Pizzalore

When I was a young student of Richmond Public Schools, we were often served a very weird pizza-like dish called "barquitos" for lunch in the cafeterium (cafeteria+auditorium+gymnasium).  I have NEVER been able to find out anything about barquito pizza on the internet. I did however, find out that barquito means little boat in Spanish. A barquito is basically a french bread pizza topped with seasoned taco meat (probably left over lunch the day before) and cheddar cheese.  I feel like maybe there was a similar dish with sloppy joe meat but who can really be sure. I have done my best to block out school lunch from my memories. What is this dish? I only ever had it in elementary school. Is it the concoction of a lunch lady? Is it a real food item? What is a barquito?

Pizza! Wow, I have so many great memories of pizza and while I don't remember my first slice I can still reach pretty far back into the vaults for some good times. I'm going to recall these moments in a new series with stories of my most influential pizzalicious memories. Chef Boyardee pizza kits!  I'm sure they have come a long way since it hit supermarket shelves in the 50s. Hell I'm sure it has come a long way since my siblings and I used to make it with my mom in the 80's. and 90's. The Chef Boyardee Pizza Kit is definitely one of my earliest pizza memories. It was one of the first things remember learning to cook by myself. I remember so vividly  helping my mom and taking turns mixing that greasy ball of dough. I remember that little can of super salty sauce with those tiny pepperoni slices, that paper envelope of cheese powder, that bland and crispy crust. I remember  watching it bake into this crispy orange disc. My siblings and I  would wait with wa...