Top Ten Uniquely '80s Foods
Certain foods are as '80s as shoulder pads, side ponies, and Teddy Ruxpin. Inspired by a thread in our Talk community, here's a list of ten iconic '80s foods and some corresponding commercials.
10. Jawbreakers
Like spicy food, these dangerously choke-inducing balls inspired serious candy egos. Can you handle it? No, seriously, can you? They came in a slew of sizes, depending on your tolerance. "Oh snap, he has the three-incher!"
9. The California Raisins
When the dried-fruit world creates an anthropomorphized musical group, big things happen. Shriveled-up grapes can become Motown rock stars! Maybe prunes were never in the right place at the right time, but raisins definitely were.
Link: California Raisins, 1987 [YouTube]
8. Cool Ranch Doritos
Before the 100-cal-packified era, there was an original turquoise-flecked triangular chip. With actual fat!
Link: Cool Ranch Doritos, 1986 [YouTube]
7. Tri-Color Pasta Salad
Pasta salads were just hot in the '80s. Especially in elbow, wagon wheel, and squiggly shapes, and shades of peach, pistachio, and normal off-white noodle. Toss them with canned olives and powdered salad dressing, and you were the coolest kid at the potluck.
6. Orange Julius
Creamy plus citrus sounds like a wretched marriage, and it is, except in Julius form. Why don't Orange Julius stands exist anymore? Due to a corporate merger, they can actually be found in select Dairy Queens, with seven hiding in Singapore.
5. Equal
The first aspartame pixie dust sold to consumers, it may not plumpen your thighs, but it will probably kill you with evil toxins very slowly. Maybe consumers weren't aware of the health risks in the '80s, but even now, it's so easy to justify that one little blue package. Especially in baby blue. Baby blue would never hurt us.
4. Artificially Flavored Fruit Snacks
Did you have one of the cool moms who bought you Fruit by the Foot, Gushers, or Fruit Roll-Ups? Mine didn't (she opted for real fruit) and is still paying the therapist bills.
Link: Fruit Bars, 1988 [YouTube]
3. Tab Cola
Are you really just Diet Coke hiding in a fuchsia can? Why do you creep up on weird corners of grocery aisles? Since the soda catered to "beautiful people," Tab ran commercials with waifish girls scoring hot guys because they drank this.
Link: Tab Cola with Elle Macpherson, 1982 [YouTube]
2. Lean Cuisine
It was the dawn of a low-fat gastronomical revolution. Scientists realized they could create "healthy" chicken teriyaki meals from sodium phosphates, modified cornstarch, high-fructose corn syrup, and caramel color. Launched in 1981, the zappable Lean Cuisines started with ten options; they now offer more than 100.
Link: Lean Cuisine, 1986 [YouTube]
1. Capri Sun
Straw-stabbing styles got very personal with Capri Sun. At the pouch's belly (risking a waterfall effect), at the bottom (for tricky upside-down enjoyment), or at the designated hole (purists). Just don't stab straight through to the other side. Flavors more or less tasted the same—a fruity "tropical" punch, with or without added kiwi strawberry syrups. First trademarked in Germany in the '50s, the pouches later became huge at soccer games and in school lunches.
Link: Capri Sun, 1980s [YouTube]
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30 Comments:
I often see Tab on lists of "uniquely '80s" foods, but I don't understand why. It's been around since the early '60s, and probably was at its most popular in the '70s. Ditto Orange Julius, which was in just about every mall in the '70s, but seemed to gradually disappear in the '80s. And we had jawbreakers in the '70s, too, although I'm pretty sure they were around for at least a few decades before.
juliec at 9:27AM on 10/09/08
I LOVE the California raisins! When I was little, I actually had their action figures. They are my little heroes...I mean, how charming are they in that video!?
Kerry Saretsky at 9:45AM on 10/09/08
I was about to post the same as juliec did about Tab. I know I was drinking it in the mid-1970s. For a 1980s soft drink (soda? pop?? soda pop???) that at least gives the feel of that decade, I'd go with Mello Yello.
LunaPierCook at 9:46AM on 10/09/08
Yeah, I'd consider Tab a 70's thing too rather than an 80's thing. If I were thinking about 80's soft drinks, it'd be like Crystal Pepsi or New Coke or something like Clearly Canadian.
Man, I love the Strawberry Julius. I know OJ was around earlier, but they'll always be a fixture in the 80's mall in my mind.
worldcupfever at 9:48AM on 10/09/08
Two diabetic people I know still go out of their way to find Tab, since they became accustomed to the taste.
kaszeta at 9:54AM on 10/09/08
Jawbreakers in the Fifties, I promise you. And not everyone has banned aspartame; in Europe, I had aspartame-sweetened Coke Light, far superior to its American equivalent, Diet Coke.
lemons at 9:59AM on 10/09/08
Well, I can't say that jawbreakers bring back the 80's for me, but I do know that I would not have said/heard "Oh, snap!" until the late 90's.
thebrokedown at 10:27AM on 10/09/08
I can take you to 2 or 3 Orange Julius' within 45 minutes of my house. They do still exist.
Crystal Pepsi and Clearly Canadian were early 90's stuff, people.
I'll second the Mello Yellow!
jdshd at 10:40AM on 10/09/08
You know, now that you mention it, Crystal Pepsi was early 90's. Clearly Canadian, though, I drank like a fiend in high school, so that was 80's. At least I associate it with the 80's. Memories of my teens/early twenties can be a bit hazy.
worldcupfever at 10:45AM on 10/09/08
GUSHERSSSSSSSS!!!!
damn, i loved gushers. and man, capri sun brings me back to softball games in sixth grade, when the snack mom of the week would usually bring orange slices or granola bars and capri sun. basically a bag of citrus flavored sugar, but delicious nonetheless. my roommate bought a box of fruit roll-ups last week, for the life of me i have no idea why she would eat those things as a semi-grownup!
and i still love tri-color pasta. when i was a kid, my mom would make it and just pour italian salad dressing on, stick in in the fridge to cool, and throw it on a plate. it was probably my favorite dinner, and not until like 10 years later did i figure out the simplicity, heh.
sarahlucy at 10:47AM on 10/09/08
clearly canadian! oh, worldcupfever, you've made me so thirsty! do they even make that anymore? i loved that drink...that and sunny d in the tiny jugs. speaking of jugs-what about hug-a-jugs? anyone else remember those? we used to get them with our snacks in elementary school. they were really gross. capri suns always drove me nuts trying to get that damn straw in.
@ kerry: i loved the cali raisins too! i also had their action figures, which really is kind of odd to think back on now.
my mom used to pack those artificial fruit treats in my lunch. i've tried them since and they definitely don't have the same appeal.
never cared much for the other items mentioned.
gastronomeg at 10:52AM on 10/09/08
stouffers stuffed bell peppers, and french bread pizzas were my freezer option as a child. i loved them. i think the had stuffed cabbage too.. also good.
seikel at 10:57AM on 10/09/08
TAB!
I grew up with this soda. My mother literally has our local grocery store order her packs of TAB every single week. No one else really drinks them other than her so it's more like we walk up to the manager's office and ask for our special case. I LOVE this soda- I don't know whether it's because it immediately evokes countless childhood memories or merely because it's still a unique Diet Cola. The TAB Energy is disgusting though, they should stick to what they know. And in terms of Capri Sun? What a great juice. I used to drink three of these daily; thank you for mentioning these childhood favorites; I'll be going tonight to pick up some Gushers, TAB, and Capri Suns!
TaylorShocks at 10:59AM on 10/09/08
I agree that TAB is a 70s soda, and I VEHEMENTLY DISAGREE with the implication that it's "Diet Coke in a fuscia can". TAB has its own unique taste, with powdery-sweet aftertaste that has just a hint of bitterness. In a way, it reminds me of the same flavor profile as Jordan Almonds. It's hard to find in Boston, but sold at several of the supermarkets I've visited in New Hampshire.
marzipanda at 11:07AM on 10/09/08
@gastronomeg - A friend's son offered me one of his Capri Suns a couple of years ago at one of our soccer games. I nearly blew a vein in my head trying to get the straw in. It's gotten no easier, trust me.
worldcupfever at 11:20AM on 10/09/08
I don't understand why Coke makes both Tab and Diet Coke, except as a courtesy to TaylorShock's Mom.
annien at 11:25AM on 10/09/08
@TaylorShocks & marzipanda - Is the Tab sold currently the same as the original stuff? I've not tried it since I was a youngster, so I've been curious as to whether they've meddled with the formula.
Oh, also a memory of the 80's: that Pepsi Light with the lemon wedge on the packaging. That may have had the worst artificial lemon taste ever, but it seemed pretty chic to a 10-year old back then.
worldcupfever at 11:25AM on 10/09/08
@Annien - They really can't figure out what else to do with 300,000 sheets of hot pink aluminum.
worldcupfever at 11:32AM on 10/09/08
Yeah, I definitely just had an Orange Julius last week. We have one in both of our malls.
amanda0730 at 12:31PM on 10/09/08
Fruit Roll-ups & McRibs, yo
wthrop at 1:01PM on 10/09/08
Budget Gourmet tv dinners.
redfish at 1:19PM on 10/09/08
I can get an Orange Julius, Clearly Canadian, and Capri sun easily--a five minute walk for any of them.
antrobin at 2:25PM on 10/09/08
anyone remember Burple? It was like kool-aid, powdered drink in a plastic accordioned bottle. You'd expand the packaging and add water? So strange!
foodandscience at 2:51PM on 10/09/08
@worldcupfever - I don't remember it well enough from the early years, but my older sister says the TAB I buy is a perfect match.
@annien - As a Diet Coke connoisseur, I can say with great certainty that they are different enough to warrant different names.
marzipanda at 3:11PM on 10/09/08
Tang was 60s. TAB was 70s. (Fresca too?) Maybe Crystal Light was 80s? Or Bartles and Jaymes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartles_and_Jaymes)?
There was an Orange Julius at the downtown shopping mall in Sacramento in the 70s.
I used to eat jawbreakers as a kid in the 60s.
Elise Bauer at 6:50PM on 10/09/08
Oh, Fresca was the 60's, definitely. And it tasted much better with cyclamates than it does now!
annien at 8:47PM on 10/09/08
Fresca is my favourite mixer for gin.
PeanutButter at 10:19PM on 10/09/08
I remember that Downtown Plaza Orange Julius in Sac- they took it out when they remodeled in the 1990's. I seem to remember that they were still around through at least the late 1990's in malls in the midwest, sounds like they are still in some malls out there too.
I remember one Halloween when my parents went as California Raisins for a party.
Burple, I'd forgotten about the stuff. I have no memory of what it tasted like, but I do remember my mom getting annoyed with us playing with the bottle.
cmtigger at 11:10PM on 10/09/08
I'm in the same situation as antrobin. I can rattle off places to get Clearly Canadian, Capri Sun, and Orange Julius too.
And I just checked - Clearly Canadian has a "beverage locater" so if you're having cravings just check their website: http://www.clearly.ca/locator/.
anonymoose at 12:14PM on 10/10/08
"my roommate bought a box of fruit roll-ups last week, for the life of me i have no idea why she would eat those things as a semi-grownup!"
Ummmm. . . .because she thinks they're tasty? :-)
LadySparkina at 3:26AM on 03/02/09