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HeyDay Bars. I loved those and they quit making them.

I miss the stuff from our garden- homemade tomato sauce, frozen corn and green beans, canned pears, raspberry jam....sigh. When I think about what I ate as a kid (late 70's early 80's) that stuff comes to mind first, not anything from the store.

We used to get these weird little "ice cream cones" at the supermarket that weren't made of ice cream at all. They cone was kind of like a normal waffle cone, but the "ice cream" part was made of an airbrushed merengue with the consistency of a squishy foam stress toy. They were weird and artificial, but for a kid, not bad in exploring texture. I haven't seen them in ages. Also, did anyone else have those sugar sticks that came with three or four pouches of flavored powdered sugar to dip? Man, those were the days... ;)

@yayfood. Fundip. I just had one with my kids on Easter.

@yayfood/smokey - fundip rules! I used to get playground sand on my lick-a-stick but would eat it anyway!

I really miss tahiti treat soda,
Chef boyardee beeferoni,
Papa's oxtail soup with grilled swiss sandwiches,
and frozen waffles (I was only allowed to have them on weekends)

awesome topic btw

Lots of things. I think in the early 50's manufacturer's used real food and less additives - remember Lowneys Cherry Blossom? I can still get them now if I look hard enough, but they taste like plastic. There was no "chocolatey goodness" then, it was the real thing! We had real ice cream, even the cheap stuff was good, and rich, thick chocolate milk from the dairy, little local bake shops that made eclairs and Boston cream pies, with real cream, root beer and ginger beer that was so delicious and even Smarties tasted different. Even canned food tasted better - ah, Chef Boyardee, but I wouldn't feed it to my grand kids today!

S.W. Graham cereal!

Space Food Sticks. I loved those things!

-Dawn
Wicked Good Dinner

Mojo's.
And they used to be 2 for a penny believe it or not.
Back in the days when you could fill s small paper bag with candy for about 50 cents.

I know its a totally local thing but I miss Rocky Point clam chowder with clam cakes to dunk in it. Last time I went home Rocky Point had closed so that craving went unanswered. :-( I also used to love those candy sticks, I dont know what they were called but they were about a 1/2 inch wide, my fav was the watermelon.

This is related to another thread about childhood food memories.
@jobug: I totally get the attachment to blackberry cobbler! My family ritualistically did that every summer when I was a kid; we'd pick them ourselves in spite ofthe sweltering Coast heat!

This doesn't pertain to me so much as it does mymother, but when Iwas very tiny, she told us of this incredibly fond memory of these ice cream treats: soft green Christmas tree-shaped; her father brought them home every Christmas season. I remember a singular occaision in which she enthusiastically shared this memorywith us when she happened to stumble upon some. Never again have Iseen them; anybody know what Im talkingabout?? (someones comment about icecream reminded me)

Further, being that I'm only twenty, most of my childhood treats are still around!! I just dont quite get the same pleasure anymore, though.

Nestle used to make Chocolite bars. I loved them!
Also Whatchmacallits were much better before thay added the caramel.

@honeybumper: you mean those Jolly Rancher candy sticks?
I totally loved the watermelon and the green apple ones.

I miss my Grandma's home made dinner rolls the most, though.
We never got her to write down a recipe, and try as I might, I just can't duplicate hers.

I forgot about these until the mention of the pink sugar cones. Here in Canada we used to have tiny cones filled with maple taffy and sealed with a lid of maple sugar. The best treat ever! I haven't seen them in at least 20 years...

Things my grandmother made, like homemade bread. As kids it would be a special treat for us to get up early, before everyone else, and make loaves upon loaves of this multigrain bread. Homemade jam and honey from a blue pot...

Also, this coffee-ice cream-frozen milk thing. Adults got iced coffee, kids got cold chocolate milk. Add ice cream, drink through metal spoon/straw on the back deck.

@WickedGoodDinner-I loved those Space Food Sticks too, we finished off the box as soon as mom got home from the store. I had some recently, unfortunately FunDip held up much better over the years. That's the great thing about having 5 yr olds, I get to try all this stuff again.

1. This bakery in my hometown had the most amazing peanut persian donuts, and just-plain-glazed pretzel donuts. Yow.

2. Carnation Breakfast Bars. The old, kinda waxy, formula--not the newer chewy granola bar version.

PLANTERS CHEEZ BALLS. Oh my, they were absolutely amazing. They remind me of our beach house. I used to eat half a container in one sitting. I miss that metabolism.

Also those ice cream cups (we called them Dixie cups) with the Vanilla ice cream and strawberry goo on top? Eaten with a wooden spatula/spoon thing

This italian bakery in our old townhouse in Maidavale, when I lived in London, had these amazingly flaky cinnamon rolls and italian cookies!

I hate anything apple flavored but I loved apple fruit roll-ups! They also had apricot ones which were equally delicious.

I have to say one of my favorite childhood treats was a peanut butter and fluff sandwich. No marshmallow cream...but real Fluff. My grandmother would make then for me and cut it in to quarters. Why does a sandwich taste different when its cut that way? I still indulge in one today when I'm feeling nostalgic.

I also loved the Life Saver swirl lollipops. The strawberry and cream ones were divine. I haven't seen those around in years.

Almost everything that my mother would make. She would make an apple stuedel that everyone in the neighborhood came lurking around cause you could smell it a block away. Yeah she would clear everything off the dining room table when making the dough and stretch it out so thin with out tearing it, what an art, I used to watch her but I could not do it now. All her cookies, kuchens, pillow cases, knurdels her cakes, oh God they were so good, this choclate cake with this buttercream frosting, her lemon cake I could go on and on. As far as savory dishes, she made this pan fried steak with a sauce fromthe drippings that was so rich and so good, forget the steak, give me some bread to dunk into the sauce. On the holidays she would make stuffed cabbage but it is different then any stuffed cabbage, it had no rice mixed in with the beef and was not a tomato base sauce that you normally find. The meat stuffed into the cabbage was veal, pork and beef, like you would make a meatloaf, She would soak the saurekraut to get the sour out of it. Then it was layered in a big pan, saurekraut, then seared bone in pork chops, the stuffed cabbage rolls and then she made a roux gravy (no tomato) and pour it all over it, cover and bake it at low heat for hours. Near the end she would make parsley knurdels (size of a baseball), and serve the whole thing with sour cream. I hated it when I was really young but got a taste for it as I got older. Anyone know what I am talking about? Moms bacon and eggs, i don't know if it was the pan or what, but I can't get it to taste like hers.
Non mom stuff: Campbells chicken and dumpling soup, they still make it but they don't ship it to the NW anymore. Daly's Drive In, Jade Pagoda, The Doghouse, Kings Cafe, Bakers, Rosellini's, Victoria Station and Rupunzels.

I miss my Grandma's cooking period. She'd wake up every morning before anyone else and make homemade tortillas. Not these thin flavorless ones you see at the grocery store. They were thick and soft and so delicious. For the holidays she always made a ton of homemade tamales and for dessert, empenadas with some kind of fruit filling. They were so delicious warm, didn't need any sugar or anything on them. She made steak with beans and papas fritas that I just can't recreate. But then again I just can't bring myself to cook with shortening.

Does anyone else remember those little bottles of juice? They were sort of barrel-shaped and had a peel-off foil lid. They came in purple, red and orange flavours, were insanely sweet, and were bought by the case for very little money. Had one in my lunchbox every day for years and years.

Wonka Dino-Sour Eggs. Gone but not forgotten...

@notamerican -- you mean Hugs? They still sell those around here. I have a battle with my daughter every time we go to the grocery store over them.

Easy, anything from my grandma's garden, like fresh raspberries eaten as I picked them or raw sugar peas. Yum!

Oh and her spoon jam made with strawberries or raspberries from her garden.

@yayfood-- my mom would never let us have those. They always looked cool, but she said they were too much sugar.

Remember in the 70's when there was the official "generic" brand with black and white packaging? My brother and I looooved the generic brownie mixes & snarfing it down while watching Gilligan's Island. My mom was all excited to save money & bought generic stuff she'd never normally buy--like brownie mix. Usually we had zero junk food in the house and my brother taught me if you chew a handful of wheat kernels long enough it'd turn into gum. Yes, we were that desperate. She also went through whey, lecithin and soy phases. Pity me.

I would KILL to have my grandma's fried chicken again and her green salad that she'd serve in individual seasoned wood bowls. She always sprinkled some kind of red salty seasoning on it.
@yayfood--I think you're talking about Drumstix--the chewy cone was so awesome! But the "ice cream" was like eating frozen white carpet fuzz.

I miss Bottlecaps, bit 'o' honey, green apple jolly ranchers, Oompa Loompas, those tiny wax bottles with juice inside them. Candy cigarettes and cigars! Zotz. I know some of them are still made but it's disappointing to try it again & find out you had terrible taste.

And a few more:

Rock Cornish game hens - the height of elegance in the early sixties, when I first encountered them at my parents' table. I've always loved roast poultry, and still do - and to have a bird all to yourself was utterly charming.

My grandmother's Swedish meatballs and fruit soup, a feast she served to our family at least twice a year for many years.

My mother's deviled eggs, which she made with curry powder and garnished with Major Grey's chutney.

Almost any version of ham sandwich. I ate ham every chance I got when I was young - but the best had Durkee's Famous Dressing on them.

Oddest of all, the afternoon when I was playing with my best friend in her immense overgrown backyard. We stirred together ripe blackberries with plenty of sugar and (maybe) a little milk. Sheer ambrosia, that was, and blackberries and sugar have never tasted so good since.

Re: cannolies. There is (or was) a place in McLean, VA called Pulcinella's that actually did decent cannolies. Not too sweet, not too dry. It's sort of a classic red-checked tablecloth and raffia chianti Italian place, but good for families, and not bad food. I used to go for the Alfredo sauce or the Eggplant Parmesan. Anyway, it's (or was) right on Old Dominion before you meet 123.

Oh, and while I'm being all nostalgic, we used to have a cake store that sold day-old and damaged Dolly Madison and Entenmann's products. Copious raspberry coffee cake and endless Zingers...what else could a child want?

Hostess Pudding Pies.