Yo! Meatball!

I don't know if it's just me, but whenever I see meatballs for sale in the supermarket I think of The Flintstones. That is, I think of the episode where Wilma wins a contest by coming up with a slogan for Mother Maguire's Meatballs: "Mother Maguire's Meatballs Don't Bounce."

And ladies and gentlemen...they don't.

I actually tried the Mama Mancini meatballs before I heard the radio ad. What attracted me to them is that they are marked as beef meatballs. A lot of pre-made meatballs are a blend of various meats, as well as fillers, cheeses, baloney, recycled tires, etc. They're always disappointing, especially when compared to the delightful ones cooked by my delightful wife. But those take a long time, and sometimes you just have to have a meatball fast.

The Mama Mancini meatballs get my highly coveted ratings of "Edible" and "Would buy again." And yet they are not in the same league as Mrs. Key's creations. The reason I liked them? They reminded me of cafeteria food.

Wait, hear this out: When I was in junior high, the cafeteria was a pretty typically blah public school space offering pretty typically blah public school food. The whole building stank of hormones and feet anyway. It was a pretty dreary place. But once a week, lunchtime came alive: Meatball hero day.

They were tasty meatballs on sturdy bread with a little bit of mozzarella. Really, everyone looked forward to it.

These meatballs taste like those meatballs. So there's some nostalgia at play here, I admit.

Mrs. Key liked them too, although she never went to a school as icky as my junior high. She just thought they were good, serviceable weeknight retail meatballs.

And most important, Mama Mancini Meatballs don't bounce.