#44: Olive Loaf
Before the colorful 60s ushered in liver loaf, the 1950s boasted of its own unique creation: olive loaf. This culinary relic was born from a process similar to making bologna, where its contents were finely ground and transformed into a liquid before being set in a loaf mold. The olive loaf was a flavorful journey into the past, infused with robust garlic seasoning and interspersed with pimento-stuffed green olives.
Olive loaf, a quirky spin on traditional meatloaf, lacks a definitive creator but found popularity through advertising, notably from Kraft for their Cheesewiches. The New York Post describes it as a “nightmare retro food,” it’s a dish that encapsulates the experimental and often bizarre culinary exploration of mid-20th-century America, leaving a unique legacy in the tapestry of food history.