Regrettable Retro Food from the 50's

How about some fish with your bacon?
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⬆️ What she said! ⬆️
 

Spam has always been Very Big in Hawaii; they are the leading U.S. consumers of Spam by far. It also sells well in Asia, needing no refrigeration. Lots of local company knock-offs of it; you can often find a few imitation Spam brands at Asian grocery stores.

Quite a lot of Hawaiians have moved to the West Coast over the years. It may be strictly coincidence that we and other Boomers agree we are seeing a rise of interest in Spam among Millennials and Gen X/Y, who are totally unfamiliar with it and view it as something exotic and interesting, LOL!
I liked Spam when I was a kid. It had to be fried, though, and slightly charred around the edges.

My grampa liked Spam with sauerkraut. (gack!)

One regrettable 50s meal I can think of is Tuna Casserole. My mom made tuna casserole every Wednesday for a few months or so, and hers was reasonably palatable, but I didn't look forward to Wednesdays eagerly until she switched it back to spaghetti night.
 
This may not be regrettable, but it's definitely retro. Frosted sandwich loaf. Layers of chicken salad, ham salad, egg salad, etc. with a cream cheese frosting. I remember eating a slice of this years and years ago and it was delicious. I'm not sure you can find a bakery nowadays that will slice a loaf of bread lengthwise for you. I think it takes a special machine.
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My mom had this for my 5th or 6th birthday party. I was so embarrassed! I had asked for "normal" food like hot dogs, but she wanted to impress the adults. It was very pretty though.
 
War is Hell

Like a bad Monty Python sketch come to life, British soldiers in Afghanistan were forced to eat nothing but Spam for 42 days straight after a food supply route was cut off by the Taliban. Says one soldier "I was surprised what we could do: Sweet and sour Spam, Spam fritters, Spam carbonara, Spam stroganoff and Spam stir fry."


https://ny.eater.com/2010/2/5/6744405/war-is-hell
 
Breast-O-Chicken. Kind of like Charlie and chicken of the sea for Starkist. Maybe back in the 50s tuna wasn’t an acceptable product. They seem to be catering to the housewife.
 
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"Trimmed with good-to-eat Oscar Mayer tidbits stuck on with cocktail picks, this Christmas tree with meat ornaments is sure to be the center of attraction at any holiday buffet."
 
All these hideous hot dog dishes!

Not 50’s, but early 60’s my grade school served up the driest most horrible meat loaf that had little green onion bits that I could not stand. But being taught to eat everything, I would peck away at it.
 


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