How Meatloaf Became an American Classic

My mother explained to me that meatloaf was developed as a way to stretch a pound of ground beef to feed a family, by adding some kind of bread or grain and binding it with egg. It's the same principle as that behind meatballs, soy burgers, haggis, scrapple, and many sausages. Add some onions and Worcestershire sauce, and no one will know there are more cracker crumbs than meat in your meatloaf. You can stretch that meat even further by eating slices of cold meatloaf on a sandwich the next day. Meatloaf as we know it today is a classic American food, as Americans love their beef whether they can afford it or not. My mother never got into those midcentury meatloaf innovations like adding peaches or pineapple or frosting it with mashed potatoes, and likewise I don't want to try modern embellishments like wrapping it in bacon or rolling it up with greens. I tend to serve it with black-eyed peas, since those are the only two foods I eat with ketchup. But that's what's so great about meatloaf- not only is it relatively inexpensive, you can experiment with it and do it the way you want.