Trader Joe's Organic Joe's O's Pasta

I liked SpaghettiOs as a kid. As an adult, my pattern has been this: (1) Go a few years without eating any. (2) Notice them on a grocery store shelf. (3) Remember that I liked them as a child. (4) Purchase a can. (5) Eat the SpaghettiOs. (6) Be instantly and vividly reminded of how vile they are, and why I don't usually keep them around. (7) Eventually forget what happened in step 6. (8) Repeat. I've been through that cycle more times than I care to admit, because I am a slow learner.

But I guess the lesson has sunk in enough that I was wary of the Trader Joe's version of the same basic idea. I passed it by several times before tossing it into my basket one day, and then it sat on my shelf uneaten for close to a year before I finally decided to try it today.

And ya know what? It wasn't half bad. The sauce is tangier than I remember that of the more famous brand being. It didn't feel or taste like pabulum, like something meant only for the weird palate of a child. I had planned to have just half of the can as part of my lunch today, saving the rest for tomorrow, but I enjoyed it enough that it just kept going down, and before long was all gone.

I can't say that I loved it, or that I'm eager to have it again. I do recognize that I can make much, much better pasta with not much investment of time or effort. But it exceeded expectations simply by not being vile mush.

Will I buy it again? 

I have no plans to do so. However, it's entirely possible that at some point I will forget today's experience, and will decide that I ought to try that Trader Joe's SpaghettiOs stuff.