Do you remember when the cabbage soup diet was all the rage? Or when molten chocolate cake was the cool new dessert? Here we take a nostalgic trip, from the 1940s through to the 1990s, revisiting the food fads of years gone by that were popular in the US and Canada. Find out whether the craze from the year you were born lasted or whether it flopped like a 1950s Jell-O salad.
Click or scroll through our gallery to discover the weird and wonderful food fads from years gone by.
The coffee substitute Postum, which is caffeine-free and made from wheat grains and molasses, has been around since the late 19th century. However, due to rationing during the Second World War and people looking for a replacement hot drink, it did a roaring trade during the mid and late 1940s.
This B vitamin-rich lunch meat became popular in the war-torn 1940s as preferred pork and beef cuts were shipped overseas to feed troops. It was mass-produced in the US by the brand Morrell E-Z Serve and came in a can, ready to eat hot or cold in a variety of recipes. Liver loaf salad anyone?
A recipe for chiffon cake – a light, fluffy cake made from eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and a secret ingredient, vegetable oil – was published by Betty Crocker in 1948. Touted as 'The first really new cake in 100 years!', for a time it became the cake to bake in households across the US.
All things Tiki – faux Polynesian – was a trend started in the 1930s by Hollywood eatery Don the Beachcomber (pictured). Diners loved the themed bars and restaurants, adorned with wooden carvings, where you could get tropical fruit and exotic cocktails. Tiki reached peak popularity in the 1960s before falling foul of cultural appropriation.
The cabbage soup diet took off in the 1950s as figure-conscious housewives hailed the low-cal veggie broth for its quick weight loss results. It was typically followed for a week and dieters were told they could expect to lose between 10lbs (4.6kg) and 15lbs (6.5kg). It was soon replaced by other fad diets but resurfaced in the 1980s and is still around today.
This delicious and indulgent dessert features bananas flambéed with brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, dark rum, and banana liqueur, finished off with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was first created in 1951 at Brennan’s Restaurant in New Orleans, Louisiana, where it became the signature dish. Today you can still find the wistful dessert on some retro-inspired restaurant menus.
Although created in the 1930s, this resourceful, economical dish of store cupboard staples – canned tuna, pasta noodles, peas, creamy sauce, and a cheesy topping – became synonymous with the 1950s. It was a regular on the roster for home cooks needing to feed their families on tight budgets.
Made in honor of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, coronation chicken consists of cooked chicken, curry powder, and mayonnaise. People all over the world fell in love with the spicy sandwich and salad-filler for a short time – no buffet spread in 1953 was complete without it. These days it's still a staple at British sandwich shops.
Swanson & Sons launched the first ever TV dinner just in time for Thanksgiving in 1953, when televisions were really peaking in popularity. It featured turkey and gravy, fluffy whipped potatoes, and peas, and was neatly packaged in boxes made to look like a TV – complete with tuning knobs and all. In the first year alone, more than 10 million were sold in the USA.
It’s an old recipe but pineapple upside-down cake is undeniably associated with this decade. Such was its popularity, US brand Py-O-My launched a cake mix that came with a can of pineapple rings and cherries. It’s now regarded as so deliciously retro it has had a bit of a resurgence.
Invented in the 1950s and designed to resemble fondue, Cheez Whiz was put on everything, from burgers and sandwiches to cooked veg and crudités. In this advert from 1956, the processed cheese is spread on crackers and topped with pickled onions and olives, to make these not-so-chic canapés.
As a result of wartime dairy rationing, oil-based margarine became a popular alternative to butter and one that was believed to be healthier. By 1957, margarine sales even exceeded butter. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, competing companies vied with each other to produce a margarine that tasted the most like butter. However, in recent years, there's been a move back towards butter, which is considered to be a more natural product.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, steak Diane was one of the most luxurious dishes you could order at restaurants. It was flambéed tableside and also contained shallots, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, stock, Cognac, and black pepper. However, by the late 1970s it had fallen out of fashion.
In previous centuries, aspic was used in a similar way to combine and display all kinds of ingredients in decorative jellies. But it was the 1950s that saw a steep rise in Jell-O dishes in all shapes and flavors. These so-called 'salads' became a convenient way to serve canned foods and often featured as dinner party centerpieces. Sweet salads contained the likes of fruit or marshmallows, while savory ones included vegetables, cheese, fish, and mayonnaise.
Lipton onion soup dip is a prime example of how resourceful 1960s home cooks got the most out of the products available. Why use powdered soup mix to just make soup? When combined with sour cream, it's a surprisingly addictive dip that’s a perfect accompaniment to crudités or potato chips. These days the classic two-ingredient recipe is still a retro favorite in many households.
A decadent plate of steak and lobster became the go-to dish on a fancy night out and the perfect choice for indecisive diners. But, as is so often the case, today's fashionable food soon becomes yesterday's news. Nowadays, while surf and turf is still available, it's seen as a little dated.
This retro food fad remains as controversial today as when it was first served by Greek restaurant owner Sam Panopoulos in Ontario, Canada in 1962. Despite being such a divisive dish, the sweet and savory combination of ham and pineapple quickly caught on, with restaurants, shops, and home cooks soon adding the tropical fruit to pizzas all over the world.
This classic French dish of crisp, succulent duck in a bright, citrus sauce was a guaranteed feature on dinner party and restaurant menus throughout the 1960s. It was also said to be one of Hollywood-darling-turned-European-princess Grace Kelly’s favorite dishes.
In 1964, cosmetic executive Robert Cameron self-published The Drinking Man’s Diet, a book that advises readers to eat meat, drink booze, and avoid carbohydrates. It swiftly became the diet of choice and people couldn't quite believe their luck – until nutritionists (unsurprisingly) denounced it as bad for the heart.
Named after the Florida Gators, the football team that represents the University of Florida, Gatorade was originally invented in 1965 to help athletes replenish lost fluids after exerting themselves. But it wasn't just a hit with sports players – pretty much everyone else loved the refreshing taste of the drink too. Up until the 1980s it was only available in two flavors: Lemon Lime and Orange.
After appearing at the 1964 New York World’s Fair and wowing Americans, this Swiss sharing meal became the dinner party plat du jour, a fad that continued into the 1970s. However, when the health-conscious 1980s began, this rich meal became passé, and millions of fondue sets were relegated to attics and garages.
In 1967, physician Irwin Maxwell Stillman created a high-protein, low-carb, and low-fat diet that proved popular until the 1970s. The Stillman Diet also encouraged dieters to consume spices and lots of fluids, which led Dolly Parton to quip: "I tried… the Stillman water diet, you remember that one, where you run weight off trying to get to the bathroom."
Fresh food aficionados and the anti-sugar movement remain perturbed by Pop Tarts’ durability. The sugary, highly-processed fad invented in the mid-1960s never went away – in likelihood because it's convenient, addictively tasty, and can be stored for ages.
This French culinary movement, which advocated light, uncomplicated cooking instead of traditional, cream and butter-heavy dishes, gathered pace in the late 1960s. Food was bright in color and arranged in artistic ways on the plate so that it resembled sculptures and paintings.
An old-school appetizer that conjures up images of Las Vegas casinos and the Rat Pack, the shrimp cocktail consists of juicy jumbo shrimp served with a tangy cocktail sauce made with ketchup, lemon juice, and horseradish. Its exact origins are unclear, but it was Las Vegas’ legendary Golden Gate Casino that popularized the classic version in the early 1960s. By the 1970s, it featured on the menus of fashionable restaurants all over the US. The decades since have seen it see-saw back and forth between being kitsch and charming, and out of date.
Another 1970s staple, these puff pastry nests were stuffed with fillings such as prawn mayo, creamy mushrooms, or chicken. Nowadays, they still feature on some canapé trays, just served with up-to-date fillings such as pesto, hot smoked salmon, or blue cheese and mushroom.
When ketchup-flavored chips first hit Canadian grocery stores in the early 1970s, most assumed they were just a passing craze. More than 50 years later, they’re still among the country’s most iconic snacks. Canadian chip brand Hostess had been going since the 1930s, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that the company began experimenting with flavors, eventually coming up with its ketchup variety. That special taste combination of tomatoes and sugar soon became a hit throughout the country, with rival chip companies bringing out their own versions.
Named after a 19th-century military general, General Tso's chicken is a Chinese American classic, consisting of battered chunks of chicken coated in a sticky, sweet, and mildly spicy sauce. Its origins are debated, but chef Peng Chang-kuei is widely credited for creating the dish, putting it on the menu in 1973 at his New York City restaurant, Uncle Peng's Hunan Yuan. The dish really found its way into the American appetite during the 1970s, and still holds a nostalgic appeal today.
Also known as astronaut ice cream, dehydrated ice cream was an earth-bound fad in a space-obsessed era. However, NASA actually rejected the food because of its crumbly texture, particles of which could float into, and potentially damage, essential equipment. A consumer version was created as a novelty item specifically for a NASA gift shop in 1974.
This dish of pasta, cream, Parmesan, and spring vegetables was served at New York’s trendy Le Cirque restaurant and, for a short while, became the most talked-about dish in Manhattan. Soon, restaurants and home cooks everywhere were emulating it, and the flavor combination even ended up as a popular pizza topping.
This extreme liquid diet took off when alternative health practitioner Stanley Burroughs published The Master Cleanser in 1976. No food was allowed to pass its followers' lips, instead they lived off a concoction of cayenne pepper, lemon juice, maple syrup, and water. We're glad this starvation fad is one that has been mostly relegated to history.
First introduced in 1977, SlimFast meal replacement drinks were wildly popular in the health-conscious 1980s. Powdered chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla flavors were mixed with low-fat milk and drunk twice a day, followed by a sensible dinner. The meal replacement brand still exists but is in no way as popular as it once was.
Another decade, another diet – this time the Scarsdale, developed by cardiologist Herman Tarnower. Dieters were restricted to 1,900 calories a day and a diet of low-fat, protein-rich foods, plus lots of fruit and vegetables. It was a runaway success, and sales were further boosted when, in 1980, Tarnower was murdered by his former lover, Jean Harris.
Frozen chocolate and vanilla Jell-O Pudding Pops were a huge hit with kids in the US during the late 1970s and 1980s. However, in the early 2000s they started being sold under the Popsicle brand and the formula was changed. The new version of the treat was not nearly as popular and eventually discontinued.
Bisquick developed the very marketable idea of the impossible pie, the recipes for which were found on the back of Bisquick baking mix boxes. Bisquick (basically flour, baking powder, salt, and shortening) was mixed with other ingredients such as eggs, milk, and desiccated coconut, and the mixture cooked in such a way that it formed its own crust and filling. It was a roaring success, but later the company renamed the recipes ‘impossibly easy pies.'
Judy Mazel created an instant bestseller when the glamorous-sounding The Beverly Hills Diet was published, complete with flattering endorsements from actress Linda Gray and singer Engelbert Humperdinck – both big stars at the time. A food-combining diet, it involved eating only fruit at breakfast and never eating protein and carbs together.
Quiche was a dinner party staple throughout the 1970s, a trend that many say was kicked off in 1968 when a recipe for quiche Lorraine appeared in Julia Child’s seminal 1968 cookbook, The French Chef Cookbook. However, the cheesy, creamy tart reached almost avocado toast levels of cultural saturation in 1982 with the publication of the bestselling satire Real Men Don't Eat Quiche, a tongue-in-cheek book that poked fun at stereotypes of masculinity.
It goes without saying that this wildly popular dressing has stood the test of time. Made from buttermilk, herbs, spices, garlic, and onion, it was invented by husband-and-wife-team Steve and Gayle Henson in the early 1950s, while they were working on ranches. However, it really hit the mainstream in 1983, with the debut of the duo’s bottled Hidden Valley Ranch. Once ranch was readily available in a bottle, Americans fell in love with the rich and creamy taste.
Did you know that portobello mushrooms as we know them today didn't technically exist until the 1980s? Beloved by vegetarians thanks to their meaty texture and savory taste, these exotic-looking mushrooms (which are actually just overgrown common mushrooms) were rebranded as part of a brilliant marketing scheme to sell the previously unpopular product. Serving them stuffed, usually with cheese and breadcrumbs, was the height of foodie sophistication in the 1980s.
When Time magazine ran an article entitled: Sorry, It’s True. Cholesterol Really Is A Killer, the Western world went mad for low-fat and no-fat diets and a billion-dollar industry was born. This led to endless low-fat products being launched during this era, from yogurt and microwave dinners to cookies and baked goods. While the trend has longevity, it has since been challenged.
Although pasta salads were already popular, one in particular turned into the go-to dish of the 1980s – the tricolore, or three-colored pasta, which combined plain with spinach and tomato flavored pastas. Why? Because it looked cool and exotic, even if the different pasta colors all basically tasted the same.
The 1980s saw McDonald's introduce plenty of now-legendary dishes, including the McRib in 1981 and Chicken McNuggets in 1983. One of the brand's more controversial innovations came in 1987, when it started offering diners the option to ‘super-size’ their fries and soft drinks. The oversized upgrade was available for almost 20 years, but was phased out in 2004, partly due to an almighty backlash sparked by Morgan Spurlock's award-winning documentary Super Size Me.
Launched in 1981 as a healthy alternative to ready meals, Lean Cuisine was an overnight success. The under-300 calorie meals covered two of the decade's food trends: dieting and convenience food. From 1983 to 1988, sales of low-calorie frozen dinners rose 24%, which was double that of regular frozen meals.
Already the norm in Italian cuisine, sun-dried tomatoes reached adoring Americans in the late 1980s, who insisted on adding them to everything. However, diners eventually grew tired of seeing the ingredient on restaurant menus again and again, and people moved on.
A specialty of the Liguria region of Italy, pesto has been around since Roman times, but it wasn’t until the late 1980s and early 1990s that this cheesy, garlicky, nutty sauce became a sudden staple in North America. The ingredient exploded on the New York City restaurant scene as fashionable diners became more interested in regional Italian food – the trend quickly filtered down to the mainstream, eventually becoming the kitchen staple we know today.
A rich chocolate cake with a core of melted chocolate, the dessert was an overnight success when Jean-Georges Vongerichten served it at his New York restaurant JoJo. Within months, replica desserts were on restaurant menus everywhere. Still as delicious as ever, nowadays it's commonplace, if a little passé.
An antipasto from Italy, light yet satisfying bruschetta was the appetizer of choice at restaurants and dinner parties in the early 1990s. Consisting of lightly toasted bread rubbed with garlic and topped with chopped tomatoes, fresh basil, plus a drizzle of olive oil, it’s an easy win because it’s cheap, delicious, and suitable for vegetarians.
Stacking meals vertically by layering ingredients on top of each other, sometimes using a soup can as a mold, was a trend that took the 1990s by storm. Elaborately constructed crudité towers and tall plates of food at restaurants and events wowed diners and was an indication of fanciness. But by the end of the 20th century, the trend had moved on.
Also known as the Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine, the George Foreman Grill hit the market in 1994. It garnered immediate accolades and staggering sales of over 100 million units sold worldwide since launching. The indoor grill had a slope which allowed fat to drain away, making it appeal to the health conscious.
One of Scotland’s more unusual contributions to the culinary scene, the deep-fried Mars Bar started as a novelty item in a fish and chip shop in Stonehaven, near Aberdeen. It was widely criticized by the UK media, who accused it of contributing to Scotland’s poor diet, and it was disowned by Mars, Inc. It soon made its way to the US, where it became a state fair staple, alongside all kinds of other deep-fried candy bars.
This unusual Canadian-made drink was unlike any soda seen before or since. Orbitz was a plain, non-fizzy beverage that had colored gelatine balls of fruity flavor floating around in it – varieties included raspberry citrus, blackcurrant berry, and vanilla orange. It was launched in 1996 by Clearly Canadian Beverage Company but proved a fleeting novelty, and was taken off the market less than two years later.
These squeezy tubes of fruity yogurt won the hearts of kids and parents alike throughout the 1990s. Launched in 1997 as the first yogurt made specifically for children, Yoplait Go-Gurt or Yoplait Tubes (its US and Canadian names respectively) came in Strawberry, Mixed Berry, and even Sour Patch flavors. The ultimate yogurt-on-the-go, they’re still slurped with gusto by children today.
Created in the 1970s the Atkins Diet failed to have mass appeal until the late 1990s when celebrities started to wax lyrical about the effectiveness of its high-protein, low-carb regime. It became, arguably, the diet of the century with legions of avid fans all over the world and an accompanying product range.
Fancy foam appeared on innovative dishes in high-end restaurants from the mid-1990s and is attributed to culinary genius Ferran Adrià of the now closed three Michelin-star El Bulli in Spain. However, as soon as other mid-range restaurants started to copy the technique it lost its magical appeal.
Sex and the City first aired in 1998, and the wildly popular show inspired many trends, including cupcakes. Our obsession with these lavishly iced bakes had already started, but an episode where Miranda munches on a cupcake from Magnolia Cupcakes in New York City undoubtedly turned them into a worldwide obsession. The early 2000s saw artisan cupcake shops popping up in cities all over the globe, and they remained the fashionable treat of choice for many years after.