Monday Munch
Monday, Feb. 26, 11:30-12:30
Spaghetti, Mixed Salad, Crusty Bread, Cookies
In a fascinating "New Yorker" article, "The Ketchup Conundrum," we learn that, with a Harvard dissertation on psychophysics, Howard Moskowitz set up a market and research business. One day he got a call from The Campbell's Soup Company, the makers of Prego spaghetti sauce, then deep in competition with Ragu sauce.
Working with Campbell's, Markowitz came up with forty-five varieties of spaghetti sauce, with such differences as spiciness, sweetness, tartness, saltiness, thickness, aroma, mouth feel, cost of ingredients. Then he went on the road, asking groups of people to eat ten small bowls of different sauces and rate each on a scale of one to one hundred.
At that time, there was no super-chunky on the market. Based on Moskowitz's research, Campbell's produced it—and made a mint of money.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/09/06/the-ketchup-conundrum
These days, there is a very wwide range of sauces available. You can go for Prego chunky: 1.33 a pound or Black Truffle:; $12.73. Whether you'd choose Prego or Ragu—or Barilla, Bertolli, Classico, Costadina, DelGrosso, Fody, Goya, Hunt's, Michael's of Brooklyn, Mina Shaksura Moroccan, Muir Glen, Nature's Promise, Newman's Own, Tuttorosso, Hannaford Traditional, or one of the zillion others, you'd still have more big decisions. Listing just the basil possibilities would fill a page: basil with or without salt, sugar, herbs, garlic, onions, and on and on.
Instead, leave the choices to the volunteer cooks at the Charlotte Senior Center. Just come on in and relax. Let others do the cooking (and the washing up), while you enjoy good food and good conversation.
Bon Appetit!
Here's the ketchup song, by three sisters from the Andalusia region of Spain. They took their name in honor of their father, a flamenco guitarist known as "El Tomate."
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+ketchup+song
Of course, there's Tom Glazer's "On top of Spaghetti:"
https://youtu.be/HgOdKV5j0cM
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