The ’90s were a strange and glorious time. The stock market was up. The internet made a weird series of mechanical noises every time you turned it on by accessing it via your phone. Cell phones were the size of bricks. And grocery stores were filled with foods never before dreamed of in human history.
Some of these culinary innovations have endured. (Kids still go gaga for Go-Gurt, for example, whose signature dairy-filled tubes first hit shelves back in 1997.) Alas, time has not been equally kind to other ’90s foods, which took on faddish properties of huge early growth, followed by market saturation, and then decline. (Plus, in at least one case, unconfirmed reports of anal leakage).
Those foods are the subject of our latest nostalgia-fueled list: The grocery staples that burned brightly but briefly at the end of the 20th century, never to be seen again. Some of these foods were victims of corporate takeovers, despite strong customer support. Others failed to connect with the American public, despite multimillion-dollar marketing campaigns. (Other times, uh, anal leakage was possibly involved.)
Whatever the reason for their discontinuation, they’re all extinct now. Their legends live on, though. And while we might be ashamed to admit it as adults, these 20 edible delights were a huge part of our diets back in the day. And if they were still around now, we’d probably still be eating them. (Except, y’know, the ones that were suspected of causing anal leakage. Those can stay retired.)
’90s Foods We Wish They Still Made
These foods, drinks, and snacks from the ’90s were all so great. Sadly, they’ve all been discontinued.
READ MORE: Once-Beloved Movies That Have Faded Away
’80s Foods We Wish They Still Made
If you grew up in the 1980s, you surely have fond memories of these popular (now discontinued) snacks.