#Canned Pasta

2 items

Video thumbnail — Chef Boyardee ABC's and 123's Commercial (1989)
Food 1980s–present

Chef Boyardee ABC's & 123's

Spelling your name in pasta before you were allowed to eat it — alphabet letters and numbers in tomato sauce, a literacy game masquerading as lunch. It arrived around 1980, and behind the goofy can sits one of the great immigrant success stories in American food.

Video thumbnail — Spaghettios Commercial 1994 "Uh Oh, Spaghettios"
Food 1965–present

SpaghettiOs

Neon-orange pasta rings eaten straight from a bowl with a spoon — a 1965 invention that every 90s kid assumes belongs to their own childhood. The ring beat out cowboys, astronauts, and stars for the job, and the jingle promised exactly what it delivered: the neat round spaghetti you can eat with a spoon.