I assume that like the rest of us you’ve had microwaved pre-cooked meat pucks off the Sysco truck, too. Regardless of whether it was Salisbury or chicken-fried.
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I know! I’ve had it (the Swanson TV dinner version). Besides, I’m not a journalist 
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Me too, as a kid, and in school lunches. Not since then. But after reading @PatRx2’s description I’m a little retroactively queasy.
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Now I’m wondering: have none of these people seriously had Salisbury steak? Don’t they serve Salisbury steaks in the cafeterias of the fancy prep schools these people attended? Or do they call it something fancy like tas de viande impie and charge $20 for an expertly plated ladleful with a sprig of parsley and a drizzle of grease trap reduction?
Not buying it. Bad school-cafeteria Salisbury steak is a rite of passage.
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Ah the memories!
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Clockwise from top left: hockey puck, algae, Salisbury steak, reconstituted potato flakes.
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I went to Catholic school, not a prep school, but as I recall the snotty variety of the cool kids didn’t eat the cafeteria food at all. They’d go to the nearest convenience store, or the Dairy Queen, and usually not on their actual lunch hour because (whiny voice) they had club meetings then.
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Ah. That makes sense.
The public school I went to had that, but only for seniors. I can’t imagine anyone having escaped the horrors of cafeteria food hell completely, but I’m sure a lucky few have.
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I tried school food once, and vomited all over the table. I ate bagged lunches ever since.
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Not in the last couple of decades, Andy. As a rule, I don’t order Salisbury steak when I’m out (which is a rare occasion), and the homemade ones I’ve had have been very good.
I’m old enough that bagged lunches were the norm. I loved me my liverwurst or Braunschweiger sandwiches.
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This does not surprise me in the least.
But if my choices are cafeteria lunch and a soggy baloney and mayo on Wonder with a side thermos of tepid chicken soup, I would choose… damn this isn’t easy, I’d toss my cookies either way.
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I cannot explain this, but as a child Braunschweiger on toasted and buttered raisin bread was my favorite sandwich.
Maybe I just really needed the iron and fat?
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I’m still a fan. While I was growing up it was a staple in my family, along with grilled cheese. #FanForLife
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Tsk. Mortadella in the catalogue, no capocollo. You need both to make the great sandwich.
Quite possibly. You couldn’t get me off liverwurst or Braunschweiger sandwiches during my teen years, and I probably did need the iron and fat - 6’ 1", 135 lbs by the age of 13. Throw two of them in the bag with a tangerine, and I was good to go. Off course, even more often than bagged lunches, I just walked the 4 blocks home for… wait for it… liverwurst or Braunschweiger sandwiches. 
Yeah. Both are still among my favourites. If I’m really treating myself these days, it’s a baguette, päté de campagne and Camembert or Brie, which follows in a very similar line to my liverwurst sandwiches, except more so.
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Now I know what’s been wrong for the last 30 years. I forgot about braunschweiger.
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This is Christmas Dinner, British Style.
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I liked the Swanson TV dinner version
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I hit something that was probably a tendon four bites in and never went back.
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