Both my kids have loved them but they taste metallic to me. I’m not picky either. I’ll eat the heck out of some generic chicken noodle soup and I love Swanson’s canned chicken and dumplings but all those tomato based foods have that metallic taste I can’t get past.
I remember eating potted meat and saltines with my grandpa, and as fond as the memory is, I have no desire to ever recreate it.
Very good!
From here: Potted Meat Food Products
Eh, heart is just muscle tissue. It isn’t the tenderest cut, but if you’re gonna pulverize the meat anyway, it’ll make a decent ingredient. It needs long slow cooking.
Liver, on the other hand, is just plain nasty. My mother was on Weight Watchers when I was growing up, and back then, she had to have two dinners a week with organ meat in them. She chose liver, which she rather likes. I despise liver now and I did then. Nowadays I am vindicated by all the evidence showing how bad for you liver really is.
My mother learned to cook pasta dishes from her Sicilian mother-in-law, my Grandma Bodoni. Grandma always put anise in her spaghetti sauce, so my mother did too. I HATE anise. (Yes, I hate a lot of food.) I’d eat canned spaghetti as a kid, though, and every time, my father would threaten to disown me. I must admit, sometimes I’ll eat a can of beef ravioli, with some provolone melted on top. However, I’d much, much rather eat my own lasagna or manicotti or stuffed shells with meat sauce.
Regular Spaghetti-O’s and the ones with meatballs are awful. But the ones with sliced franks RULE! They don’t have the “cheese” in the sauce, so they are edible, at least to me.
My mom would serve chicken livers too, and basically just fried, no sauce to soften the blow. In my house, there was a quota the kids had to eat even of things they didn’t like, and I think for chicken livers it was two. (The other offender? Four Brussels sprouts.) The texture, the density–bleah. I love Alton Brown but I cringed all the way through his chicken liver pate show. It brought back some hideous memories.
My husband loves liver, chicken or beef. Sometimes he’ll buy some liver and make it for himself, because I have no idea how to make it, nor do I wish to learn. He makes beef liver and onions with gravy, and it looks delicious…I’ve even tried a bite. It’s still LIVER. He will not let me give the cats the chicken giblets, as he wants them for himself.
I like Brussels sprouts, unless they’re bitter.
We had to eat a certain amount of whatever was in front of us, too. Since my IBS started about when I reached adolescence, this made for some Fun Times for me.
I blame Campbell’s for this. I used to love Spaghetti-O’s, and I ate them (occasionally) all the way from childhood up until a few years ago, so it’s not a “changed (adult) palate” thing. (For the record, I’m 39, so I had plenty of years as an adult eating Spaghetti-O’s.) I’m convinced that when Campbell’s bought out Franco-American, they changed the recipe. Spaghetti-O’s were never gourmet, but they’re much worse now. Almost barfy, as noted above. I swore off them a couple of years ago, and haven’t had any since.
Probably one more example of some genius trying to “improve” something that was fine to begin with. We get that a lot around here.
Nitpick: As the Straight Dope Classic linked to earlier in this thread notes, Campbell’s bought Franco-American in 1921. You’re referring to the dropping of the Franco-American brand name from the cans, which was announced in 2004.
I missed the earlier reference, and didn’t know about the previous relationship. I do, however, stand by the assertion that Spaghetti-O’s taste different now versus only a few years ago. Something changed, and it wasn’t something in my mouth.
Amen.
FINE!
I was at the store today and got your genuine Chef Boyardee SpaghettiOs (they were on sale - got Lasagna & Beefaroni too).
We shall determine sir, the merits of brand vs. generic and if these Spag-Os remain true to the stuff of my childhood.
Sorry if I flamed you too hard lev…but it was too much fun! And if it teaches you the joy of “real” Spaghetti-Os, perhaps it will have been worth it! 
Well, it’s getting on lunch time here and I’m feeling peckish. Soon. We’ll get my verdict soon…
Okay, just had a bowl of the real stuff. Marginally better, but still tastes a bit like baby food. Fresh ground black pepper & tabasco sauce helped.
Probably the last can of that stuff I’ll eat the rest of my life. The other canned pastas like Beefaroni really are much better.
I didn’t eat them either as a chlid, but then again, we didn’t have a lot of the more disgusting food staples of American childhood in my house either; to this day, I do not know what a Twinkie or a Ho-Ho tastes like, but I have tried a Zebra Cake.
I have to admit, I much prefer the quagga cakes, but you just can’t find them anymore…
As someone who has eaten something like a can of Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli every day for a week and a half, I’m getting a real kick out of this thread.
There’s something about being pregnant that just makes me crave complete crap.
Zebra cakes are the freaking bomb.
In fact, Little Debbie is as much superior to Hostess as Lindor Truffles are superior to a mud pie.
We only got the deviled ham very rarely on special occasions. How bad must it have been for deviled ham to be too posh for us?
Ha ha ha ha ha HA HA HA! Great obscure reference!