so.. it was america's favorite italian food tonight. no.. it's not pizza. i'm talking about that great italian maestro.. chef boyardee. no.. not the latest, and greatest creation by the man who is known as the gift to american fast food at home, but the old favorite. spago with mystery meat.. ball shape thingy.
while eating two cans of that stuff.. with, of course, fresh ground pepper medley and some crushed red pepper, topped with aged parmigiano-reggiano, i had a flashback.
i was born in korea, and spent most of my pre-teen yrs in korea during 70's.
as some of you probably know, korea was in vietnam war.. or known to most of non-americans as second indo-china war, and to the vietnamese friends, american war. funny thing is, america never declared a war against north vietnam. it was a police action to help our friends in south vietnam.. tho it cost ton of tax payer money and resulted in death and suffering of countless americans during that time.
anyway, during 70's, black market for anything american in korea was huge. and believe it or not, american military c-rat was on top of the list. c-rat to non-military folks is also known as army food. this was due to the vietnam war. everything and anything that was left over from vietnam war.. things that americans didn't take back to CONUS due to extra weight.. came to korea. it's basically a combat ration.. unlike now days, back in early days, the army rations came in cans. p-38 was one of those thing most everyone who went camping in korea had in their pocket to open those cans.
two the favorite meal in the c-rat among the concessionaire of backpacking food at that time was.. yes :) spaghetti with meatball, and corned beef hash. there were pork and bean and weenie and bean.. but everyone wanted spaghetti with meatball.
tonight brought back the memory of eating that can of stuff during the long fishing trip into the west coast of korea.. oh.. grape fanta goes great with that stuff.. x)