Once-Popular Foods That We All Stopped Eating

Popular in: 1960s
Created by: Unknown
Original Price: $0.30 per serving*

Some things served up for dinner in the ‘60s looked like feasts of color pulled straight from the pages of Vogue. Others looked far less desirable, like this meatloaf igloo. Surrounded by pink gelatin with a dollop of orange sauce on the top, this dish was a favorite in some houses. 

Igloo Meatloaf @Dana Nuber / Pinterest.com

It’s not something you’re ever likely to order at Darden’s Olive Garden, but it’s back in the ‘60s being served one of these meant your parents really cared about what they put in the oven. Does that make it acceptable by today’s standards? Not really – but it’s the thought that counts.

After all, even if you didn’t like the taste of this extravagant jelly hut as a child, it would have been fun to look at. It’s not very often food like this makes it to the table on a weekday these days thanks to the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Whether that’s a blessing in disguise is up for debate.

Popular in: 1960s
Created by: Aunt Jemima
Original Price: $0.30*

Aunt Jemima’s Pancake Mix has been around for a very, very long time. In fact, the product first hit the shelves back in 1889, going on to become a much-loved brand. Like any company looking to stay ahead, Aunt Jemima occasionally posted recipes in magazines as part of its advertising campaign. 

Deviled Ham Pancakes @Marla Herdeck / Pinterest.com

In the 1960s, the company jumped on the canned meat craze to provide customers with Deviled Ham Pancakes. According to them, combining a can of broken-up pork meat with their pancake mix and topping it off with a hearty dose of butter and syrup was the next best thing. Needless to say, current owners Pepsi haven’t gone down that route.  

In fact, Aunt Jemima is changing more than than the recipes it offers up. The company announced plans to retire the name entirely in 2020 in a bid to be more socially conscious, instead phasing out Aunt Jemima and replacing it with another name entirely.

Popular in: 1970s-1980s
Created by: Coca-Cola
Original Price: $0.05*

It’s hard to imagine now, but back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, another diet soda ruled the roost. Coca-Cola had yet to come up with Diet Coke. Instead, they had Tab – the company’s first-ever diet drink. Thanks to great advertising the beverage became incredibly popular. 

Tab @BOOGIE80 / Youtube.com

The only reason sales started to decline was because Coca-Cola decided to one-up itself and release Diet Cola. Although Tab stayed in production its sales dwindled when consumers jumped ship and started drinking the new, exciting version. In October 2020, Coca-Cola announced Tab would be leaving for good. 

This was a sad state of affairs for many die-hard fans of the drink that had loyally stuck by it for over 40 years. It’s not every day that we say goodbye to such a long-serving brand, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles in business.

Popular in: 1970s
Created by: Konrad Egli
Original Price: Various

Fondue isn’t as en vogue now as it once was fifty years ago. Back in the ‘70s, Americans couldn’t get enough of dipping pieces of bread into melted cheese. It was a social phenomenon. Swiss restaurateur Konrad Egli was the man behind the magic, first inventing fondue in 1956. It took a while for the trend to reach America, but when it did, it was unstoppable. 

Fondue Party @Thiti/Pinterest

Nearly every household had a fondue set, perfect for entertaining guests. These kits are still available on sites like Amazon today, but the days of inviting friends over for a long night of fondoing are long gone. 

That being said, a trend did surface in the ’90s and ’00s for chocolate fondue that remains more popular than the outdated cheese version. Chocolate fondue often pops up at special events such as weddings and office parties. On the whole, it’s considered much more socially chic!

Popular in: 1930s
Created by: Soup Kitchens
Original Price: Unknown

Hoover Stew sounds like something you wouldn’t want to touch with a ten-foot pole, but back in the 1930s some families didn’t have a choice. The interesting dish was created by soup kitchens during The Great Depression as a cheap way to feed struggling parents and their kids. 

Hoover Stew ©Fanfo/©Everett Collection/Shutterstock.com

Made up of macaroni and chopped up hot dogs, the dish was named after President Herbert Hoover. While food fashion has come on considerably since then, there was a time when Hoover Stew was the only thing keeping many Americans from starvation. It’s a wonder that Campbell’s didn’t stick it in a can and market it.

The dish had such a lasting impact on some families that Hoover Stew variations have been passed down through the generations. Some people still eat it to this day, even though the thought of it is enough to make others shudder! Whichever side you fall on, you can’t deny that this is the dish that practically saved a nation.

Popular in: 1970s
Created by: Unknown
Original Price: $0.20 per serving*

Party food in the 1970s is a little hard for us modern folk to understand. To the untrained eye, it looks like there were just two options: make the ugliest thing in the cookbook, or in this case – the stinkiest. 

Sardine-Egg Canapés @Rick Pridemore / Pinterest.com

Sardine-Egg Canapes aren’t the kind of thing you’d ever consume at a party if you were hoping to kiss someone at the end of the night. However, for reasons unbeknownst to the rest of the world, they were served frequently at many events in ‘70s America. Amazingly, we still have Gen-X. 

Canapes have evolved a little since then to include much more delicate flavors that aren’t quite as harsh on the palate. Needless to say, not every combination will float everyone’s boat, but most of them are likely to win more fans than sardine and egg.

Popular in: 1930s-1970s
Created by: Mrs. John E. Cook
Original Price: N/A

The Jello salad first came about as the brainchild of Mrs. John E. Cook, a housewife from Pennsylvania who entered a competition in Better Homes and Gardens way back in 1904. While she didn’t win, this recipe did take third place – believe it or not. 

Jello Salads @TraceyRobbins/Pinterest.com

There are some people who still insist that a buffet isn’t a buffet without one, but Jello salads really piqued in popularity between the 1930s and 1970s. Now, they’re considered retro things of the past, probably because society as a whole soon realized carrots should never be mixed with gelatin. 

That being said, you can almost guarantee that a long-lost aunt will show up to Thanksgiving Dinner with one of these in tow. Even if it isn’t the most fashionable dish on the table, you have to admit that Jello salad will always have a place in history.

Popular in: 1950s/1960s
Created by: The Howdy Corporation
Original Price: $0.06* 

Entrepreneur Charles Leiper Grigg first came up with 7-Up back in the late 1920s, manufacturing the soda pop underneath The Howdy Corporation. Like many similar companies at the time, Grigg was constantly looking for ways to up the ante. 

Soda Milk @r/agedlikemilk / Reddit.com

In the 50s and 60s, the company began to attest to the benefits of drinking 7-Up with cold milk, telling consumers that pouring the pop into the dairy product made for a “delicious blended food drink.” Whether that was strictly true was a different story. 7-Up is still going strong to this day as part of Dr Pepper.  

However, Dr. Pepper hasn’t revisited this old marketing tactic. Perhaps wisely, it’s left this cocktail in the past and moved on to bigger and better ways to advertise. Still, it’s a wonderful piece of confusing nostalgia to look back on that can’t be denied.

Popular in: 1950s
Created by: Swanson
Original Price: $0.98*

TV Dinners have been around for so long that it’s hard to imagine a time without them, but they were at their most popular when they first hit the market in the ‘50s. Swanson was the first to manufacture these one-tray meals on a mass level, introducing a Thanksgiving-themed dinner for $0.98 a pop. 

TV Dinners @Hal Brower / @ Rhonda E / Pinterest.com

They became incredibly fashionable, even if they were a little more costly than making your own meal. By 1960 Swanson had added desserts to their repertoire. While microwave meals are made by tons of different brands now, ConAgra’s Swanson will always be the OG. 

Of course, these types of meals have come on leaps and bounds since these early days. You can get almost any type of cuisine in a handy microwavable packet, from entire Chinese feasts to fish and chips. There’s something for everyone, which is part of what makes them consistently popular.

Popular in: 1974
Created by: Gerber
Original Price: $0.50*

There is a lot of money to be made in the baby food industry, as there’s always a need for mashed veggies or meals for little people. However, baby food titan Gerber thought it would be a good idea to branch out and make products for young adults living alone. 

Adult Baby Food @Teresa Perry / Pinterest.com

Singles by Gerber launched in 1974, but while the idea was certainly an interesting one, it never fully took off. With names like “Blueberry Delight” and “Beef Burgundy”, these strange jars were single-servings marketed at adults on the go – but adults ran in the other direction. Other companies like Perrigo learned from Gerber’s mistake and never went down that route. 

Singles did teach multiple brands a valuable lesson, though. Adult baby food might sound like an avant-garde way to reinvent ready meals, but it’s simply not the right way to go about it. Not everyone wants to eat their dinner from a glass jar, no matter how interesting the ad campaign is.

Popular in: 1960s
Created by: Unknown
Original Price: $0.15* 

Bananas are wonderful, versatile fruits that can be used in tons of different desserts. These days health fanatics might mash bananas and turn them into pancakes, or liquefy them in a smoothie. ‘60s consumers had a different idea altogether. 

Banana Candle @VintageFoods/Pinterest.com

The banana candle is an interesting dish to look at. It’s not clear which bored housewife invented it, but all you have to do is stick a banana in the middle of a pineapple ring, throw some icing on the top to look like melted wax, and top it all off with a cherry.

The result is more like a piece of food art than something most of us would whip up for dinner, but perhaps that’s its charm. Back in the ’60s food was just as much a feast for the eyes as it was for the stomach, even if it didn’t always look that appealing.

Popular in: 1970s
Created by: Unknown
Original Price: $0.29*

Luncheon meat is one thing, but putting faces into luncheon meat is another thing altogether. You can still buy some versions of character meat to this day, but back in the ‘70s, one kind stood out head and shoulders above the rest: meat clown. 

Meat Clown @Angela Moore / Pinterest.com

Meat clown could be bought at any good deli counter for around $0.29 for 100 grams. Each slice is another face, making mealtimes fun for kids – and weirdly creepy for adults. Still, it was a much simpler world back then, and having a clown on your plate didn’t seem all that bad. 

Parents often thought of it as a way to entice kids to eat their sandwiches, and they weren’t entirely wrong. In fact, the wonderful world of characters and food remains a solid marketing tool that brands continue to exploit to this day.

Popular in: 1960s
Created by: Armour
Original Price: $0.89*

Making ribs isn’t for everyone, even if they’re a dab hand at the grill. Back in the ‘60s, they were just as popular as they are now, but there was a solution for those that weren’t keen chefs. Armour’s Ribs in a Can promised the “meatiest” ribs on the market. 

Ribs in a Can @ Sarah Baldwin / Pinterest.com

Canned meat was big in the grocery game back in the 1960s, so it’s understandable that someone thought this was a marketable product. The huge 2-and-a-half pound can was enough to feed the whole family, so while it wasn’t the cheapest, it was supposedly worth every cent. 

Not everyone is that keen to try canned meat these days, but back then if you were on a budget and looking to make a decent meal then it was a good way to go. Luckily, many of us have much better options these days that are just as cheap and inviting.

Popular in: 1920s
Created by: Betty Crocker
Original Price: $0.02*

A good cake has always stood the test of time, which might be why a pineapple upside-down cake is still a favorite to this day. It may not be made or sold quite as frequently now, but back in the 1920s, you couldn’t bake them fast enough. Betty Crocker even teamed up with Bisquick for a joint advertising campaign. 

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake @EssayJay / Pinterest.com

According to the brands, the two combined made a gorgeous and “refreshing” sponge that would wow guests. Even then, consumers were looking for convenience above all else. This pairing seemed to give it all to them – as long as they were pineapple lovers. 

Pineapple upside-down cakes are still made frequently in home-ec classes and are considered a staple dish. If you haven’t made one, then you’ve likely seen someone make one at some point in your life. It’s basically a must for anyone that’s ever stepped foot inside a kitchen.