1w ago

What food or item/brand did you use to love, but isn't around anymore?

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.

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I had rediscovered they still existed (just not where I lived) when it was being discontinued in 2019. I ordered a pallet box before they were. My neighbor/babysitter gave me that for breakfast as a kid.

Man, that’s a pretty long list, and I’d have to dig back to my childhood to see what I could remember…. One of them was an in-store bakery product, a jalapeño cheese bread at Food-4-less. They quit making it, but man was that stuff good.
Now, if you’d asked what favorites have gotten worse…that’s almost everything. Cheapening of ingredients and flavorings have wrecked the majority of stuff like sweets and drinks, and even food products.

Schweppes had a great root beer that I haven't seen since sarsaparilla was outlawed.
- Sarsaparilla was outlawed?

Jello Pudding Pops.

Taco Bell Enchirito's around 10+ years ago were amazing. I think they temporarily bring similar things back, but it's never the same.
- It feels like Taco Bell has a long history of this. My first thought was how as a kid my local one also sold Choco Tacos, and it felt right.
  But then I realized the true answer for me was I hate their change in sauce for the Cheesy Gordita Crunch. Instead of the Baja sauce they used to have, a while back they switched over to using a ranch sauce. (Gotta fulfill that stereotype of Taco Bell just being a dozen ingredients in different shapes/amounts.) That sucks.

Bring them back

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.

Orbitz, the drink. The one with the little flavor balls floating in it. That shit was awesome.
What's irritating about it's discontinuation is that the reason cited was people didn't like the little tapioca balls. And then boba became a craze. 😬
- Just learned it was made by the Clearly Canadian folks. I suspect that I wouldn't like it as much anymore.
  Beep, however, I imagine I'd still love.

Sobe. I really liked the pink juice that looked like bubblegum cough syrup. It apparently still exists... somewhere. The website is still around. But I haven't seen any Sobe anywhere in the US for years

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?!

From last decade, Sour Cream & Onion Baked Lays. ;_;
From the eighties, does anyone remember pudding cake mix? After you baked the cake it had pudding (sort of like...custard I guess if you're English?) inside the cake. Oh man that was good.

Jolt Cola, "All the sugar, twice the caffeine!"
- LAN parties haven't been the same since.

Altoid sours
- There's a company that makes knock-off versions of them. They are called retro sours

Do any of you remember Orbitz? It was a clear drink with little gel balls that were floating in it. I don't know if actually miss it, but I just really want to try it again.
- That and Beep are on my list.
  I suspect that I wouldn't actually like Orbitz now that I'm an adult and not impressed by little colorful blobs in my drink
  
  Agreed. Definitely a novelty as a kid! I had to look up Beep. I hadn't heard of that one!

Mentadent toothpaste. I enjoyed how the dispenser combined the white and blue gels as you applied it to your toothbrush. I liked the taste too.
Also Cremo men's face moisturizer. I haven't found another that suits my skin so perfectly before or since.
In both cases I wrote to the companies about bringing back the products, and both wrote back to blow me off.
- I forgot about Mentadent! I used it for so long! I held on to the dispenser base for a long time hoping one day it would come back, but I threw in the towel at some point.

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.

Crystal Pepsi.

Philadelphia cheesecake bars
squeezits
tiny toons fruit snacks
life saver popsicles
mickey and friends popsicles
string thing

Beep
\

Also Orbitz, but I feel like that wouldn't stand the test of time
\

\ Just learned its by the makers of Clearly Canadian, which would be on my list, except it came back as of a couple years ago.

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. 😭
- Waffle fries aren't that uncommon are they?
  
  They are here. 🤷‍♂️
  Never seen any since these vanished from the shelves two or three decades ago.

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 😫
- Oh, you just reminded me of one.
  Back in the 90s and up until the early 00s, at diners I used to ask for a Dr Pepper and when the waitress said - "is Mr Pibb okay?", I'd answer - "even better!"
  Then they changed the formula and name to Pibb Xtra or some stupid thing like that.

Count Chocula cereal used to taste much better. I think it was made with oat flour but then they changed to corn.

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.
- https://www.thedailymeal.com/1317712/discontinued-cheetos/
  Not sure if those ever made an official release

Josta soda
The Arby's "triple cheese and bacon" sandwich, specifically the sliced roasted chicken version
"Po' Folks," later "Folks Southern Kitchen," a local restaurant chain in Metro Atlanta. It's been out of business for over a decade and I still rue the fact that I never got the recipes for their chicken tenders, fried green tomatoes, squash casserole, or ranch dressing

Back during the Fruity/Cocoa Pebbles craze, there was a third cereal in the line, a cinnamon themed one. I had that whenever I could, but it has been gone for years.
- Was it a blue box w/ Bam Bam as the character on it? I vaguely remember something like that...

When I was in college they came out with a bunch of different "pieces" candies. They were just like Reese's pieces, but for different candies, like Heath and Almond Joy. I loved them, and I loved the fact that you could mix them together to make different flavors. They didn't last too long, though. I was disappointed when I couldn't find them anymore after a few years.
Then later I found a new favorite candy in the Butterfinger cups. They were like Reese's peanut butter cups, but softer and with little Butterfinger pieces in them! I loved them, but they also disappeared in a few years. That's the issue with gravitating toward new things - so many of the ones I find myself enjoying end up failing since most people just like to stick with what they know.

5th Avenue chocolate bars. I don't know if they still exist or not but I've only ever found em in the checkout lines of one grocery store.
also Murry's chicken nuggets. they were cheap and good, but they disappeared by the time I was in high school
- You know which chocolate disappeared then came back?
  Cup O Gold, it has a creamy coconut center.
  I went for something like two decades without it, imagine my surprise at suddenly eyeing it at the Fry's Electronics checkout line!
  To this day, I find it at the Smart & Final market chain.

Sodalicious

Fanta green apple. I loved it, but Fanta killed it. Now I don't drink Fanta.

Dem Bones, my favorite trick or treat candy

So many. Everything I love goes away. The first that comes to mind is Crescent brand au jus. It was the best out there, period.
The next is the bruschetta chicken ciabatta sandwich that Jack in the Box used to have. Amazing.
Uno candy bars are technically still around but impossible to find. I love those little bastards.
There are more but I can't think of them. Do the myriad of products that changed their recipes thinking no one would notice count? I noticed. Sometimes the new thing is dead to me.
Also those old "fire" "rain" element drinks (sobe?) were unbelievably good. In fact sobe was so good in the 90s/00s but changed recipes and packaging so that stuff is bleh to me now.
Original Surge cola. They changed it for the relaunch and it never was quite right. I used to have one every day before [sport] practice in high school.
Oh! Trader Joe's had this pepperjack quiche that was out of this world. Haven't seen it in years. It was the only reason for me to go there.
Edit: this post made me hungry and sad
- those old "fire" "rain" element drinks (sobe?)
  This sounds like possibly Snapple Elements. In tall, wavy bottles?

Monster orange Khaos (the 30% juice type), and the yellow Ripper flavor also. Miss me with that Papillon and Pipeline Punch.
- Isn't Khaotic the rebranded Khaos?
  Also, I agree, Pipeline Punch is similar to Ripper, but lacks something that made Ripper special.

Original Treets. Better than m&m's.

Mr Green by SoBe. Tasted like Dr Pepper, but it was green, and was available in Pepsi vending machines after 7up brand split away from PeosiCo in vending machines (iirc it was because that was the time Sierra Mist came out).

Fanta Exotic. It still exists but it's not sold in my country. Only the sugar free equivalent which is okay but nowhere as good.

Lan Chi Chili paste, I miss that stuff so much.
OP, Cabot makes a horseradish cheddar, make some cheese fries?

Diet Sunkist lemonade soda

Nabisco Ideal bars

Crispín chocolate covered wafer cookie snack bars. They were huge and only cost like 79 cents. They were around up until about 2 years ago when they suddenly went out of production.
Eggo Waf-Fulls had a fruit filling inside. Their strawberry filling was to die for. It's a real tragedy we haven't seen them again after over 20 years.

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.

Rice crispies treat cereal

Mild cheese dip, there all spicy now and I'm allergic to capsaicin. So Its difficult to find any cheese dip around where I am that isn't spicy.
- Make queso dip yourself? It's not complicated.

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