the 1980s were more than just hair bands and crazy fashion there were
also the iconic foods of the decade so let's look back on 15 classic foods from the 1980s
wine coolers wine has been a popular form of alcohol for most of recorded history but it
took the 1980s to come up with wine mixed with fruit juices and carbonated water bartles and
james aired a series of popular commercials in the 1980s advertising their wine coolers
seagram's was another brand of wine cooler popular in the 1980s it had the distinction of
having actor bruce willis appear in some of its television commercials most wine coolers mixed
white wine and carbonated water with flavors like orange berry and lemon and lime these refreshing
drinks were relatively low in alcohol at between four and six percent and they average around 230
calories wine coolers lost steam in the 1990s but made something of a comeback 20 years later with
the growing popularity of flavored seltzers and similar drinks serious wine drinkers might scoff
at these fruity fizzy drinks but wine coolers were a popular bottled beverage in the 1980s
fruit roll-ups fruit roll-ups are a brand of fruit snack made by general mills that made their debut
in 1983. they're mostly made from pectin and pressed flat and rolled into a tube to get this
signature appearance that helped make these one of the classic foods from the 1980s fruit roll-ups
have to be packaged on a sheet of cellophane so the fruit snack won't stick to itself and
become a single mass of sugary goo kids used to find them in their school lunches or had them in
the cupboard for a sweet afternoon snack despite their name fruit roll-ups don't really contain
any fruit unless you count the small amount of pear juice concentrate their main ingredient is
sugar but they were marketed as a relatively nutritious and healthy snack general mills
was sued over this and settled out of court the company agreed to stop claiming the snacks were
made with real fruit even with this setback fruit roll-ups remained a popular snack with kids
ecto cooler high c makes a number of fruit flavored drinks and one of them was citrus cooler
this green colored drink was a fairly popular flavor though high seas signature flavor has
always been the orange drink like the brand name suggests it contains a good amount of vitamin c
but this beverage is loved for its sweet citrus flavor not its vitamin c content the high c orange
drink's status was challenged in 1987 when high c became involved with promoting a cartoon spin-off
from the hit action comedy ghostbusters the name citrus cooler was changed to ecto cooler
to promote the animated television show the real ghostbusters an image of slimer the green ghost
from the movie appeared on the rebranded high c drink slimer is not a very appealing product
mascot and whether you like green high c or not this drink's association with ghostbusters makes
it an 80s classic cool ranch doritos doritos chips have been popular for decades with its signature
nacho cheese flavor debuting in 1972. however in 1986 the makers of doritos decided it was time
for a change cool ranch doritos quickly became the chip brand's most popular flavor the ranch flavor
in ranch doritos is a unique blend of tangy and sweet and spicy that comes from ingredients like
garlic onion tomato powder cheddar cheese and milk the doritos website has customer reviews and at
least one person loves cool ranch doritos so much that they eat the savory snack chips every day
and who can really blame them as good as cool ranch doritos are frito lay decided to tamper with
near perfection and came out with some cool ranch variations such as flamin hot cool ranch doritos
which seems like an oxymoron you can also try 3d crunch spicy ranch doritos but like most snacks
the original cool ranch doritos are probably the best sloppy joes the sandwich known as the sloppy
joe was likely invented in the 1930s by a guy named joe this classic was originally referred
to as a loose meat sandwich but thankfully this name didn't stick around and this tangy meat
sandwich became known as the sloppy joe although the sandwich's origins go way back it wasn't until
the 1980s that it became a household name the decade's most well-known brand of sloppy joes was
the manwich from hunts the manwich is made from a can of tomato-based sauce that you add to brown
ground beef or turkey you spoon this savory mixture onto a hamburger bun to make a meaty
sandwich that's a break from the usual plain burger or grilled cheese some families ate
these loose meat sandwiches weekly with some french fries or maybe some crispy tater tots
planters cheese balls planters is best known for its selection of peanuts and the mr peanut mascot
complete with his top hat cane and monocle in the 1980s however planters came out with
their delicious cheese balls these little balls of crispy goodness came in a big blue can the
downside was the bright orange residue they left all over your hands it was so easy to keep popping
the round snacks into your mouth and before you knew it you'd eaten the whole can cheese balls
had a great run but for some reason planters stopped selling the popular snack in 2006.
these are one of the classic foods from the 1980s so you knew it was just a matter of time
before they made a comeback so the big blue can of cheese balls made their triumphant return in 2019
teddy graham crackers have been around a long time but these little bear-shaped cookies made by
nabisco found their way to grocery store shelves in 1988. teddy graham's cookies debuted with three
flavors to choose from including honey chocolate and cinnamon these little cookies make for good
snacking because you can eat 24 as a serving and it will only cost you 130 calories and 4 grams of
fat adults love them for their sweet crunchiness and kids love them for the cute teddy bear shapes
so everyone wins teddy grahams really are a no-brainer because cookies and milk will
always be a classic and cookies shaped like teddy bears are just too good an idea to fail
dairy queen blizzard the frozen treat known as the blizzard hit dairy queen ice cream stands in 1985
and it has been a hit ever since this thick and creamy concoction helped people cool off on hot
summer days and developed a reputation as the ice cream treat that's turned upside down before they
serve it to you at dairy queen the sick and cool consistency is one thing but what truly
makes the blizzard special is the near perfect combination of soft serve and chunks of candies
cookies and other delicious toppings stirred into the frozen treat since the blizzard became
a hit other fast food chains have copied it most famously mcdonald's with its mcflurry but everyone
knows that a blizzard beats a flurry and dq is still the place to go for your frozen treat needs
tiramisu this italian dessert was invented in 1980 and appeared in an english language recipe in
1982. tiramisu means pick-me-up in italian and was supposedly created to help italians get through
their week the foundation of a good tiramisu is the ladyfinger pastries that are soaked in coffee
this method of dipping the ladyfingers adds flavor and a little bit of a caffeinated pick-me-up egg
yolks soft italian cream cheese and cocoa combine with the ladyfingers for a rich and sweet dessert
tiramisu is served at italian restaurants around the world so it's hard to believe a dessert this
good has only been around for a few decades this decadent dessert's a rapid rise to popularity
helped make tiramisu one of the classic foods from the 1980s hot pockets these little calzone-like
snacks first appeared in the frozen section of grocery stores in 1983. hot pockets are the tasty
brainchild of brothers paul and david mirage the key innovation to hot pockets was the microwavable
cardboard sleeve called a susceptor which along with the brothers dough recipe results in a
crispy pastry fresh out of the microwave the mirage brothers were so successful with their
tasty invention that nestle bought their company in 2002 for 2.6 billion dollars there have been
58 varieties of hot pockets released over the years many of these flavors have been
popular while others have been discontinued such as fruit pastries and quesadillas
reese's pieces if you were a kid in 1982 you probably remember seeing e.t the extraterrestrial
on the big screen elliott the boy who befriends the wayward alien uses reese's pieces candies
to entice it inside his house making the candy an instant classic from the 1980s these little
candies have colorful shells that come in orange yellow and brown so they look a lot like m ms
however the big difference is that these have a peanut butter flavored center instead of chocolate
reese's pieces was able to become one of the stars of e.t because inexplicably the mars candy company
turned down a proposal from the production company to put eminems in the blockbuster movie reece's
pieces basically became a household name after they were seen in the movie although m m's were
already very popular more publicity never hurts m ms may still be the top little round candies
on the block but reese's pieces gained worldwide notoriety because of a few short minutes of screen
time in a steven spielberg movie frozen yogurt ice cream has been around for a long time and so has
yogurt but their cousin frozen yogurt sometimes called froyo is relatively new on the scene
h.p hood created frozen yogurt in 1978 with limited success its popularity slowly grew in
new england and by the early 1980s soft-serve ice cream stands were also offering customers frozen
yogurt soft serve is just ice cream that has had air mixed with it during the freezing process but
frozen yogurt is a little different frozen yogurt has somewhat of that tart taste that is associated
with regular yogurts maybe frozen yogurt tasted a little too much like regular yogurt when it
was introduced because manufacturers began to experiment with different textures and flavors
until it was more like soft-serve ice cream and less like yogurt frozen yogurt
has become big business with shops selling a choice of flavors with a lot of toppings
plum cake plums might not be as popular a fruit as oranges bananas or apples but that doesn't mean
this purple fruit should be overlooked it turns out plums make a pretty tasty cake technically you
could call this a fruitcake but don't confuse this confection with the much-maligned christmas treat
it can get a little confusing because the word plum has been used to describe dried fruits like
raisins and currants so a plum cake might not actually contain plums but this item refers to
the plum cake with the actual purple fruit known as a plum if you have a sweet tooth you might
want to find a recipe for plum cake the new york times published a plum cake recipe that became one
of its most popular culinary offerings the recipe was published in 1983 and it has been republished
every year since orangina a man named augustine trico created this sparkling orange soft drink in
french algeria in 1933. it's made from 12 citrus juice ten percent is concentrated orange juice
and two percent is a blend of lemon mandarin and grapefruit orangina actually reached america in
1978 but it was sold under a different name the refreshing drink caught on in the states so the
company started selling it under its rightful name starting in 1984. orangina has a following
in america but the drink's real popularity is in france switzerland japan and in parts of north
africa the drink is marketed as the original sparkling citrus juice from france the company
recommends drinking its carbonated beverage as is for an anytime refreshment or you can mix orangina
with your favorite spirits for a flavorful and unique cocktail its cool name sweet flavor
bright orange color and distinct bottle made orangina stand out from other sodas of the 1980s
chicken mcnuggets mcdonald's has expanded its menu over the years but the 1980s probably saw
the biggest changes chicken is everywhere in fast food now but in the 1980s if you wanted chicken
there was kentucky fried chicken mcdonald's expanded its menu with chicken mcnuggets in
1981. the fast food chain's original mcchicken sandwich actually pre-dates mcnuggets by a year
the popular but limited availability sandwich known as the mcrib also debuted in 1980 chicken
mcnuggets have been a popular item at mcdonald's although the chunks of fried chicken developed
a bit of a dubious reputation with some customers because of the perceived quality of the meat used
this controversy is long gone as the fast food chain touts its all-white meat mcnuggets
regardless mcnuggets have been a hit since the 1980s and continue to be to this day looking
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