[kimixa]

As a brit growing up at a similar time I assumed that was an American thing - you saw it all the time on TV and adverts, but seems crazy to actually serve it like that. It was always served by my parents already coated in sauce.

Looking back, I suspect it was more that the contrast of the sauce and spaghetti colours made it "pop" more onscreen. Though it's possibly unsurprising that could feed /back/ into how people thought it "should" be served.