Macaroni and Cheese

MACARONI and CHEESE.
Today, I was eating lunch, here at home. I was enjoying macaroni and cheese (Stouffer’s), and crackers. While this doesn’t seem like anything to write about, macaroni and I go back a long way. It was a “staple” - when I was in my teens - during the Great Depression years of the 1930’s. My Mother prepared a lot of delicious dishes - scalloped potatoes, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, rice and noodles. She prepared all of these from scratch! She even rolled out the egg noodles, and then used her noodle cutter. Today, we call all these delicious \foods - “starches”. Back then, the only starch that I knew, was the liquid that my Mom would add to clothes - after washing and before ironing - to give them “body”.
I ,also, fixed me a delicious lettuce and tomato salad for lunch. The lettuce via Safeway, and the tomato (my first) from the “Early Girl” plant that Joan gave me - and I planted.
Reflecting on the macaroni, I always have a flashback to 1947-49. I was attending Cal -Berkeley. (Marie was working - first at the Kaiser headquarters in Oakland, and then at California Research - a Chevron subsidiary in Richmond.). I usually ate at the cafeteria in the Students’ Union.
There were about 18,000 students back then - a big majority of us were WWII veterans, going to college on the G.I. Bill. This government program paid for our tuition and books, plus a $90 (later increased to $105) a month stipend for married veterans, To put it bluntly, we didn’t have much “walking around money.” Now, my memory of macaroni.
Every day, I would see this fellow eating, and each time it was macaroni and crackers. I finally figured it out. The macaroni was the least expensive dish at the cafeteria. The fellow, like me, apparently didn’t have much money. He was quite resourceful. The packaged crackers were on the counter, for those getting soup. So, he helped himself. Why not? There wasn’t a sign saying “For soup eaters only.” So, I followed suit! What a great combination - macaroni and crackers!
With this food- background, you wouldn’t think that I would eat macaroni today. Maybe it is because it brings back a pleasant experience, re-living all these old memories.