Fifties theme

[Georgie]

just got the word that the food theme for the Super Bowl party will be "Fifties Fare." Now, because I'm way too young to remember the fifties (cough, cough,) I'm looking to you folks for some ideas on "retro" food and suitable wine pairings. I can vaguely remember a few things served to me in my childhood, but I think some of you could come up with some good ideas!

[Innkeeper]

Fits right in with our traditional Super Bowl Meatball Sandwiches.

[Kcwhippet]

Tuna Noodle casserole. Spamburgers. Fried liver and onions. Pea salad with Velveeta cheese cubes. Twenty Minute Roast (Spam glazed with orange marmalade). Harvest Luncheon (Vienna Sausages broiled with canned peaches). Dog in a blanket. Banana and vanilla wafer pudding. Rice pudding made with Minute Rice. Jell-O salad with peas and carrots. Just about anything out of the Betty Crocker Cookbook (my mother's cooking bible). Have fun, but all I can say is I'm glad I don't have to eat any of that crap. You're on your own with the wine pairings.

[This message has been edited by Kcwhippet (edited 01-26-2005).]

[Georgie]

Hoo boy...the fifties decade was not exactly the culinary apex of the century, was it! I loved reading your ideas. SPAM...forgot all about that...my Mom used to make a VA baked version...Lord have mercy! No wonder I've repressed that memory!

[Thomas]

KC should have recommended Italian Swiss Colony wine or maybe Cherry Kiava (sp)...

[Kcwhippet]

Oh, yum - Cherry Kiafa. Forgot about that wonderful taste treat - syrupy, cloying sweet. I don't really recall a lot of wine in the fifties. It was mostly beer, and a lot of it. Back then you could get a quart of Miller High Life for $.30, but only if you were tall enough to see over the counter.

[hotwine]

Fondue, if you want to be fancy....small cubes of beef on skewers in a pot of hot oil, with cheese and refried bean nachos topped with jalapeno slices on the side. Mogan David & ginger ale (or 7Up) for drinks. Or simply hamburgers and hotdogs, with canned soft drinks iced down in a washtub. And of course, you should eat off of paper plates, and sit at a formica-topped table with plastic chairs.

I don't think it gets much worse.

[wondersofwine]

In addition to the tuna-noodle casserole, we ate fishsticks and Tater Tots or Swanson's chicken pot pies on nights that our parents were going out. Another stand-by (that I still eat) was a hamburger-macaroni casserole with tomato soup and cheddar cheese and pimiento-stuffed olives. Chili and pizza were popular at parties in the late 50's/early 60's. A local drive-in was famous for it's onion rings and graham cracker cream pie. Runzas were popular in my hometown of Lincoln, NE--don't know if you had them on the East Coast. TV dinners were hitting the market about that time too I think--Swanson's was one of the major brands.