Me first: in the early 80s, I remember the Vons supermarket chain had their own brand of sour cream dip for potato chips, one flavor that people I know loved was fresh pismo clam, it still had chunks of clam meat in there. One day it got yanked from the shelves and I’ve never seen it again.
More recently, about a decade ago, Trader Joe’s carried cheddar-and-horseradish potato chips, then one day they were gone.
I would love… LOVE… to dip those horseradish chips into that clam dip… sigh.
They were practically a drug for kids. Some other companies copied the format, but they weren’t as good (and I haven’t even been able to find those, lately).
They also had chips cut like this…:
… which were delicious, but I can’t find a picture of a bag. 😭
Rice crispies treat cereal
In the 1980s, Frito Lay test marketed a new extruded Cheeto-like product that was filled with an easy cheese filling. There was even a pbs documentary about it centered around how new snacks are made.
I wish I could remember the name of the snack and/or find the documentary online. They were yummy but they didn’t last long. I think there were like three different flavors and they were cut at an angle.
Omg I have one. Sara Lee chocolate gateaux. It was this triple layer cake of delight, and my parents would buy it for every party back in the 90s. This was before chocolate got shit, so it was alllllll of the good stuff. Probably some cocaine in there too, who knows. I fucking miss that cake.
- Philadelphia cheesecake bars
- squeezits
- tiny toons fruit snacks
- life saver popsicles
- mickey and friends popsicles
- string thing
These are the things I miss most snack-wise from childhood. Especially those Fruit Wrinkles. They had the best flavor and texture of any fruit snacks ever.
We are of the same time. Those images are visceral. I need to take a nostalgia nap.
The cookies have the same taste as regular cookies now, it was pretty much just amazing to 8 year old me, or however old I was, that cookies could have multiple fillings and a face! It just seemed so intricate and impossible at the time. So that excitement I don’t think could be recaptured now.
But those other 2, you nailed it with visceral! I feel the salt scratching my tongue and the unique concave and teardrop shape of the chips and I can exact chewiness of those fruit snacks these 30ish years later.
The fruit snacks I think would legit still be good today. The chips, perhaps. There are a lot of good chips these days. But I’m surprised no one ever brought those things back, if not just to use the actual skins. What have they been doing with all the skin all these years?!
Fanta green apple. I loved it, but Fanta killed it. Now I don’t drink Fanta.
Altoid sours
Dem Bones, my favorite trick or treat candy
Dr Pepper made with real sugar, the taste with HFCS is just not the same.
SteakEze had these microwave angus burgers that you could get at BJs that basically mimicked McDs flavor. Whenever one of us was craving fast food, we could pop it in the microwave and it scratched that itch and was much cheaper, easier and faster. Sadly haven’t seen them for sale anymore and they got taken off the website.
The thing I miss the absolute most is some fruit nectars I used to get that came in big glass bottles, by Fruit of the Nile. They had mango, strawberry guava, guava and orange mango and they were all so incredibly good. My favorite was the mango, it was rich and thick and luxurious, almost just a fruit puree. They made the best mixers. I still use the bottles around the house. I don’t think the company made it through Covid 😫
Sodalicious
In Colorado there was a burger chain called Red Top and by god, it was amazing. The burgers were the size of plates and they’d use shredded lettuce and the perfect cheese that was always so wonderfully melty.
And then they disappeared.
Similarly, there used to be a candy shop called Michelle’s that has the best truffles and the best sundaes. But womp womp, they didn’t pay some taxes and were shut down. No more candy. No more magic. No more perfect ice cream.
At one point in the very early 90’s, the Keebler elves stopped making cookies for a few minutes and made the best fucking pizza flavored chips to ever grace this planet. The crafty little shits figured out how to make chips from actual pizza dough, and they called them Pizzerias. It’s been over 30 years and I can still taste them now.
