15 Foods from the Past You’d Never Find in Stores Today
These old-school foods were once pantry staples, but today, they’re banned, forgotten, or just too weird for modern tastes.
- Sophia Zapanta
- 6 min read
Food trends come and go, but some past favorites disappeared for good. Whether they were too unhealthy, controversial, or just plain strange, these once-popular foods would never make it onto grocery store shelves today. Here are 15 foods from the past that you’d have a hard time finding anywhere now.
1. Aspic (Savory Jell-O Dishes)
El Caminito on Wikimedia Commons
Once a staple of fancy dinner parties, aspic was a bizarre dish made by suspending meat, vegetables, or even seafood in gelatin. It was considered classy and even appeared in cookbooks as a way to preserve food. Today, the thought of eating cold, jiggly meat jelly is enough to turn most stomachs. Aspic quietly disappeared as people realized food doesn’t need to wobble to be delicious.
2. Candy Cigarettes
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These sugary treats looked exactly like real cigarettes, and kids would “smoke” them before chewing them up. They were wildly popular for decades until people realized they were basically training kids to want the real thing. Some countries outright banned them, while others pressured candy companies to phase them out. Now, they’re nearly impossible to find outside of specialty stores.
3. Jell-O Salads with Mayo
Famartin on Wikimedia Commons
For some reason, mid-century cooks loved mixing Jell-O with mayonnaise, cottage cheese, and even canned fish. These horrifying “salads” were served at potlucks and dinner tables across America. Eventually, people came to their senses and stopped making these gelatin nightmares. You’d be hard-pressed to find a grocery store carrying ingredients marketed for such a crime against food today.
4. Radium Water
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Believe it or not, there was a time when people drank radium-infused water because they thought it was healthy. Marketed as an “energy booster,” this radioactive beverage was sold to the wealthy as a luxury health tonic. The problem? It literally killed people. Once the deadly side effects became obvious, radium water was banned, and its reputation sank faster than the Titanic.
5. Crystal Pepsi
Mike Mozart on Wikimedia Commons
Crystal Pepsi was a clear soda that looked like water but tasted like regular Pepsi. It was marketed as a “healthier” alternative to dark sodas, even though it was still packed with sugar. People were confused, and sales flopped. Pepsi tried bringing it back a few times, but it never stuck—now it’s just a weird piece of ’90s nostalgia.
6. Fizzies (Instant Soda Tablets)
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Fizzies were little tablets you dropped into water to create an instant soda-like drink. Kids loved them but were loaded with artificial ingredients and questionable chemicals. By the ’70s, concerns about their safety and taste led to their downfall. While there have been attempts to bring them back, they’re no longer a grocery store staple.
7. Banana Ketchup
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This odd condiment was invented during a tomato shortage and became popular in some regions. Made from mashed bananas, vinegar, and spices, it looked like regular ketchup but tasted different. While it still exists in some specialty stores, you won’t find it in most mainstream supermarkets. Turns out, people just really prefer their ketchup made from tomatoes.
8. Lard-Based Cooking Products
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For decades, lard was the go-to fat for frying and baking, with companies even marketing tubs of it as a healthy choice. Then, science caught up, and people realized that eating a tub of animal fat might not be the best idea. Vegetable oils and margarine took over, and lard became a relic of the past. Now, it’s mostly used in old-fashioned recipes and specialty cooking.
9. Squeezable Cheese in a Can
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Cheese in a can was once a staple at parties and snack tables, promising a quick, no-mess cheese fix. Over time, people started questioning whether it was actually cheese at all. The rise of real cheese and healthier snack alternatives pushed it out of mainstream grocery stores. These days, it’s mostly found as a novelty item rather than a common food.
10. Orbitz Soda (With Floating Balls)
Geoffreyrabbit on Wikimedia Commons
This bizarre ’90s soda had tiny, colorful balls floating in it, making it look like a lava lamp you could drink. The texture was unsettling, and the taste wasn’t much better. People tried it out of curiosity but rarely bought it again. It quickly vanished, becoming one of the weirdest food failures of the decade.
11. Canned Bread
Tobosha on Wikimedia Commons
Yes, bread in a can was once a real thing. It was popular as a long-shelf-life food, especially during wartime. However, as fresh bread became more accessible, people stopped seeing the need for this dense, canned alternative. Today, it’s mostly remembered as a strange relic from the past.
12. Colored Ketchup (Purple, Green, and Blue)
Donald Trung Quoc Don on Wikimedia Commons
In the early 2000s, Heinz thought it would be a great idea to release ketchup in unnatural colors like purple and green. Kids were intrigued, but parents were horrified. It turned out people like their ketchup to look like, well, ketchup. After a few years, Heinz pulled the plug, and the world went back to red.
13. TV Dinners with Questionable Meat
Sir Beluga on Wikimedia Commons
Frozen TV dinners were once loaded with processed meats that didn’t quite resemble real food. Some meals included “turkey” that tasted like cardboard or “beef” with a rubbery texture. As people became more health-conscious, demand for these low-quality meals plummeted. Now, frozen meals are still around, but they have much better ingredients—or at least, they try to.
14. Sugar-Filled Breakfast Cereals with Cartoon Mascots
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At one point, breakfast cereals were basically just bowls of sugar with a little crunch. Classic brands featured cartoon mascots hyping up their candy-like flavors, and kids couldn’t get enough. Eventually, regulations forced companies to tone down the sugar, and many of the most outrageous cereals were discontinued. Now, breakfast is a little less fun but a lot healthier.
15. McDonald’s Fried Apple Pies (The Original Recipe)
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McDonald’s once served crispy, deep-fried apple pies that were dangerously good, but in the name of “health,” they switched to a baked version that just isn’t the same. Fans still beg for the original, but McDonald’s has stuck to the “healthier” option. If you want a deep-fried apple pie today, you’ll have to track down an old-school McDonald’s location that still makes them.