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For my presentation I choose my Mom’s meatloaf because it’s a favorite of mine and my siblings.  It holds a deep and emotional connection for us because we grew up in a single parent home eating my mom delicious meatballs that evolved into her delicious meatloaf.  My mom had been out of the workforce for years, however after my parents divorced, she had to re-enter the workforce to take care of four young kids. She found that domestic worked as she only had a second-grade education,  she found that cleaning homes allowed her to be home before we arrived home from school to prepare a hot home cooked meal for us.

Photo by C. Gonzalez

Our favorite food was and still is her pasta with meatballs.  However, homemade meatballs are a time-consuming process that combines mixing all the ingredients, rolling them into evenly size meatballs, frying the meat balls.  Then you make the spaghetti sauce to finish the cooking process of the meatballs.  Now that my mom was now working, she needed to streamline her life.  She knew there would be no way for us not to have our meatballs with our pasta and for those days that we would arrive before her she needed something quick and easy for us to fix.  One day our neighbor brought over half of her meatloaf to share with us because it was too much for her and her husband to eat.   The meatloaf gave my mom a crazy idea; that’s when she came up with this idea of “meatball meatloaf”.  She was so excited about this meatloaf because it would be two meals in one.  Not only was it very tasty, but also very economical.  It allowed her to stretch the budget by making two meals from one dish.  My mom would make two loaves; one for sandwiches, and with the other, she would slice up into big cubes like meatballs, and cook them in her awesome sauce.  We all knew when she was baking her meatloaf because we could smell it while we all played outside.  Her meatloaf was so good that all the neighborhood kids would hang out at our house when she cooked it.  The smell of meatball still takes me back to the great days of when we would all run it and fight for a seat about the table to eat her meatball meatloaf. Thanks for the best food EVER!  Tutti al tavolo!

The nutritional benefits of meatballs:

Beef is a good source of iron and protein. You can enjoy its benefits without overdoing it, if you eat a modest portion. Meatballs are not bad for us because they contain essential amino acids which are good for our body.

Interesting facts:

• It is believed that the Chinese were the first to create the meatball.
• Meatballs found in almost every county all over the world. Meatballs are found throughout Europe, Middle East, South Asia, Canada, Mexico, United States, Central and South Americas just to name a few.
• Spaghetti and meatballs are an American invention. Only American Italians eat spaghetti and meatballs.  If you ever get the opportunity to visit Italy, NEVER ask for spaghetti and meat balls.  A typical Italian meal consists of a first course (il primo) some type of pasta, rice or similar, a second-course (il secondo) of some type of meat or fish served together with a side dish (il contorno) some type of vegetable or salad, and typically ends with fruit and/or cheese, something sweet, and espresso.

References:

Arnarson, A. (2019, April 4). Beef 101: Nutrition Facts and Health Effects. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods/beef

Meatball facts for kids. (2019, November 21). Retrieved from  https://kids.kiddle.co/Meatball#History

Toscana, Cucina ToscanaCucina. “Guide to the Traditional Italian Meal Structure.” Cucina Toscana, 22 Sept. 2015, toscanaslc.com/blog/guide-to-the-traditional-italian-meal-structure/.