The Pasta In A Can Topic

[MicBacchus]

When my kids were little, I tried to get them interested in something 'canned' but never had any luck. So much for trying to make lunch easier for me . Strange to say, my son did like Vienna sausages - shudder.

[EdS]

I'm quite proud of myself. I have trouble with the nuances of wine-tasting but my sensory perceptions have come of age tonight. Why, might you ask? Well, I've been reading this thread and thinking about how one would make homemade Spaghetti-O's. Is that an oxymoron or what? OK, you've got pasta boiled to mush. I can do that. But how to get that sickly-sweet sweetness of yore? I knew it couldn't be sugar. I thought about a certain similarity in sweetness to a soft drink. The magical ingredient?

High Fructose Corn Syrup

I couldn't find a Spaghetti-O's ingredient list on Google but I found the ingredients to Chef Boyardee Spaghetti & Meatballs in Tomato Sauce.

Those of you who prefer Boyardee to Batali should take note.

[Carrot Top]

High Fructose Corn Syrup

I couldn't find a Spaghetti-O's ingredient list on Google but I found the ingredients to Chef Boyardee Spaghetti & Meatballs in Tomato Sauce.

Those of you who prefer Boyardee to Batali should take note. 

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Startling, that ingredient list, huh? Chef Boyardee is surely keeping America employed. Plus several other small countries, too, it is to be imagined.

Lovely...sugar cane, sugar beets, grown in the tropical sunshine! And chemicals galore that require at least a Master's Degree in 'something' to build from whatever slop they manage to build it from. Thank goodness for higher education and the heights to which it has brought us!!

Indeed, the very concept of canned spagetti is miles ahead of the usual stuff, no? for as we all know...the tomato is botanically a fruit...so sugar is naturally a good combiner with it. What we are really getting here...is dessert for our main course.

Who could want more in this busy world? All on one plate.

Now if they could figure out a way to have cake and eat it too, the ultimate philosophic pinnacle would be reached. All through food.

Bliss.

[fifi]

With the occasional exception of the beef ravioli, my kids never liked the stuff.

When they were about 10 and 13, I took them on our first trip to Hawaii. We had at least three islands on the itinerary. We arrived in Kauai quite late. Back then, Kauai was a pretty sleepy place and it pretty much went to bed by 9 o'clock. We were tired and starving. The first place we came to was a Zippy's (local fast food place). Inexplicably, they had spaghetti on the menu. My son and I ordered a hamburger or something like that but my daughter said... "Ooooo... spaghetti! That sounds perfect." When we got our food, she looked at the "spaghetti" suspiciously, took a bite, wrinkled her nose. Then she burst out laughing, shrieking "It's Chef Boyardee!" That sparked one of those insane moments when you all collapse into hysterical and helpless laughter over something really stupid. The proprietors must have thought we were on drugs. It was one of those moments that we always remember and chuckle at to this day.

[TheFoodTutor]

OK, I'm feeling the love on the tater tot thread, but I'm not digging the canned pasta. Spaghetti-Os are just plain nasty.

I might could be talked into eating chicken and stars if I were sick with a cold, though.

[viva]

But...but... the canned beef ravioli rock. I always add more jar sauce (whatever is in the fridge), because I like the stuff *swimming* in sauce. That way, I can happily dunk a piece of Wonder bread in the sauce. Yum.

[andiesenji]

There was a time when I used to buy Franco-American macaroni and cheese by the case. It was a godsend when I was campaigning dogs that would refuse to eat their regular food while on circuit (or any trip away from mommy and daddy).

A show dog can lose so much weight in just a couple of days that they quickly seem to be in poor condition. F-A mac & cheese to the rescue. Even the most finicky dog would gobble it down straight from the can and I have to confess that there were a few times, at the end of a long and exhausting day, that I simply spooned some into a dish, heated it in the microwave and had that for my dinner.

I could eat that just before going to bed without waking in the middle of the night with a tummy ache so it must have been easily digestible.

There were also times when I had it for breakfast too. No time for anything else.

Ah, the good old days, essentially working 7 days a week, at least 16 hours a day. No wonder I was skinny.......

[TheFoodTutor]

This is what I love about eGullet. All the food confessions.

In spite of my high-brow tastes, experience with fine-dining and general food-snobbery, I still have a few strange things lurking in my food preferences, stemming from my upbringing.

Here's a shocker: I like canned asparagus. Yup, I'll eat it straight from the can without even heating it up. I haven't had it in a few years, since good asparagus is available much of the time where I live, and I can give it a quick blanching and serve it with hollandaise, but I know that I could go to the grocery store right now, buy a can and just open it up and eat it. No butter, no nuthin'. Just a fork.

But I'm still not really going for the canned pasta. I had a friend who liked Beef-a-Roni, and that kind of made me blink a few times. I guess it's the processed food and the sweet tomato sauce that steers me away, because I haven't even really tried it, and the thought makes me feel kinda pukey.

[Radio7]

Foodtutor: I'm with you on the canned Asparagus. Love the 'gus - embrace the 'gus! lol

As for Campbell's, when I was a kid, it was a rare treat to have their cream of mushroom soup. Oftentimes my mother would serve C's chicken noodle or vegetable. This was all due to monetary restraints.

I still dig the cream of mushroom.

[Mabelline]

Since we are outing on things un-natural, allow me to turn my DH out: he loves Boy-R-Dee ravioli. This guy's a fireman, eats very good quality food either at home or his second home, cooks a goodly portion of it, but he likes radioactive colored food for a cheap thrill, I reckon

I really don't recall being majorly addicted to it as a kid, but then I reckon I was a generation ahead of the revolution. But I remember my mama serving some kind of ravioli canned that has no physical resemblance to that available now.

I tried some about a month ago; just out of the hospital. Hungry. Didn't have much appetite, but had that 'owey' gut feeling that signals FEED ME. Tried some of Bruce's, in a dark bowl, and ended up eating Chicken Rice-A-Roni

[jhlurie]

I have a lot of deep dark confessions about so-called "crappy" food, but pasta-in-a-can is one place I could never go. Sorry fans.

I'm eagerly awaiting all the stories about frozen cocktail weenies though! Or the 10 best uses of Cheez Wiz in cooking. Or a debate about the best "flavor" for Hot Pockets.