Over at the food site Serious Eats, we often work while listening to music by the Pointer Sisters, Blondie, and Billy Joel, which puts us in the mood for foods of the same era. This got us thinking... Here is our list of the top 10 iconic 1980s foods that evoke the era as much as the music, the shoulder pads, and the talking Teddy Ruxpin toy.
10. Jawbreakers
Like spicy food, these dangerous, choke-inducing spheres inspired serious candy egos. Can you handle it? No, seriously, can you? And they came in a slew of sizes, depending on your tolerance. "Oh snap, he has the mega-breaker!"
9. The California Raisins
When the dried-fruit world creates their own pop sensation, big things happen. Shriveled-up grapes can become Motown rock stars! Maybe prunes were never in the right place at the right time, but raisins definitely were.
8. Cool Ranch Doritos
Before the 100-cal-packified era, the most popular snack in the Circle K was a turquoise-flecked triangular chip. With actual fat!
7. Tri-Color Pasta Salad
Pasta salads were hot in the '80s, especially in elbow, wagon wheel, and squiggly shapes, and shades of peach, pistachio, and normal-off-white-noodle. Toss them with canned olives and powdered salad dressing, and you were the most popular person at the potluck.
6. Orange Julius
Why don't Orange Julius stands exist anymore? Due to a corporate merger, they can actually be found in select Dairy Queens, seven of these are hiding in Singapore.
5. Equal
The first aspartame pixie dust sold to consumers, Equal may keep your thighs right for bike-shorts, but we worry about what its evil toxins will do to the rest of you. Maybe consumers weren't aware of the health risks in the '80s, but even now, it's so easy to justify that one little blue package. Especially in baby blue. Baby blue would never hurt us.
4. Artificially Flavored Fruit Snacks
Did you have one of the cool moms who bought you Fruit by the Foot, Gushers, or Fruit Roll-Ups? Mine didn't (she opted for real fruit) and is still paying the therapist bills.
3. Tab Cola
Tab, are you really just Diet Coke hiding in a fuchsia can? Why do you creep up on weird corners of grocery aisles? Since this soda catered to "beautiful people," Tab ran commercials where the sleek can made waifish girls irresistible to hot guys.
2. Lean Cuisine
It was the dawn of a low-fat gastronomical revolution. Scientists realized they could create "healthy" chicken teriyaki meals from sodium phosphates, modified cornstarch, high-fructose corn syrup, and caramel color. Launched in 1981, the zappable Lean Cuisines started with ten options; they now offer more than 100.
1. Capri Sun
Straw-stabbing styles got very personal with Capri Sun -- at the pouch's belly (risking a waterfall effect), at the bottom (for tricky upside-down enjoyment), or at the designated spot (for purists). Just don't stab straight through to the other side. Flavors more or less tasted the same -- a fruity "tropical" punch, with or without added kiwi strawberry syrups. First trademarked in Germany in the '50s, the pouches later became huge at soccer games and school lunches.
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