Making School Cafeteria Pizza from the 1980s & '90s

[@TastingHistory]

Merry Christmas everyone! Check out our second channel Ketchup With Max and Jose: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bWS6nZyQj5uXbLM ; our Reddit page at www.reddit.com/r/TastingHistory/ and watch Clash of the Cookbooks where I co-host FREE on Roku Channel therokuchannel.roku.com/details/ac4b4f1105e22f705a067215671aafa2/clash-of-the-cookbooks

[@nikkirockznikkirockz8551]

Fun fact: Queen of R n' B Chaka Khan was one of the founding Black Panther party members who spearheaded the inspiration for the free school lunch program! 💕

[@777-To-Inspire.]

Merry Christmas 😊🌟🎄🎁🎉✨️

[@ayamiblade9848]

I went to school around the same-ish time you did. One thing I remember about our Friday Pizza day. Our pizza had little pepperoni cubes mixed in the sauce. I loved it! We never only had cheese or definitely not ground beef or beef at all. I guess some school were adding their own little flare to it. Actually having school pizza was the first time I ever had pizza and now its one of my favorite foods lol

[@trustmemysonisadoctor8479]

Merry Christmas from Texas!!

[@saucywench9122]

You're on Roku? Yep, ya are. I'm watching right now.

[@Mike-ls1he]

Former facility cook here; the reason all the big facility cooking recipes tell you to whisk your flour for so long is because we get flour in 25 pound bags, and stacked them ten tall on a pallet. The bottom couple inches are always compacted. No long whisk, and you'll have hard lumps. Older recipes also had you dissolve your sugar in hot water for same reasons.

[@astoriarego8304]

That's really interesting! Thanks for sharing.

[@andersjjensen]

Yup. And when working with stand mixers that have 100L/25gal bowls things just take longer in general. Some things just don't scale up linearly.

[@naithom]

If no one else has said it, thank you for your service.

[@lyndallstafford]

Thanks so much Max. He in Dallas TX unsurprisingly we always has the ground beef pizza, and our lunch cooks made some seriously good rolls too. I graduated in 1987 for an idea of my school era.

[@possibly_a_retard]

As a child I never really thought of the lunch staff as anything special. But I do know. So as an adult, thank you and those like you, for feeding myself and others like me. Every day, 5 days a week, however many weeks in a school year.

[@TheDownrankTrain]

You should 100% make the "School Lunch" a series. Different cultures around the world all have their own way of doing it, and it is fascinating (and often quite sobering) to read the stories of how schools fed large numbers of hungry, often impoverished kids.

[@DrinkYourNailPolish]

YES!!! I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE!!

[@DrinkYourNailPolish]

​@@APV878 "Let's get this onto a tray...nice!" The anime crossover we never expected.

[@tristinkirby]

That's a really good idea.

[@Cocklord911]

collab w jj mccullough lol probably lots of crossover subscribers already

[@piratessalyx7871]

Start with America in the 70’s through now….then maybe world

[@thehoodgamer3153]

I remember in middle school, this sweet lunch lady would notice that i didnt get free lunch and i would only eat if my friends shared with me or given me their leftovers. So she would go to the back of the cafeteria and bring me all kinds of food and snacks, and when pizza day comes she would sneak me an extra one to take home. She was such a sweetheart and may god bless her, I will never forget that lady

[@cindernubblebutt1340]

My mom was a lunch lady. At MY school. She also fed kids who weren't getting food and would load up my tray and tell me to share it with them. It's a shame we can't have good school lunches at no cost to students in this country because of some idea that poor kids deserve to be hungry because their parents can't make enough money.

[@shirleyaspasia2159]

I wish there was a ❤ button. Because I absolutely love this! I was poor in grade school/middle school and high school. And I thank God for the cafeteria ladies that helped me get a meal. I will never forget them. And the people that helped put food in my belly. What a blessing many of them were. I hope they know they really mad e a difference in the lives of their students who grew up struggling. Blessings to every single one of them. ❤❤❤

[@Dylan-uv3bi]

Had something similar happen at my school in elementary. Not entirely sure how but my parents didn’t qualify for the free lunch program (partially because they didn’t lie on the forms). I will never get over the fact that we force children in to underfunded schools and don’t even provide food free of cost

[@suuudo]

Little acts of kindness done to us are all we remember at the end of it all

[@johnwraley3326]

Not all heros wear capes

[@DarthVader-ig6ci]

Max's face flashing with many emotions while his mind rushed through thousand memories as he took the first bite, probably the best moment in this channel's history... I have to admit, it made me tear up a bit❤

[@hiddenknowledge6333]

Same, that was the first time this channel has ever made me tear up like that

[@coffeemkr0]

Me too

[@Patchwœrkman]

Same

[@lococomrade3488]

Here for this. Max truly tasted his own history.. He said it was fresher.. buy the same ingredients in bulk and let them sit for a month. 🤣😂

[@wolfpaws42]

I was absolutely going to note that - glad we're not alone in that!

[@sarapenn9776]

The look on Max's face as he takes that first bite... you just know how hard it hits the nostalgic button.❤

[@JohnWick-rh1zz]

he looks so happy and cute during that first bite

[@jonathoncapshaw7610]

As soon as I saw that smile start to light up I was like “I bet there’s all kinds of feel good memories in that pizza” and then he sang!

[@nancy-sq2xc]

Magical 🤩

[@DaveOBrien]

@Dabednego Exactly the comment I scrolled down to make: that moment when the critic in Ratatouille takes a bite of the Ratatouille and is instantly transported back to being a child having dinner at home is exactly the look on Max's face.

[@SiPakRubah]

Man, I think he almost cried with joy during that part, even I almost cried seeing him so happy from that bite

[@kburke3849]

Retired lunch lady here. I went from making everything from scratch to serving pre-made, pre-packaged items. We were always so happy to serve our scratch made meals. Friday was always pizza day, Thursday was fresh fried chicken and Tuesday was chicken tenders or nuggets. Thanks for the memories!

[@annet6060]

Now the lunches suck!!!

[@ericbitzer5247]

​@@annet6060I bet they do now.

[@davel4030]

Yeah they used to be really good then they got bad then a little better

[@shugotenchi]

In our small K-8 school Mrs.White would sometimes make these UNBELIEVABLE rolls for lunch. During our second break of the day at the kitchen window in the hallway outside the 7th and 8th grade rooms she'd leave 1-2 sheet trays of "extras" she'd "accidentally" made and a 1/4 gastro with a slab of butter and some spreaders stuck in it for "her kids" if we wanted them. 47 years and it's still burned in as one of the most treasured memories of my childhood.

[@ronaldoravelo6107]

Michelle Obama😃😃😃

[@Alexis84DE]

My grandmother was a school lunch lady. She prepared these pizzas and the likes her entire life. It’s not a glamorous job, but she always took pride in it and I honor all lunch ladies for their dedicated service. She also inspired my passion for cooking and baking. Her banana bread is something I treasure to this day. I miss you gram, but you are always in the kitchen with me ❤

[@GirtheAlienGoldfish]

Lunch ladies were always my favorite people. There were a bunch of them whom I absolutely adored because they would give me an extra cookie or piece of fruit. I was skinny and they were worried I wasn't eating enough. I hope they retired comfortably and had plenty of time with their grandkids (this was over 20 years ago and most of my lunch ladies were older women with adult children.)

[@Artimidorus]

It was a freaking glorious job. So many times this was the only food some kids ate (heck, in high school for me it was literally the only thing I'd have most days). Outside of the medical field, what other job involves saving the lives of untold numbers of children on a daily basis? No matter how the U.S. government tries to destroy these jobs and block kids from having access to food, school lunch room workers were/are heroes.

[@keithyinger3326]

My grandmother did the same thing. I still make one of her recipes for chocolate cake once in awhile. It's called wacky cake. Chocolate tends to give me a headache anymore so I don't eat it very often but it still brings back good memories of childhood and Grandma's house.

[@超虎生活]

Was she able to hook you all up with the leftover stuff like cheeseburgers when summer break rolled around?

[@Zerbey]

They work miracles with vanishing budgets and fussy children all needing to be taken care of, I still remember my lunch lady and she made amazing food.

[@LookingForTheTruth85]

This video is GOLD 🥇 you not only give us the recipe, AND show us how to make it perfectly, you give us a beautiful history lesson, and a lot of knowledge. Born in a poor town, to a poor family in Tn in 85, and i absolutely loved pizza day, i was SOOO embarrassed one day, my memaw sent me to school with 2 brown food stamp dollars, back then food stamps came in a booklet that you would rip them out of, and i tried to buy 2 pieces of pizza, the lunch lady said " darlin we cant accept that" i was about to cry and she told me " the reason i cant is because its your lucky day" 😭😭😭 she gave me the 2 pieces of cheeze pizza and a side of corn, then told me to never bring that kinda money again because its special and only grocery stores are allowed to have it, my memaw didn't believe me, but thats when i realized what poverty and poor was, i was 8 and sadly started trading the food stamps for real money at school by telling other kids it was Canadian money, i got a 5 dollar bill, for a 1 dollar food stamp, the other kids thought it looked so cool 😂 i got plenty of food and real money, it only lasted about 2 months before i got in trouble 😅 geeze the memories this video brought up for me is actually wild, i had forgotten all about that 👍❤️👏

[@meganwatson4479]

😂😂😂

[@benjy117]

damn that's throwed off lol. I remember when I was a kid I never seen a food stamp before but I used to see my mom have this booklet called "Quality" Stamps. I didn't have no idea what the hell it was used for. It had something to do with the grocery store I believe. Once that booklet was full of stamps from buying grociers at the grocery store you could redeem those stamps for other items.

[@Chris_W.]

15:19 Cue the Ratatouille’s Anton Ego childhood flashback. I could see the years instantly disappear from his eyes when he took that first bite.

[@ShandraVdeG]

That's the perfect imagery for this moment!

[@AdDewaard-hu3xk]

Tears came in that scene. I was about to lose my mom.

[@marcelaa.4116]

Yesi!!!😍

[@pinecone1321]

Smile while chewing is hard but he aced it.

[@JesseGreenwood-h1o]

Cue it indeed. Off-subject, that scene was one of the best turnarounds of a villain into a sympathetic character in movie friggin' history.❤😊❤

[@mimclaire]

I have to make this pizza for my mom. She was a dietician for our school district, which means for all of the schools in our county, she made up the menus, purchased the food/ingredients, processed free/reduced lunch applications, regulated the kitchens and so. much. more. She held this position from about 1980 (maybe a couple of years earlier than that) until 1993 when she retired due to M.S. It was truly her most rewarding work. She fought for our breakfast program, which wasn't granted until a couple of years before she retired. And that bagged milk? Knowing what I know of the purchasing process and getting to help with the purchase lists, that was 100% the cheapest option they could get for that time period. As soon as the cartons undercut the bags (or that manufacturer went out of business), they went back. My mom would have me highlight the lowest price on the lists, but there were some things she absolutely would not compromise on regardless of how the prices fluctuated. She's in her 80's now and I cannot wait to try this out for her! Thank you for sharing!!

[@gotrescuedauto3584]

GOD BLESS MOMA OKK ❤️😍😘

[@Kiboratedr]

So nice to hear your mom is such an amazing woman!!, i hope she knows how much of an impact she’s made on people’s lives, also be sure to let us know how that goes! ❤

[@Kimunicator]

Dietitian here who worked in a school too. Thank you for explaining our role. It’s so unfortunate that those with that nutrition knowledge are not able to make decisions for what is best for children. We’re given a budget with parameters and we have to do our best. Very frustrating. Give your mom a huge hug for me. Such a scientific job without much respect from those making the decisions. Lunch folks are critical to kiddos and we love to see them thrive.

[@mimclaire]

@@Kimunicator Huge hugs to YOU, and thank you for what you do!!

[@ishtarlopez6203]

I loved my time as a Lunch Lady. Hearing the kids say Miss Miss and seeing the happy faces and rowdiness of the cafeteria are great memories. The kitchen was loud but it was a job i really loved. Hard work but worth it. It was my first job because i always remembered how nice the lunch ladies were to me while i was in school. And i really appreciated that such programs exist because growing up poor you do go hungry. So always thankful!!! So many Thanks to all the Food Service staff and school districts for such a great provision. Thank you! ❤

[@ahorseofcourse7283]

You and others like you were heroes. Thank you!

[@Verahm.]

My Mom was a cook for the board of Ed here in NYC. She was always so excited to make tomato roses and Watermelon swans for the kids. She even started to make them at home. They’re so cute😂

[@dawnl.7792]

i remember radish roses. wish we'd had watermelon swans, they sound cool!

[@shrimpymuscles8413]

I am 75 years old. I started getting school lunch in high school. The lunch ladies made all the food. I loved their large chocolate cookies. I wish I had that recipe. It was at Chatsworth High, in Chatsworth, California, 1967-1969. They cost a nickel. I don't remember our lunches, just the cookies. I recently started watching your vids and subbed. Thank you for your vids.

[@rebelnation4868]

Thank you for sharing your memory, most may not appreciate it but I promise some of us do

[@Veggieboo]

I remember large chocolate chip cookies in a bag!

[@JariDawnchild]

Those cookies! ❤ Why did the schools always have the best cookies?

[@bunnidarling4887]

gen Z baby here (only 21) but i wish we had been able to get homemade cookies, we got the otis spunkmeyer ones that came in a 3 pack for $1.50 lmao they were good cookies but just not the same

[@maidenthe80sla]

I am younger than you by just a bit and was in elementary school in San Gabriel Valley around that time period. I do remember the pizza though.

[@ArronRatliff]

School Pizza day was the best day of the week. That pizza was a comfort food to many a kid facing hard times.

[@LuciaBeans]

School lunch was frequently the only meal I got. I'm 51 now and all these years later, kids are starving now even more than then in the United Corporations of America.

[@morrigankasa570]

I was born in 1993 my favorite school lunch item was the Chicken Quesadilla. The Pizza day pizzas my school had were awful, they were often overcooked and lacking any flavor. But those Quesadillas were a reasonable size for School Lunch (though I would've preferred 4 times as much), had decent flavor (though not great), and were rarely overcooked. Although, most of the time growing up I brought a packed lunch to school.

[@falloutfart9917]

I grew up in the 2010s and the pizza I had wasn’t that good. I remember feeling like it didn’t have enough sauce so I would put ketchup on it.

[@LM-MMM]

yep. Ours was on friday. Last good meal of the week. People from stable homes who love to complain about school food will never understand just how important it is and why some kids never complained.

[@James-vn8zb]

Y'all were on the free lunch plan. 😂

[@cherieschmelz1973]

I just made this pizza tonight for dinner. I re-created my high school lunch all the way down to the french fries, Coke, and Nutty Buddy. Made the sausage version and within one bite my husband said THAT’S IT!!! Just like our high schools’.

[@Scapegoated_Soulmate]

That’s what I remember having too! What type of meat did you use ?

[@marylaplante7261]

I've been trying to re-create "school pizza" for years. My Italian colleagues don't believe it ever existed! Now they are in for a new year treat😉 Thanks Max, Merry Christmas to you and all my fellow Tastorians.

[@flinx]

"treat" or trick? The pizza we ate was good enough IMO, but not great.

[@awilli182]

Wouldn't it be like serving them a bowl of Luke warm Spaghetti-O's instead of real Spaghetti?

[@Growmap]

@@flinx True. But we didn't have anything to compare it to in the 1960s. It was better than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Or my junior high school lunch of pork and beans and a slice of bread.

[@dirtyblueshirt]

I guess we'll be some of the few to understand why Italy declares war on the US next month.

[@colinstu]

Italy's closest / original equivalent to school US pizza could be argued to be /would be Sicilian pizza.

[@paulfacemire8894]

I am 63 years old and I’ve been looking for that pizza recipe for a long time. That was always my favorite lunch at school. Thanks for putting it out there.

[@deannaatkinson3004]

Another 63 year old. I grew up on an area that offered good pizza at shops as close as across the street from school. But, it was cheaper at school (both cost and taste). I often opted for the school pizza. While the quality was fairly bad, it remains one of the iconic tastes of my youth. I might need to give this a shot. Working as a baker, I can easily bake a full sheet pan of thus.

[@robkirk6623]

@@deannaatkinson300470 here and been looking for it! We had the pizza with hamburger. I have tried to create it but not been that close.

[@kayo5291]

@@deannaatkinson3004 Let us know how it comes out!

[@111scone]

Okay, so we are the same age, what was it about the peanut butter and honey sandwiches that made them taste so good that I can't replicate at home?

[@tracyp9554]

Max! I made this for supper tonight. Usually my husband inhales my pizza. This time he savoured all 3 slices. He closed his eyes and fell into time. Thank you so much. It brought back memories. Love you Max! ❤

[@SuperTinyTurtle]

....things that never happened

[@NigelRamses]

@@SuperTinyTurtleWhat makes you say that?

[@rangergxi]

@@SuperTinyTurtle All they did was make a pizza.

[@carstenpfundt]

​@@SuperTinyTurtleYou'll never be truly loved

[@tracyp9554]

@SuperTinyTurtle there's always a bad apple in every comment on the internet. Go find you some joy and bake the damned pizza.

[@Tulipstremble]

Seeing Max’s eyes LIGHT up when he took a bite in immediate nostalgia and recognition and innocuous joy has to be one of my top 10 favorite moments of Tasting History

[@CrystalBrown-id3mp]

Same! 😁

[@justineb]

Omg this is hitting me right in the feels, thank you so much for covering this. I had a really difficult childhood in the 90s and pizza day was one of the few joys I had.

[@slwrabbits]

Hope things are better now!

[@RaeCarson]

Likewise. Being part of a single-mom divorcee family totally sucked. In middle school/jr high, I had an "in" with the lunch ladies too; my bff Jessie had a grammy who was the head cook. As such, I was vouched for as trustworthy and responsible enough to work as a server and dishwasher and could earn my meals that way. For me, it was a type of freedom -- earning my keep in a way that most other 13-year-olds couldn't. And the days they served pizza and peanut butter-chocolate bars were the BEST. Once in a blue moon, Grammy would slip Jessie and me an extra bar to split. Yum!!!

[@PALACIO254]

Did you guys have holiday ice creams in elementary school?

[@Rose-jz6sx]

❤❤❤

[@heckofabecca]

Same here

[@DrPluton]

Our rectangular school pizza (I was born in 1984) usually had diced (cubed) pepperoni on top. It was usually served with a side of corn and either applesauce or a brownie. And of course, I always got a small carton of strawberry milk with mine.

[@TheJukeboxzero]

Another 84 baby here - we had the pepperoni cubes as well. Going to make this for the Super Bowl party

[@richardwee9428]

strawberry milk rules! We didn't get it often in my school but it was the best. Still love strawberry quick.

[@shawn9210]

I very much remember the cubed pepperoni. My wife went to a school that had no school lunch (the school was wealthy so it was expected your family made the lunch) so I had to explain to her what the school lunch program was. She was very disturbed by the photos of square pizzas with cubed pepperoni, especially when I noted that was the GOOD option compared to some of the more questionable recipes like the spaghetti.

[@beckycaughel7557]

Strawberry milk?! We never had strawberry milk just said regular milk, and occasionally chocolate milk.

[@hannahb2306]

Same for me but born in ‘95. Ironically I never liked school pizza lol. I tend to love pizza so I gave it another try when I worked at a school a few years ago and still didn’t like it. Salisbury steak was my favorite lol

[@hk2read]

Max is the best history teacher. My kids fall asleep in their high school history class but they are wide awake and alert with Max. They actually learn more and retain info from Max’ perspective of history using cuisine. Awesome job Max!

[@mwater_moon2865]

agreed! my daughter has no problem wiht school, but the way to my son's -heart- brain is through his stomach!

[@trinketsmusings]

I don't know why but that totally made me cry. The look of nostalgia on your face...priceless.

[@fexdammit]

15:22 just a flash of emotion, well played Max!

[@crimpykrimperoon]

I'm not even American and I cried :D

[@teru797]

@@crimpykrimperoon At my school I miss the oval / round pizzas. Not sure if it taste similar to this but they appeared to be more cheesy. This was closer to the 2000s so idk how much it changed.

[@bron2452]

nobody fucking cried over this video

[@NothingXemnas]

It is videos like these that make me want to fight for the world, to bring back and reclaim what was stolen from us and give to our children/future generations. Food, health and love to kids and adults, wherever they are.

[@rosapanther8466]

As a German I find that super interesting!!! I learn so much from your channel! I also grew up in the 80's/90's, and we didn't have school lunch. In Germany it was common that mother's packed their kids food, because there was nothing else to keep us going..

[@MatthaeusNigellus]

Seeing Max’s “core memory unlocked” moment was a nice belated Christmas present.

[@nat040496]

Seeing him talk about growing up in the 80's reminded me he's in his 40's. Dude looks like he's 25.

[@YTUse601]

I actually teared up a little seeing his face

[@largo4750]

The face he makes with that first bite says 1000 words. You didn’t even need to talk max i literally felt that

[@marthacancerng]

It was very informative to watch I had a misfortune, I was diagnosed with ovaian caancer. I also created a channel and am trying to move in that direction, but so far not very successful(H442

[@1luvNE13]

Same 😅

[@donaldwert7137]

Yep. You could definitely see that he needed a moment.

[@matthewlawton9241]

As an 80s kid, it made me emotional.

[@xondisco]

Absolutely 😊

[@pmazurek559]

Born in 1972 my grammar school served this pizza on a regular basis. I loved it. I've been wanting the recipe for the last 20 years. Thank you so much!!!!

[@moosedawg71]

Same! '71 baby here and couldn't agree more!

[@RobynDavis-sj9tc]

@@moosedawg71yes!!!

[@pmazurek559]

Makes me wonder why a pizza restaurant hasn't used this recipe.​@@moosedawg71

[@moosedawg71]

@@pmazurek559 There may be one that has. I don't know if they're still in business, but when I lived in WV a decade or so ago, there was a local Italian restaurant chain there called Napoli's and their pizza tasted EXACTLY like this. They had a plain cheese version and a "meat" version which looked and tasted JUST like the school cheese & beef pizza!

[@hauntedmilk8540]

Same... but we definitely never had a beef version. Only cheese.

[@SephiMasamune]

Dutchie here, when i went to elementary school in the late ‘90s we were expected to bring lunch from home, the school would only provide milk in those big plastic cups. Later in the early ‘00s i remember middle school lunch varying from ‘broodje gezond’ which was basically a ham/cheese sandwich with added egg, lettuce and tomato, filet americain (spreadable tartare with raw onions) to grilled cheese (regular or spicy) and the always classic pizza slices on Friday. Cool video Max, keep ‘em coming!

[@TomoeQuixote]

That first bite, the raw emotion was 100% visible, and it was heart warming. Thanks for the Christmas gift of seeing such a moving moment.

[@buttonvalley]

I graduated high school in 1981, and this looks like the pizza that was made in our school. Pizza day happened about once a month, and even the faculty ate the cafeteria lunch on pizza day. Once every kid got through the line, extra squares could be purchased for 25 cents a piece until sold out. It ALWAYS sold out. Thanks, Max for bringing such a personal bit of history to us. You've spread warm nostalgia to all.

[@brt5273]

So great they sold extra slices. At my highschool they made huge fluffy white dinner rolls and always baked many extra to sell like that. I know a lot of people have bad memories of school cafateria food but at our school it was typically WONDERFUL!

[@JohnnySmithWhite-wd4ey]

One of my friends moms was the manager of our school's cafeteria.. Many years later I saw her in a grocery store. We chatted for a bit. Eventually we talked about her time running the school,'s kitchen. She told me about bringing up the sanitation of the place. Fighting to get proper funding. And trying to bring up the quality of the food. I guess there was a lot more to being a lunch lady than meets the eye.

[@kevingriffin1376]

I graduated in ‘80. We had English muffin pizza for $0.35 a plate. In spite of the otherworldly color of the cheese (purplish) it was the best school lunch.

[@markderyckere9725]

When I went to grade school in the 60's we got are whole lunch for 25¢ and that came with the milk too! I never cared too much for the sauce on the pizza but now I know it was because it was made from tomato paste and not puree. Too zesty for my liking back then, kinda like the pizza sauce they sell in jars these days or the kind on most frozen pizzas.

[@vajdcpa]

Madison Jr. High circa '75-'78 had the best lunch-ladies in the world. Their pizza was top-notch. Each one was a personal size, hand-stretched round. Pizza Day was every Friday. That and a carton of chocolate milk was the best lunch ever.

[@Somebody.Alive-pj6xp]

As someone who has a family that doesn’t celebrate Christmas and I’m to old to be a priority anymore. This is oddly comforting. This made my Christmas Eve. I’m sitting alone in a spare room at my grandparents house. Watching as the snow falls outside, and watching this Tasting History video. I want to thank Max once again. I can’t even describe in words how much I’ve appreciated this channel since I discovered it a few months ago. Tuning in whenever I see an upload and just smiling- or just being invested in the recipe and origins of the recipe. Just having the opportunity to watch someone do something that just resonates with one’s self, with such an entertaining and educational twist. It just warms your heart. Even if I’m not getting a real Christmas this year. I’d say having a Food/History video to geek out over is a pretty good gift. Also. Merry- Or Happy Christmas to all Tastorians and to you too Max! Merry Christmas 🎄

[@Michelle_Collie]

sounds nice, a cup of hot coffee or cocoa. while here in az its in the high 70's its a warm winter for us. for me I am having iced tea.

[@beowulfsrevenge4369]

Merry Christmas!

[@lisaramaci6973]

Somebody Alive, I'm with you - my family is all gone, leaving me with literally no one, so holidays are always a lonely time. I hope things get better for you soon, but in the meantime, do something nice for yourself, even if it's going back and watching every TH video since the very beginning. I wish you a merry a Christmas as possible, and may 2025 be a better one for you. 🙏😘

[@purplecat4977]

From a fellow person sitting in a room and looking forward to a Christmas Eve that's going to be made up of chores and Minecraft, a merry Christmas to you.

[@agirly1503]

❤

[@TheMamaMel]

I’m an 88 baby so went to school in the 90s and remember this pizza but we had sausage pizza and it was a really finely ground sausage too. It was so, so good! We have a loca pizza place that makes a very similar pizza but I need to make this for nostalgia sake and so my kids can see what the good old days served up! Side note..I’m obsessed with your stand mixer-it’s a beauty! 😱

[@TNTom67890]

@2:26 the reason for whisking the dry ingredients for 4 minutes is because it blends them together. When working with a small batch they blend easier then in a large batch for 100.

[@SylviaRustyFae]

Yep, its the fact that a batch ten times larger needs essentially ten times as long to mix together

[@JohannGambolputty22]

I worked in the kitchen of my highschool. We’d get free lunch if we helped washing dishes. I remember the giant stand mixers very well and I could see why it would take a while to get many pounds of ingredients mixed.

[@ZakTheFallen]

Yeah, that huge batch for 100 would require a lot of thorough mixing. This also reduces the chance for error, especially when you're a busy cafeteria cook and don't want to risk screwing up a recipe.

[@Mrx2848]

Also could be a roundabout way of giving the yeast time to start blooming in the water

[@sevenember3332]

@@Mrx2848 That’s also an important factor. Timing is everything in a kitchen and you learn what can also be done in the time you’re waiting for these things to finish, like getting your pans into place to prep

[@SeattleJeffin]

I remember eating this in the 70's until I graduated High School in the spring of 1981. My lunch room ladies, they were all ladies at this time were saints of the highest order. Monday was Pizza day, Tuesday varied, Wednesday were always hamburgers, Thursday was chicken fried steak and Fridays were fish sticks. All of the bread we at from sliced loaves to the hamburger buns and dinner rolls were hand made by these gentle ladies. I remember hearing about kids from other schools hating their breakfast and lunch programs. I never understood this, everything we were served was so tasty. This video was a joy to watch and thank you for bringing back the memories. Lunch ladies I miss you and Godspeed. P.S. IIRC Tuesdays rotated through burritos, meatloaf, salsbury steak and fried chicken cutlets.

[@LeftyScaevola]

Yep, ate that square pizza in the 60s and 70s. the highest fat day, however, around here was Mexican food Wednesdays.

[@Ripplenator]

My grade school lunch ladies didn't bake the bread, but we had a local bakery that supplied the school with bread & buns, as well as a local dairy that supplied the milk...in small glass bottles. Every once in a while someone would drop a milk bottle. Boys did all the work in the cafeteria, and they had the smashed milk bottle clean-up down to a science.

[@frotoe9289]

I did this about the same years as you. Didn't eat in school in K-6 because I could walk home and get something there and we were on the frugal side in those years. 7-11 was school lunch, and yeah, pizza was everybody's favorite. I recall lasagna being popular. And yes, oh absolutely yes, there were fights over rolls--you had to protect them at the table. I about broke Victor's arm in 7th grade when he tapped my right shoulder, and grabbed my roll from the left, and I caught his wrist before he could get away. That was maybe the third time he'd snatched food from me, and he never did it again--this time it was a roll instead of a hunk of white bread or an apple and that was going too far. Not EVERYTHING was tasty. Fish days were very not popular. But at least we never got "Sweet Potato-Prune Bread Squares" (a recipe I see in this Dept of Ag school cook book Max references--it's online).

[@Person1865]

The phrase "lunch lady" reminds me of Chris Farley in a hairnet. "Sloppy Joe's! Slop-sloppy Joe's!"

[@Chef_Jeff69]

I had this in the Seattle area Elementary School in the 70’s. (75-80) Hot lunch cost $.15 eventually rising to $.45 Milk was $.05 & $.10 The milk also came in 3-sided pyramid shaped cartons. The pizza was my favorite! We had the ground beef version.

[@surprisedchar2458]

The shift in Max's tone to one of longing the moment the memories hit him really shows why "nostalgia" roughly translates out of old greek to mean "a painful homecoming".

[@CABedard1]

Just made this recipe. My son who loved school pizza said it was spot on. We added pepperoni to half the sheet. My husband loved it too. Thank you.

[@kitrinayolie]

That look of nostalgia on his face when he took a bite: You can't fake that absolute Look of Satisfaction. Glad to see you stuck with us! Keep the content coming!

[@emjayprobably]

I love this video for a multitude of reasons: - pizza (specifically childhood pizza) - acknowledging the Black Panthers and their anti hunger initiatives - calling J Edgar Hoover a sociopath without actually using those words - a surprise baby Max Happy holidays!!!

[@karenwood8124]

Newton and Seale drew on Marxist ideology for the party platform. They outlined the organization’s philosophical views and political objectives in a Ten-Point Program. Those guys were the founders.

[@skibidi.G]

MERRY CHRISTMAS 🎄🎁🎇

[@geemac7267]

@@karenwood8124 Lots of people don't have a problem with that. I'm not one of them. The BPs serving meals to hungry kids is great, but they were a radical racist revolutionary group. Hitler fed lots of hungry kids too, while he set in motion the deaths of other kids. Somebody once said two things can be true at the same time. Hoover is widely scorned now (justifiably) for his methods, whether they were well intentioned or not. But I wonder if the people who decry his illegal surveillance, harassment and infiltration of the BPs would also admit that the current government intelligence agencies are actively involved in the same activities to groups they see as threats? Doubtful.

[@Turd_Furgeson]

You left out that the black panthers killed cops. Nice omission

[@Turd_Furgeson]

​@@karenwood8124modern schools were developed to be indoctrination centers and not for educational endeavors.

[@NateK94]

Grew up in Kentucky, and I remember those bags of milk. Everyday for the entire year we had them, at least one kid would pull the straw out of the bag and flood the tray with milk, ruining their lunch or breakfast. My mom was a lunch lady the whole time I was in school, every one of the lunch ladies were so glad to see them go.

[@amani576]

Yep. Grew up in NC. Was in elementary school until 2000 and remember those bagged milks for a few years.

[@cutiedudie2002]

Chiming in from Wisconsin - yep, there was bagged milk for EVERY meal from Elementary through Middle school (we had more choices in high school). This would've been mid to late 90s.

[@sarahelkinton5574]

I had bagged milk in elementary school.... we gave up on the straws and just bit corners off the bag

[@eldritchbaobun9976]

Yep, they were in Texas too.

[@callyr5839]

We had them in Indiana for just a very short amount of time. I can't really say how long, but I remember them being in the crates kind of flat and and sad. They didn't last long where I went to school and were gone within that same year (I'm pretty sure anyway) due to parents complaining. Kids at my school misused them on purpose to either destroy their lunch (so they could be allowed to get whatever they wanted going back in line), or get a small corner off and spray it across the lunch table at other kids. I had forgotten all about those little sad glorified ziploc baggies of milk.

[@shadowcrawler300]

You sir deserve all the subs for this - the whole reason i subbed, not only for the recipes and the history, but for the results and the results prove everything. BRAVO!

[@motodora7619]

my mom is a retired lunch lady. she was always generous to those in need and ever so hungry football player. her lines were the popular lines, no matter what was being served. a hot meal and a smile goes a long way. everyone called her 'Grandma"

[@amandaschultz8867]

The sparkle in Max’s eyes when he said he should have made all one hundred slices was like looking at an extremely delighted little boy!! Love this channel and you should definitely do more school lunch favorites!!

[@j.b.woodward3748]

I thought he was going to get emotional on us! What a great video

[@MaxNewland_]

The version of this my elementary school served had pepperoni - but in little square chunks instead of round slices. Absolutely loved it. It was my first time trying pizza with any toppings at all and I was over the moon for it.

[@pex_the_unalivedrunk6785]

Sounds like Totinos pizzas, which also have little tiny pepperoni cubes...and they are also rectangular, have a crispy air puffed crust underneath. They cost so much more now than they used to, and I think they've stopped putting bits of fennel in their sauce, which is too bad, because that's what made it taste good!

[@sarahmccollum3694]

I concur. Arrowhead elementary in Copley Ohio offered the pepperoni pizza. It was my first time trying pizza as well. I was in love! I loved it. I also remember the bag of milk, but they switched to paper cartons of milk in 1987. Memories!! 🎶 lol

[@superskullmaster]

Same for me.and. No it was not Tostino’s, it was the same not quite done crust with cornmeal on the bottom pizza yawl thinking about.

[@dv7910]

@@superskullmaster I remember flour on the bottom of mine vs cornmeal... Still I'm gonna have to try this. I've been thinking a lot about those greasy things lately.

[@1984WillC]

little square pepperonis yup, it was good

[@HeroGenix]

Growing up in the UK I was at school when Jaime Oliver was pushing for healthier meals in schools. Our school had similar tray bake pizzas, and I always remember the macaroni cheese and tuna bake being good too. We got puddings (or desserts) too, you could choose to have a hot pudding or crackers with cheese. Alongside that it was tradition to have fish and chips on a friday, and there was always a stampede when your table got called for seconds. We were also given a cup of milk with our meal, this video really unlocked an old memory for me

[@paulfeist]

70's kid here... but that pizza evokes very strong sense memories for me, too! That's definitely the same crustless pan pizza we had. I could actually smell it for a moment when you showed it coming out of the pan. The irony is - in the almost 50 years since I attended the Elementary School where I had that pizza (and the sloppy joes I still crave!) I have a career in education ( technology and database work), and, I now work in the very school building that was once my 2nd grade to 6th grade school... it's now the School District Admin Building. The walls where the cafeteria was have moved, but, I still remember where the line was for the pizza's and sloppy joes!

[@lorenschmidt6111]

We had almost the same pizza in the 1960s, except that sometimes the cooks would sneak in extra veggies (which looked like the ones left over from the previous day) under the cheese. Likewise, in middle school we had sauerkraut-laced chocolate cake . . .

[@111scone]

Oh, wow, I forgot about the Sloppy Joes!

[@SM-Flyers]

The look of pure joy on your face when you bit into the pizza is one for the ages! You looked so HAPPY!

[@stormraven4183]

The 4 minute mix for the dry ingredients is because of the sheer volume in the original recipe. It took that long in those giant mixers to get the dry ingredients evenly distributed. We used to put the dry yeast in with the other dry ingredients, then add the water and oil after 4 minutes. Our yeast never sat long enough to even think about losing potency, so we saw no reason to proof it. Also, when you sprinkle the cornmeal, hold your hand a foot or more above the pan. It helps to even out the coverage. ETA: bagged milk is more of a Canadian thing than a U.S. thing. Perhaps your school got milk from up north?

[@KetharinEdits]

I had bagged milk in my midwest school lunches around '99ish. Its not the Canadian bagged milk you're thinking of, where its a big bag they put in a plastic carton. Its a palm-sized bag of milk with a plastic straw you stab into it

[@ClericsRose]

We had the bags down in North Carolina so I don't think that's the reason. I think it's just down to logistics (eg more bags fit into a container than a cardboard carton for the same volume of milk + durability of the bags).

[@pauldurham2527]

They have bagged milk at quicktrip gas stations in Wisconsin. Best chocolate milk ever!!

[@GoingGreenMom]

I had bagged milk in Tennessee in the 90s. The palm sized stab it with a straw kind. It was about as messy as the average Capri sun pouch given to a 2nd grader. 😂

[@tenchraven]

Good theory, but I grew up in Vermont, never saw it. With a state government that obsessed with trying to mimic Canada as much as it does New York, if it was done in Canada, it would have been done in Vermont.

[@Anthony-ib3hr]

First off, my school(s) had the ground beef one occasionally and it was very good. But my FAVORITE was the hexagon Mexican pizza. That had a unique flavor and was SO delicious. Our pepperoni pizza was basically like Totinos, only triangle but with the tip cut off if that explains the shape. Had the little cube pepperoni too. But OOOOOH that Mexican pizza.

[@fantauzzz]

they started selling these at the grocery store I go to and I immediately bought so many. They still taste SO good. But, if you want to make it yourself, make any normal pizza recipe and add taco seasoning to the marinara sauce and cook your beef in taco seasoning too! When you make it at home it tastes like the bougie version (even though its not expensive at all)

[@functional18490]

The Mexican Pizza was called Fiestada when I was young.

[@elizabethcary3626]

I went to school in the 50’s and 60’s. I loved the school pizza and the hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes. I’d like to see you make these from my time in school. Thank you.

[@karrieharbart9266]

My mom was a lunch lady and I recently came across all of her old recipes from work. She was in charge of making the cakes and cookies and every recipe was for like 75 dozen cookies! Pizza day was my second favorite school lunch day, the first was the chicken patty.

[@itscourtney93]

I totally forgot how good the chicken patties were!!

[@cc1k435]

Oh, lord! Please share those somewhere! ❤❤❤

[@distorteddivine3638]

My mom was a lunch lady for a few years too. She doesn't have any of the old recipes, since a lot of the stuff served at our school was from those wholesale sellers of frozen food and just heated up in the ovens before serving, but she can still make the amazing chicken and gravy served over mashed potatoes that we had.

[@sheilaflory2541]

My neighbor was a lunch lady/cook/baker. I have a couple of her recipes that she downsized to normal family quantities.

[@sqike001ton]

I can remember the 12 grade English teacher loved the chicken patty and he would dismiss class at the 5 minute bell and take everyone down to lunch to be the first ones through the line on chicken patty day it was great having 4th period English senior year as that BI-weekly first in line was nice

[@anthonyrobinson6590]

I remember the ground beef topping in the 70s/80s. Cafeteria staff used to cook more from scratch before the Food service companies took over in the 90s.

[@carolann4087]

I grew up in the 60's and my mom always packed me a lunch, but on turkey/gravy with mashed potatoes day, I would beg my mom to buy me a school lunch. At the time I weighed maybe 85 pounds, I was short and skinny, but I would go back for seconds and then thirds. Those lunch ladies thought it so strange that I could eat that much. They probably felt sorry for me and thought I didn't get fed at home-not true at all, I just loved that meal!

[@KenS1267]

I grew up right next to an elementary school in the 70's into the 80's. The cafeteria workers cooked lunch for the whole school every day. To the best of my knowledge nothing was premade and brought in frozen.

[@stargateproductions]

Food was probably healthier back then too

[@KevinJames-yg9eu]

I always wondered why the sausage on our pizza was so horribly blah. It wasn't sausage. Doh. 🤦‍♂️

[@HeidiBuss-pd8cw]

I forgot that I taught at a school that had a commercial food company prepare and deliver lunches. When I had cafeteria duty, I ran around the cafeteria with small scissors around my neck, and cut open condiment packages. The staff lunches were expensive in my opinion.

[@my1promise]

Thanks, man, I have been thinking of and missing this pizza for years. I saw how you got a little emotional and I have to imagine I’d probably feel the same way. Can’t wait to try it.

[@jessieb1342]

I’m an elementary school lunch lady and Friday is still pizza day. We don’t have the same pizza, but the kids’ excitement as they come into the cafeteria is the same as it was when I was a kid. Seeing their happy faces makes the nonsense worth it. I genuinely love my job. On the topic of milk, my district served bag milk until a few years ago when the dairy’s bagging machinery gave out and they went to cartons. My husband had bag milk his entire school life (1990-2003). I was completely baffled the first time I saw bag milk. You are not insane 😂

[@ELWest1000]

Lunch ladies are the best.

[@user-tt8xf9td6b]

I would have to say that bag milk was the worst milk that I have ever tasted. (Except for the time that my sister was put in charge of mixing the carton milk with reconstituted powdered milk and added lemonade powder instead of powdered milk. Yes, my mother insisted that we had to use it until it was gone.)

[@Lovemovies2]

I remember this, i remember the other kids having the bag on their tray ramming the straw into it and out the other side, total mess

[@jessieb1342]

@@Lovemovies2 When I first started working for the school as a lunch aide, kids would ask me to help them open their bags and I said "Nope. Ask a buddy." There's a technique to it that i had no grasp of. I grew up with carton milk so the bags were completely alien to me lol.

[@KristinSoliday]

I became a teacher when bagged milk was a thing. How there was not a full-on bagged milk war with chocolate and strawberry raining down I have no idea. 😂😂

[@LastJungle]

15:45 I suppose to get the taste just right you’d have to let it sit in a warmer until after the first, second, and third graders got theirs 😂😂

[@Blahlalovely]

😂😂👏👏👏

[@elizabethtyler1746]

Lol so true. Fresh pizza reminding you of 1st grade and 2nd grade hour old pizza. 😂 I'll try this and eat it over 4 hours 😂

[@at0mly]

I'm glad you called out the herbs because I think that's what really made it special. As a kid growing up in the Midwest I remember being actually surprised by the flavors of it. I don't think I even knew marjoram before this pizza, and even though I didn't know at the time that's why I appreciated it, I'm convinced that's what made it stand out as so memorable.

[@fordtechchris]

I was surprised about the herbs! Really shows thought and care went in to making the food flavorful

[@caffeinecat3598]

In the UK we had very similar school meals throughout the 90s. I adored the pizza! We have a chain called Greggs (im sure youve heard of it lol) that sells a very 90s school cafeteria style pizza, its awesome! Fun video, thanks!

[@TrailsNThings]

Never knew the history on Hoover and the BPP as it relates to the breakfast for children. Thanks for enlightening me!

[@shawnpeterson3386]

Hoover had inordinate power for the position he was in, and as a result, got away with massive evil in American society.

[@obsidianjane4413]

He considered then an insurgent group so was against anything they did no matter if it was helpful or not.

[@johnbraunschweig]

Maybe he learned from the mistakes with Al Capone's soup kitchens.

[@wakjagner]

​@@johnbraunschweighow's that boot taste?

[@alexspera3116]

@@johnbraunschweigyou’d think the lesson would be to provide rather than become the villain, but god forbid the government helps the community out.

[@Boskov01]

My school was a private school and this was back in the 90s, and while this pizza would appear every so often, we usually had a premade pepperoni pizza with stuffed crust with exactly three pepperonis on each slice. And yo, Max, don't feel like you need to justify covering what you're covering man. We're all here for it. So let your passions dictate and we'll be along for the ride with smiles on our faces and a fork and knife in hand. :)

[@ashleyedwards6036]

I'm only a year younger than Max and I remember that my elementary school switched from cartons of milk to bags. It was weird. I was only allowed to eat school lunch on Thursdays, which was "nacho chili cheese chip" day. We were served tortilla chips covered in nacho cheese and chili with a slice of corn bread and wacky cake and chocolate or white milk. Merry Christmas Max and anyone reading this!

[@teru797]

At my school I miss the oval / round pizzas. Not sure if it taste similar to this but they appeared to be more cheesy. This was closer to the 2000s so idk how much it changed.

[@janedoe4316]

You unlocked a memory as I try rather often to remember school lunch.. I loved those nachos lol

[@TheRealWeirdoC]

Wacky Cake... Are you from Pennsylvania by any chance?

[@joshevans7175]

Merry Christmas!

[@ashleyedwards6036]

@@TheRealWeirdoC California.

[@beverlystauffer2489]

Here in my small Kansas town, our lunches were made from scratch by two ladies. Fresh baked rolls, cookies, everything! Our food was cooked on site and it was great. By the time my kids went to school in the 90s/2000s the food was trucked in from another school in the district and it was horrible. School pizza was the first pizza I ever had, as far as I know. We never had fast food or pizza places in the little towns I lived in.

[@allenwilson5235]

I watched it happen. I was a high school student in the early 80's' then Reagan did away with the Crop Commodity program and school lunches got much worse. Our cooks were brilliant at turning those big blocks of butter and cheese, beef' peanut butter and flour into fresh bread and almost home cooked meals. The meatloaf was amazing. Buns days and cinnamon role days were heaven. As a teacher in the 90's I saw the prepackaged food come in.

[@Emelius7]

This is kind of what happened everywhere in society. Think Tim Hortons and DUNKIN donuts. Donuts used to be made in house, now they're shipped in. All aspects of society have suffered to mass manufacturing and cost cutting.

[@syndigriner-owens4351]

my grandmother was a lunch lady, best part of my school life. when I went from Ele to Middle she moved schools with me, then from Mid to High she moved then too. 💜💜💜

[@maynardtrendle820]

That's awesome!🌞 I wonder if these were actually just frozen, pre-made pizzas. They were WAAAAYYY too regular in their appearance to made like he's describing here. 🤔

[@distorteddivine3638]

I feel this. It was nice and comforting for young me to see my mom as the lunch lady, since that meant I could talk to her in school when I needed a minute. She was only a lunch lady for a few years at my school, but I got to know the lunch staff pretty well because of her and I could catch up with them after she got a new job.

[@theresanielson7453]

They cooked real food back then (60s), regular milk 2 cents, chocolate 3 cents, per carton. I didn't get hot lunch often, but once and awhile, a Ho-Ho was an astounding surprise! Thanks Max, I'm going to make some pizza!

[@XTina-Love]

My grandma worked in my junior high and passed me the food she said was actually ok to eat. The food in schools in the 80’s were sketchy

[@sayjinpat4life]

I had a lunch lady that happen to do the same. When I was going to school in Miami

[@wbpoole3]

Man thank you so much for this, I'm 51 and I can still remember this pizza from the 80s. You brought back memories long forgotten. Just the look on your face from your first bit I could tell it was the real deal. 😊

[@CourtneyCooke143]

I made this exact recipe last night and you’re so right, this is the pizza!!! Even my kids who never had this in their schools, absolutely loved it!!!

[@darthbek]

This is helping me accept that things from my childhood are 'vintage' and embrace heading toward 50.

[@cerealport2726]

48 here, seemingly "vintage" too...

[@mattBLACKpunk]

Honestly these days it feels like the things from my childhood are vintage / on the cusp of turning vintage and I'm heading toward 30. No idea if that makes you feel better about it, but I hope it at least didn't make it worse 😅. Happy holidays to you too!

[@justrosy5]

Ditto!

[@darthbek]

@@mattBLACKpunk Y'all are too young to need that level of nostalgia :(

[@christabelle__]

@@mattBLACKpunk Ha! At 36, everyone is like 'the 90s are back!' - no, in your late 20s you're not far enough away, yet, for it to be something cool that kids see as from a time before their own. Wait til your mid-thirties. 20 year olds think you're old for some reason, and Gen X's kids are dressing like you did in the 90s and it's wild.

[@hiruthie6567]

Youngster, that rectangle pizza is waaaay older than 1988. I was eating a version of this in the early 1970s in elementary school in Texas. This recipe brings back so many memories....and they were serving it at my college, in the late 1980s and early 1990s! Love this episode.

[@IRosamelia]

Youngster... lol... 😅

[@coolcpa3321]

Mid 1970s and our Central California elementary and high schools served it. Our was made with hamburger so it was always greasy but no one cared. It was Pizza Friday! Eight ounce chocolate milk cartons were always great, too.

[@nish221100]

Ditto. I remember it from around 1973. It was a big deal to get pizza.

[@beth7467]

I'm pretty sure I ate it in elementary school in southern California during that time. I'll have to try out the recipe and see.

[@acuerden]

Would be interesting to see the sources for the 1988 cookbook; might be able to trace this back a ways.

[@ThomasDawkins88]

Pizza day was always Friday, and always on the menu as "PIZZA!!!" It looked exactly like this, and I'll wager it tasted exactly like this too because looking at it I could get almost the same nostalgia as Max did. The interesting thing is that my school actually had a real chef, and when he got his hands on something good that was in season (and therefore inexpensive) he was amazing.

[@rich1051414]

I was born in 1984, and pizza was always Wednesday and Friday. Thursday was the day the school made specials, which were hit or miss, but the day I looked forward to the most, especially as I got older, as it was finally a bit of variety. Tuesday was usually sloppy joe day. Monday was usually salisbury steak day. We called it mystery meat, though. By the time I got to high school, they had multiple options. You could substitute the daily item for a chicken sandwich. I eventually got so sick of soy chicken that I still can't eat it to this day.

[@BY-wb7og]

On the mimeo

[@Frostyblu]

I'm so happy I stumbled upon your channel. A couple days ago I was thinking about how good our schools pizza was. In high school I always had my free period before lunch. I would get a free lunch for working in the cafeteria, besides my parents were having financial issues and this was my little way of helping. Thank you so much for sharing 💜

[@markcollins2666]

I'll have to give this a try.. My mother was the head baker for the entire school system in our town, and made ALL the pizza. Every Friday. She got to bring the leftover pizza home, since it was Friday, it couldn't be saved, it was that or the dumpster. Often, she brought home enough to last the entire weekend, for 5 kids! She never did eat it herself, or any pizza, for that matter. I wish she were still around, to ask if this is how she did it. Incorporating dry ingredients for that long makes sense when making massive batches, but you probably only needed one minute. Mums used a 35 gallon Hobart stand mixer, the daddy of your Kitchenaid, also made by Hobart! Cheers to you, I also was a professional baker.

[@SauerPatchGardening]

I'm a lunch lady! We no longer make the pizza from scratch at my school. But, we do make the sloppy joe and many other recipes from scratch. This would be a fun series to watch. Merry Christmas!

[@janetprice85]

One of my patients was a little old lady that was the retired head lunch room lady for the next county over. I got the best biscuit recipe from her. Her hint was to dip the biscuits in butter before popping them in the oven. Yum!

[@GretchenRoot-yq7ln]

I grew up in the south and went to school there from 1st thru 12th 1948 to 1960 and don't remember pizza ever being offered. Mysons mother I law was a lunch lady in Portland OR during the 1970's and 80's and they made from scratch cookies, yeast rolls and lots of things. At some point the school districts contracted out to Marriot.

[@victorkreig6089]

Thank you for your service

[@filanfyretracker]

Guessing it comes in frozen by the pallet now?

[@zazzue5131]

@@GretchenRoot-yq7ln Pizza wasn't common in those days, 'pizza parlors' were few and far between until around the 60's. I don't remember pizza coming into the schools until the early 60's or so.

[@emmydothething]

I know you shy away from doing recent history, but the look on your face at 15:13 is my single favorite moment on this channel. It's when you knew you'd nailed it. And all the historical context in the world can't communicate what that one moment did. ...especially considering we'd have been a grade apart, and I remember this with little pepperoni bits. My cafeteria always cut the rectangles into triangles too.

[@mr.frederickson329]

Thank you so much for these videos, Mr. Miller. This particular one in particular was outstanding for several reasons including the recipe for the pizza sauce. I'll be trying that recipe soon. BTW, I find the history fascinating. Just so you know, I bought your cookbook and found it as equally entertaining as I do these videos. Never stop, please. History rocks. My kids got me to watch this video because they remembered the school pizza from the 80s with fondness. --- Facepalm moment in this video: Remembering ketchup as a vegetable discussion. Thanks.

[@mattsw104]

My school had some sort of pepperoni version. Not sliced pepperoni, but chunks like baconbits soaked in water.

[@andrealauer4493]

Your lunch ladies may not have been making it homemade! I cook at a hospital, and we order that exact pizza on our food truck. It's the rectangles, with little pepperoni bits. The box even has info on it about how the pizza fits into school lunch nutrition regulations It's called Tony's SMARTPIZZA

[@MdnightWnd]

That’s what we had too. My aunt was a schoolteacher and she knew where a lot of the food was purchased. It was definitely frozen and was in very plain packaging. You could buy it from wholesale places. And I went to school from 1986-1997.

[@jhbange]

FYI, that particular version of the USDA recipe book was published in 1988, but the pizza recipe was first published by the USDA in 1971. We Gen Xers had that same pizza in the 70s.

[@traceej4685]

I'm a Gen Xer and in was in middle school/high school from 1980-1996. How are you super older than me?

[@kchara7078]

Where do you get that recipe book? I want the chili 😊

[@BeeCJ]

My school made a spice cake with a sauce on it and I have searched for that recipe for years. It was delicious! They also made fresh yeast rolls you could smell baking across the school all morning.

[@beeaggro2593]

@@kchara7078 i want the chicken patty

[@Katkit537]

Do you have the Sloppy Joes recipe and their rolls??? The pizza and those Sloppy Joes on the lovely rolls were soooo nice.

[@CryptoTonight9393]

15:42 it hasnt been sitting under a heat lamp for 2 hours because you're in the last lunch period of 3 and you were lucky that there was even a slice left.

[@ThraceVega]

I feel this in my soul. In my 7 years of middle and high school, I had the third lunch period for all but one of them. I had the first lunch period Senior year, but in a fluke of scheduling (and being done with my electives in junior year), I had three free periods after it, so I just palled around with different friends for the entire middle of the day. It made up for all the years of being painfully hungry and having few choices by the time lunch came around.

[@lindaeastin4760]

I love your channel and this brought back such wonderful memories for me as a kid. Lunch was the highlight of my day!! LOL but seriously our pizza was the best!! Thank you for doing this!! I have to mention I'm 70 now, and still remember that special lunch!! ❤

[@sethk5396]

I'm so glad you mentioned the BPP breakfast program!

[@theflyingspaget]

ah yes.... the BPP BP

[@sethk5396]

@theflyingspaget 😂

[@jimjenncrowe917]

Milk bags!!! I remember them well! I was teaching first grade when they replaced cartons very briefly. It was clear to the teachers and janitors that whoever came up with the idea had never spent time in an elementary classroom. The bags had to be pierced with a straw to be opened. Picture, if you will, milk bag geysers, milk bag guns, milk bag grenades, and very grumpy janitors rolling their mop buckets continuously during snack and lunch time.

[@fordtechchris]

That was an interesting historical note. The community trying to help itself before government came in and pretended it could help the community better🤦🏻

[@islandgirl7056]

I can’t wait to make this! I ONLY got hot lunch on 🍕 day.😂 Very cool to learn about the Black Panther breakfast program!

[@eb7713]

My mother in law was a lunch lady for a few years and helped out many kids with food when they had none. She is gone now but is still remembered by many former students. God bless all of the kind hearted lunch men and women. ❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@IJNIP-sb4tu]

I approve this message. ❤❤

[@mildlycornfield]

In the UK (about 2005-2016) our school pizza came on prebaked individual bases, that were approximately the same consistency as thick cardboard, and there was only a smear of tomato sauce that seemed to only contain trace amounts of tomato. The cheese would also peel off in one congealed sheet. This seems far more appetising!!

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

OMG, that sounds disgusting!

[@Romy16.]

Growing up in the late 90s and early 2000s I still remember when we started having pepperoni on ours,what a glorious day Lol. Definitely going to give this a try!

[@Crussell04]

Yikes

[@jamesmatthews291]

Yep. That's British school pizza, perfectly described. It was like someone had described pizza down the phone to someone else who'd never had it before and was being distracted as they wrote the recipe down. 😂

[@youtubeisstoopid]

if you didn't have it weekly, you have no idea. It was sublime.

[@sunblade704]

I'm from Germany and (at least the schools I visited) we didn't have school lunches. I'm definitely trying this version for myself. Thank you for sharing!

[@craiggornik7081]

One of my favorite elementary school memories is walking into the school on turkey gravy day. A couple of times a month the entire school smelled like Thanksgiving and i couldn't wait for lunch to start! God bless you 70s and 80s lunch ladies!

[@brucecarter8296]

nah, tater tot hotdish (or casserole, for the rest of you)

[@oldylad]

My elementary school in the early 2000s had this stuff too, was great though probably not exactly the same

[@KR-hg8be]

Cheese zombie day. I even make them myself at home and there's a couple breweries here that even do special events with them. Basically a fresh bread cheese sandwich that had thr cheese baked into the middle. Ive heard they are a pnw only thing though.

[@c6h5choh-cn82]

A school smelling of good food wouldn't let me concentrate in the classroom. Recess and lunch break were my favorite subjects. If only they gave grades based on a student's lunch break interest and performance I would have been class valedictorian 🤣

[@craiggornik7081]

@c6h5choh-cn82 me too!

[@acd6835]

As a non-US citizen, I always find it interesting to see what food is eaten in the schools over in the US. Here in Australia, we don't have cafeterias in schools, we've got 'Tuck Shops', where basically, your parents tape some money onto a paper bag, you put your paper bag into the basket in the morning which gets taken to the Tuck Shop who then loads the food you've ordered into your paper bag and it's returned to you during Morning Tea (known as Little Lunch in Primary School), or Lunch (known as Big Lunch in Primary School). Most of the time though, your parents will just pack your own lunch from home into your lunch box which you then take to school with you, so you['re at the mercy of what your parents decide to feed you. Very different to how it is in the US, which I find absolutely fascinating. We don't see cafeterias until we reach university or TAFE (Technical and Further Education).

[@kgoblin5084]

One similarity I'll point out: It was (is?) common in the USA for kids to bring a packed lunch as well... & there was even a culture/industry specifically around lunchboxs with themes popular to kids.

[@elizabethhowe2110]

They got rid of the cafeteria in favor of the machines when I was in HS. I received a brown bag lunch from my mother. You didn't take food that was gov provided. That was for the poor ppl.

[@jackieshaw640]

Many families have their kids take sack lunches to school. What the government provides is horrible.

[@jennydelgado8517]

Thing is he’s doing a lunch from when schools made actually good food real food. These days they serve processed junk and market it as “Healthier for kids” but really it’s just sad bland and processed crap.

[@CommonContentArchive]

School lunch in the US was paid in advance by the parents, for $20 per pink ticket for us. Each pink ticket had 10 lunches on it, with the lunch lady punching out the squares. No money actually changed hands at school, only tickets. If you lost your ticket, you didn't eat.. at least in theory. In reality, someone would give you something if they noticed you had nothing, at least in early grade school (I know, I know, that's "communism" or whatever - relax) 😂

[@bippy201]

Max’s face when he tasted the pizza - he was tasting his own history! Also I would love a whole series on recipes from this book.

[@mi5anthrope]

I was born in 1990 and definitely ate a bunch of this pizza (ours had little tiny pepperoni cubes). But when I got to highschool in the early 2000's, they served breakfast too and had a breakfast pizza everyday - with sausage and I think the sauce was like gravy? Similar to what you'll find in some gas stations today. I thought it was WAY better and I'm kinda sad he didn't make one here.

[@DisneyUpBoilerUp]

First time watcher. Loved this video. That childlike smile on your face after the first bite was priceless.😊

[@ab_pza97]

Modern Cooking History is just as fascinating as Ancient cooking history - great video!!!

[@CommonContentArchive]

Pizza puff would be a good one. Might have just been a Chicago thing, but the "pizza puff" was just as iconic as the square slice

[@suran396]

@@ab_pza97 agreed!!!!

[@hlebo]

Well done, Max. The reason you remember Pizza Day being on Friday, and only having cheese pizza, is a leftover from Catholic meatless Fridays. Even though the policy of meatless Fridays for Catholics in America ended in 1966, the tradition lingered -- and still lingers -- in many places, including where you and I grew up in the Southwest It's the same reason that clam chowder is typically offered in restaurants as a daily soup on Fridays.

[@ladyrazorsharp]

And why Fillet O' Fish is heavily promoted during Lent!

[@amandazammit2595]

I live and work in middle of no place, Kansas; and every Friday without fail the hospital cafe has some kind of fish on the menu. I also grew up in the heavily Catholic city of New Orleans and seafood/fish is just a staple of life. Still will not eat seafood or fish if it was the last thing to eat on earth.

[@nyratk1]

@@ladyrazorsharp And why BK/Wendy's bring out their own fish sandwich and Popeye's does shrimp heavy promos too

[@nanobabe]

I was in Louisiana for second grade in the 70's...they fried catfish every Friday for school lunch. To this day, I still cannot stand the smell.

[@adamuffoletto7869]

LOL I grew up in a heavily Catholic area and while they never explicitly acknowledged it, Spring Break always fell over Easter weekend and the cafeteria didn't serve meat on Frodays during Lent

[@dethengine]

Oh my god...I've spent years searching for the frozen version of school lunch pizza because I never once thought that they made it fresh. I have never disrespected school cafeteria personnel, but I have a newfound respect for them. I kinda wish I could go back and thank them for this pizza (and the chili, and the fish). Thank you for opening my eyes, and giving me hope that I might once again taste this delicious pizza.

[@vivxsavageog]

I loved the look in your eye when you tasted it. The nostalgia was so palpable!! My school had the bagged milk for a while too, I was born in 1986 and went to elementary school from 1991-1998. My high school (2001-2005) had Round Table personal pizzas we could buy, and of course I got those at least once a week!

[@AMTunLimited]

Also it's really interesting how tuned these recipes are to getting the absolute most the least amount of materials. Like the absolute perfect amount of dough and sauce and cheese to just barely cover the pan.

[@paulp.9728]

15:20 that smile, in those eyes I could see exactly what you saw to the details even tho I’m am only in my twenties and lived completely different life back then, thank you for sharing that with us

[@amybarrmlinar7824]

This video is a delight. When he almost tears up at 15:00 when tasting the pizza... 😭 Thanks for posting this, Max. I'm going to make this for my son ❤

[@kristyevans1537]

Memories is right!! I was so excited to try this. It tasted close to what I remember, although the "batter" turned out a bit thin for me, and so the crust was a little too wobbly to pick up. I used a knife and fork like a heathen, but my husband managed to pick it up. I'd recommend a slightly longer par bake to firm it up a little more.

[@dangalloway2263]

Jose’s captioning is AWESOME. I absolutely love that it read “chomp chomp” on my screen as Max was munching the pizza 😊

[@VxJasonxV]

They don't need to caption what is printed on screen though. (Ingredients)

[@oliverg6864]

My grandmother was a lunch lady too! She later worked in a hospital cafeteria as well. She was an amazing woman, lots of people knew her and loved her cooking. When she was working they made everything from scratch. Then she lost her job when they stared bringing in all the premade stuff. I have lots of memories of her teaching me to cook. She passed away just this year 💕

[@crowe6052]

The look of nostalgia and childlike joy in your eyes after that first bite sold me on this. I’ll be making this after the holidays. Merry Christmas Max.

[@swe2cie]

I still make lunch lady cafeteria rolls for my family. There are just some recipes that are so nostalgic. Pizza day is one as well i’m glad I came across your channel today

[@sarahdoanpeace3623]

You almost cried when you took that first bite. It was beyond enjoyable to watch and witness. Food can sure take us back! 41 now and remember this school lunch pizza fondly, it was one of 2 hot lunches I would actually eat. I’m gonna make this. Thanks, Max, Happy New Year and continued success!

[@twoZornottwoZ]

As a former lunch lady in the late 90s-early 00s, I'm kind of surprised that any school would make pizza fresh like this. Ours always came frozen. Depends on the budget, I guess. Our pizza day was Thursday.

[@kkattrap]

The factory for kids lunch food probably had to use close to the equivalent recipe. I doubt the cheese was the same type and quality here.

[@Raskolnikov70]

This is old school, pun intended, back before large food-service companies took over supplying institutions with all of the pre-made stuff they have now. I went to school in the 70's and early 80's and all of our stuff was made on-site by horn-rimmed-glasses-wearing lunch ladies.

[@lotharbeck71]

I was in grade school from 1976 through 1982, and our lunches came from a food service.

[@romulus_]

Ours came individually wrapped in plastic by the time I graduated, much like a honey bun. Disgusting.

[@jaimeesquivel7955]

The school I attended made from scratch lunches, but the school 5 miles away in a different district had theirs from a food service

[@annemcdonald5242]

I remember the bags of milk. I lived in MD and we thought they were so weird. I loved school pizza. We had cheese pizza or pepperoni pizza with little cubes of pepperoni. Fun memories. Thank you Max!

[@pacocase]

Exactly the same in the 90s in WV. Milk bags confirmed. Unruly kids began squirting everything in sight with chocolate milk.. The bags soon disappeared.

[@backroom12]

My school switched to bag milk for a year or 2 but switched back . Wasn’t a big hit I guess

[@TheDlsarmywife]

I'm from Ohio (graduated in 95) we definitely had the pepperoni cubes too!!!

[@andon_RT]

Also went to school in MD. Definitely remember the cube pepperoni. We had milk bags in elementary school and it went about as well as you might expect elementary school students with bags of milk and a pointy straw.

[@hobbesip1]

I loved the cubed pepperoni!