Tuna casserole, also known as tuna wiggle, is a popular American dish made with canned tuna, noodles, cream or cheese, and sometimes vegetables. It became popular in the 1950s due to the convenience of canned goods. There are variations of the dish, but its origin and name are unclear.
Tuna wiggle is a form of tuna casserole, although the term is also sometimes used regionally to describe creamed tuna on toast. Tuna casserole is a time-tested dish in the United States; chances are if you’re American, you’ve probably eaten some form of tuna at some point in your life. Like many traditional foods, tuna casserole can be a divisive subject, with some people loving it, while others hate it. Lovers of tuna casserole, of course, may fight over how best to assemble this dish.
The reason tuna flicks and similar dishes became popular in the United States was that they could be made from canned goods. Especially during the 1950s, many people turned to canned and packaged foods because they were easy and labor-saving. Some truly amazing dishes made with various canned, packaged, and pickled foods emerged in 1950s America, ranging from Jello molds with canned salmon to Midwestern hot pot. Modern consumers may view such dishes with suspicion or horror, but they were at one point a vital part of the American landscape.
There are very few ingredients in a simple tuna wetsuit. Canned tuna, of course, is needed, along with noodles. Some sort of cream or cheese is typically mixed in, and vegetables like peas aren’t unheard of. A classic combination includes canned tuna, cream of mushroom soup, peas and egg noodles; the noodles are cooked before being added to the other ingredients and the whole dish is cooked for about 20 minutes.
It’s also possible to find more inventive variations on the classic tuna move. Cooks can start with a base of homemade roux and cream sauce, for example, and can add ingredients such as mushrooms, onions, bay leaves, cloves and gourmet cheeses if desired. To ardent fans of the classic 1950s tuna swing, such ornate versions might seem like a parody and rejection of canned soups’ honored place in America’s history-making casserole.
The origin of the name is somewhat obscure. In some parts of the United States, a discussion of the “tuna wave” will be met with blank stares, while in other regions the term is widely known and accepted. It’s possible that “wavy tuna” was invented for a children’s cookbook, to make the cooking process fun and interesting for aspiring cooks; using canned foods would make this dish easy to make even for kids.
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