From the Canned Goods Aisle: Zooroni

Product: Zooroni
Company: Chef Boyardee
Years: Late 70's - Early 80's

These animals all look stoned, and I"m not sure why.

Ok, ok......I know. This is the third Chef Boyardee product that I've covered now, and no, I am not on the Chef's payroll. It's just that the trail of dead canned pasta dishes goes back a long, long way. I mean, when you are selling noodles in tomato sauce, you have to keep it fresh, keep it fun for the kids. Some just so happen to be more memorable that others. And that is why today I am adding Zooroni to the list of extinct groceries. Everyone remembers Zooroni, and I would bet that there isn't a 30something adult around who hasn't tasted the splendor that is Zooroni. If there is, they are a liar.

Zooroni, a delicious pasta in tomato sause with tangy cheese (with or without meatballs) was basically animal crackers in sauce. Shaped noodles that looked like giraffes, camels, elephants and hippos. How they got the noodles to look like those animals is a mystery to me, though I have a hunch they hired a noodle artist to shape all the animals by hand. Or they used a big, industrial machine to make shapes that sort of looked like either a tiger or a rhino, close enough, nobody knows. Nobody but The Chef, that is. He knows, but took the secret to his grave, and though it may be fun to dig him up and get it, were just going to leave it alone.

So where does Zooroni rank in your canned pasta top 5? There are so many classics (Roller coasters, UFOs, Pac Man Pasta, ABCs and 123s, Tic-Tac-Toes, etc....), it's really hard to pick a favorite. Partly because despite the clever names and gimmicks, it was the same can of pasta retooled and sold back to you over and over and over, and us, being kids at the time, were really gullible. (Come on...we really were and you know it).

That being said, it was still a fun part of growing up, and Chef Boyardee was a master at getting us to get our parents to fork over their hard earned cash to get it, even if that meant throwing a tantrum on the floor in the canned goods aisle.

Not that I ever did that...... I was talking about you. Some peoples kids.

Was this one of your favorites growing up too? Express your love for Zooroni in the comment field below in 6 and a half words or less. (or more if you want, I don't care.)

From the Canned Goods Aisle: Sir Chomps A Lot Cheese Ravioli

Product: Sir Chomps A Lot Mini Cheese Ravioli
Company: Chef Boyardee (American Home Foods)
Years: 1991-?

Here's a fun one that I don't remember (look, I was in Highschool in the early 90's....I was a bit too cool to be eating pasta from a can, alright? I was cool, right? Anyone? Mom?). It's called Sir Chomps A Lot, and it was a mini ravioli in a can made by Chef Boyardee. Nothing about this product stands out from the millions of other pasta based meals Chef Boyardee has ever or will ever put on the shelves. Everything, except for this:

Image by Gregg Koenig

Yep, a presumably British Alligator by the name of Sir Chomps A Lot. Which seems like an odd choice of a mascot to me. I mean, look at him. He looks rather unexcited about the whole thing. "Mini Ravioli? Eh.....Seems a bit boring for a sophisticated reptile as myself....I fancy myself as more of a Fettuccine with Fresh Mushrooms, Tarragon and a mild Goad Cheese Sauce kind of person, er, Reptile."  - Say that in your best British Accent. Preferably outloud. Make your co-workers and/or family members wonder what's wrong with you, or give them another thing to add to the list.

So is he a Crocodile or an Alligator anyway? Can you tell? I sure can't.

On the back of the can, it says (which sounds nothing like something a British person, er, reptile would say. Even adding an accent to it still sounds wrong:

"Hello, I'm Sir Chomps-A-Lot and I've lost control for these little Bite Size ravioli from Chef Boyardee. They're so delicious you'll want to romp, and stomp and do a dance called "The Chomp".

Wait, what? We're introducing a new dance now too? You expect me to believe this butler looking person, er, reptile actually dances??? Is the Chomp even a real dance? Anyone? Wikipedia? Mom?

Well now, would you look at this...HE DOES DANCE!:

Still, seems like an odd mascot to me. You know the marketing group came up with the name first, which forced it to be a British person, er, crocodile/Alligator, and from there the whole concept just fell apart quickly.

There were also other Sir Chomps A Lot products like Spaghetti and meatballs, but you get the idea.

Fun for kids on the early 90's, but completely invisible to me, a cool high school kid listening to my grunge music and smoking my Camel Lights.

Still, as one of the many Chef Boyardee offerings to come our way in the last 40 years, it has to be noted in the pages of products that are no more, so we will give it it's place here at Gone but Not Forgotten Groceries.

From the Canned Goods Aisle: Hamdingers

Product: Hamdingers
Company: Patrick Cudahy
Years: 1976-?


What would you say if I told you that there was once a time when you could actually have a choice when purchasing fake processed meat in a can? I know, "Who cares" was my response too. But then I realized that the magical treat I am going to tell you about comes from my home state of Wisconsin, and I felt it my duty to represent. I am sick of people always saying that the only things to come out of Wisconsin are brats, cheeseheads, and beer. It's time that they add another thing to that list: Hamdingers.

Hamdingers were a short lived meat product produced by the Patrick Cudahy Company out of Cudahy, WI in the mid 70's (they trademarked the name "Hamdinger" in 1976, and that Trademark has expired and is available if you feel the need to own it).  The product was sliced ham patties, about the size of a hamburger patty, and it came in a round can. Like Spam, it became a great meat to fry up with some eggs for breafast, but the great thing about Hamdingers is that it came in individually sliced portions, so you could grab a patty and fry it up for that perfect Hamdinger sandwich.

Hamdingers became a recurring joke used on the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000, where the product often would be brought up by the cast. In one episode, they found an escape pod in a large box of Hamdingers. The reason nobody ever found it before was that nobody had any desire to open the box.

Hamdingers were so short lived, they have sort of become lore, in that there isn't a ton of information about them, but people definitely  do remember eating them in the late 70's. I'm not sure if it was a regional thing that pretty much kept to the central states or if it could be found in other parts of the country.

Do you remember eating Hamdingers? If so, please let us know what you thought and what memories you had of them!

The world needs more meat in a can. Patrick Cudahy, the time is now.

From the Canned Goods Aisle: Pac-Man Pasta

Pac-Man Pasta
Company - Chef Boyardee
Years: Early-Mid 80's


Photo courtesy of Grickly

Who didn't love Chef Boyardee's Pac Man Pasta? I mean besides Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde. And Ms. Pac Man (he was kind of a chauvinist after all...).

There were several flavors of this in the early 80's, from regular pasta with spaghetti sauce, pasta and Meat Balls, and even pasta in a "golden chicken sauce". Yup. Ugh.

In the early 80's, when Video game craze ran rampant, it needed to have a video game tie in to be a hit. (see also Pac-Man Cereal/Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. Cereal, etc.) Pac Man pasta was what made the 80's so great. Product placement within other products. Now if they'd just flipped it and made a Chef Boyardee Video Game, my head would have imploded.

So did you love this stuff as much as I did? I remember the Pasta with Meatballs, mostly. Mmm.....power pellets......

From the Canned Goods Aisle: Koogle

Koogle Peanut Butter
Company: Kraft
Years: 70's

Look, I blame my parents for lots of stuff. My dislike of Apple Pie, my anxiety in crowded places, and my fear of puppets, to name a few. But I really can't blame them for not having me sooner so I could enjoy the flavored peanut butter treat that was Koogle. I mean, sure, they could have stockpiled a bunch of jars for me prior to my birth, but really, who has that kind of hindsight? Give them a break, they aren't perfect (remember, there is that whole fear of puppets thing).

Koogle was a flavored Peanut Butter treat from the 70s that came in several flavors: Chocolate, Vanilla, Cinnamon, and Banana. It had a memorable commercial featuring the jive talking Koogle Mascot who sang  "Pea-nutty-koogle with the koo-koo-koogly eyes!" It was around for a few years, but sadly didn't last.

Man, I wish my parents had me sooner. I missed out on some serious craziness with Koogle.

Please, if you've had Koogle, let me know. Sounds like one extinct food I could have gotten into.

From the Canned Goods Aisle: Roller Coasters

Roller Coasters Pasta
Company: Chef Boyardee
Year: 80's


Photo Courtesy of Gregg Koenig

Remember the delicious wavy shaped pasta and the scrumptious tomato sauce? Remember the thrill of knowing that there were 20, count them, 20 hearty meatballs in every can? Do you remember?

Well, I don't. I partly blame my parents, as I remember eating a lot of Franco American Spaghetti (Campbells) growing up, but I guess all the great Chef Boyardee treats were just never on my radar. Does that mean that they won't go on the shelves here at GBNF Groceries? Of course not. Even though I don't remember them, I'm sure there are oodles and oodles of kids out there who grew up with these noodles. So they will take their rightful spot on the shelf. I'll be sure to leave room, because I'm sure there are lots of great pasta treats that are no longer with us....