed in...
One thing I do recall, is there being one entree - and one only - take it or leave it. We were also a small school district, and it was not yet the era of multiple entree choices and vegetarian options. No breakfast, either. I don't even think we had an option other than the little red cartons of whole milk - no low fat, never mind lactose-free! And I doubt that the idea of fast-food franchises operating branches in schools were even yet a gleam in the eye of enterprising CEOs (though you never know).
So...any of you harbor any fond school food memories? Even if you found it to be pretty eccchh, did you still have your occasional favorite meals? Did I forget one of the universal classics of school cafeteria menus?
*goes looking for her pizza burger recipe* (Cripes, am I in the mood for Comfort Food or what??!)
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And yeah, my elementary school food was -always- just the one choice, but you had -3- choices of milk, skim, 2%, and chocolate. I can't think of any classic you left out, I just remember the bizzare rectangular slices of pizza in Elementary School that had this nice thick moist crust... that ruled too.
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But there was one lady wearing an an apron and hairnet, with a Southern accent at the end of the cafeteria line who invariably would ask,
"Do ya want ketchup or mouse turd?
Of course she meant mustard, but...it was more fun thinking she didn't.
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I always loved Friday pizza day at school...
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