By Lorin Gaudin

It all started when a four-year-old preschool class sat down for lunch. As everyone opened lunch boxes and began the food comparison ritual, one little girl wailed, “Ewwwwwwwww!!”

Quickly rushing to see what was up, the teachers took a look in her lunch box and saw that this little girl had been given day-old, leftover, cold, dried up, smelly sushi - Ewwwwwwwww!! This was not a social commentary, but neither was it typical lunch box fare for a four-year-old in New Orleans. Of course that set off a recounting of stories about the strangest and most cherished childhood lunch memories. The stigma of having “weird” lunches or the laughing together about the cafeteria’s “mystery meat” sticks with us and perhaps explains why we remember these meals so well.

Most people fondly recall the PBJ. Apparently there is something about the smell of peanut butter that takes people down memory lane. Now, the one-time staple is a big school lunch no-no. One pal remembered eating PBJ’s with corn chips or even ‚Äî yeee-gads–baloney slapped on top. Cafeteria foods also brought back fond memories, misty eyes and longings for square pizza, chili mac, shepherd’s pie or chipped beef on toast (SOS to those in the know).

The more unusual lunch box sandwiches included sugar and butter on white bread or ‚Äòteeny- weenies” (Vienna Sausages) with mayonnaise on white bread. Is it possible that some kids ate sandwiches of chopped black olives and cream cheese on white bread, or sardines and yellow mustard on rye? It seems the sky’s the limit.

Liverwurst, tongue, or luncheon meat - just about anything squeezed between two pieces of bread can turn up in a box or bag.

One gal reminisced about the lunches her dad made. Every day she toted a cut down brown paper grocery bag that was oil stained by the time she reached school. However, secreted inside were delicious sandwiches of leftover eggplant parmesan or any of Dad’s many Italian treats on “good bread”. In typical lunchtime fashion, her “weird” lunches were scorned and she often ate by herself. All that changed when one day a boy with a runny tuna sandwich glanced over at her lunch and courageously asked for a bite. From that point on, classmates battled to share her lunch.

Lunch is powerful for kids. It evokes memories and food habits that carry over into adulthood and can really make us laugh or cry. The offending sushi lunch that launched this trip down memory lane still has kids talking and laughing about that “gross fish stuff - whatever it was.”

Filed Under: Food Talk