# Beloved Childhood Foods You Would Never Eat Today **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [July 16, 2021, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643 "2021-07-16T15:08:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![PB\_J](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6de8d8/32.png) [@PB\_J](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PB_J)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/41 "2021-07-17T02:20:56Z")
Devil Dogs, Hostess cup cakes (with the white icing squiggle on top) Sweet overload, Something that my mother called “potted meat” but was really labeled Deviled Ham. I bought a can a few years ago when I saw it in a supermarket. It tasted as though I poured the box of sea salt in my mouth. One bite of the bread I put it on, and it all went to the trash. Spaghettios - Ugh…Just the thought. All types of “penny candy.” All candy is just too sweet today. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/42 "2021-07-17T02:24:56Z")
Canned Vienna sausages. Loved them as a kid. After a maybe ten year gap I briefly revived my interest around age 22 when I got hired at a job where someone had a “store” in their locker selling canned chili, fruit pies, Vienna sausages and the like for folks hard up for a quick lunch. About six months later I popped a top on a can, ate two, said “these are disgusting” and gave them up for good. Baloney and mayo on white bread. Loved it at 12, don’t imagine I could stomach it now. Now Chef Boyardee ravioli? Overly sweet, but edible. I had a can on a camping trip a couple years back and it was…edible. I don’t enjoy it as much as when I was a kid, but I can eat it in extremis. Franco-American Spaghettio’s? You’d think they’d be the same thing as Chef Boyardee, but they’re not - they’re approximately 97x sweeter. Like pure corn syrup with an unearthly neon orange glow. Tried the nostalgia trip with them in my thirties and tossed the bowl after about three bites. Completely inedible. However just to maintain my crap cuisine bonafides, I still get the occasional craving for Kraft Mac&Cheese in a box 😛 . The orange unhealthily orange version mind you. It has about as much relation to decent Mac&Cheese as Taco Bell has to decent Mexican food, but I’ll still eat it (shamefaced and alone) about once a year. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/43 "2021-07-17T02:49:51Z")
Fruit sprinkles on toast. I now understand why everyone thought it was strange, but at the time for me it was just normal. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/44 "2021-07-17T03:37:16Z")
Froot Loops. They used to be delicious. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/45 "2021-07-17T04:08:11Z")
Twinkies. I was crazy about them. Now I don’t see why. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/46 "2021-07-17T04:17:42Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > > [@kayaker](#): > > > > Fish Dicks > > 🤔 He’s a gay fish. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/47 "2021-07-17T11:58:43Z")
If loving Kraft Dinner is wrong, I don’t wanna be right. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/48 "2021-07-17T12:05:27Z")
Didn’t everyone call them Fish Dicks when you were in grade school? I thought it was a universal thing. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/49 "2021-07-17T12:19:31Z")
Not where I’m from: [https://birdseye.com.au/-/media/images/brands/birdseyebwr/products/01154-png.png](https://birdseye.com.au/-/media/images/brands/birdseyebwr/products/01154-png.png) ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/50 "2021-07-17T13:18:44Z")
My favorite food as a kid was rice and cheese, but I haven’t been able to stomach it since about the age of ten, when I got violently sick after eating it. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/51 "2021-07-17T14:04:45Z")
Typical Saturday lunch when my dad and I wanted something quick: > **[Chicken Chow Mein](https://www.lachoy.com/products/chicken-chow-mein)** > > Your entire family is sure to love our delicious Chicken Chow Mein! Find it in a store near you today. Nope. Nada. Never going to buy it, even to try. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/52 "2021-07-17T14:08:12Z")
Looking around online, I see credit given to a 2009 SouthPark episode. I never saw the episode, but I’m going to try to find it. I’m thinking late 60s was when we all called them Fish Dicks. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/53 "2021-07-17T14:38:03Z")
I’m intrigued by bakeries that are making better versions of childhood favorites. We have a wonderful gourmet baker ([Bloom](https://www.bloombakeshop.com/)) who makes upscale Pop-Tarts. And we just had pizza from Mod Pizza in West Seattle (looks like a chain, though… you might be near one). And they had a featured dessert we kept looking at and reading the description of and asking each other “Isn’t that just a Hostess Ding Dong?” We tried it, it was, but made with quality ingredients, it was great. ---
**Author:** ![Oglomott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oglomott/32/3543_2.png) [@Oglomott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oglomott)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/54 "2021-07-17T14:41:30Z")
I loved Cap’n Crunch as a kid. Tasted good, but it did something funny to the roof of your mouth. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/55 "2021-07-17T15:01:08Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Some other things, I still kind of like but I am convinced have been cheapened and adulterated over the last 20-30 years. Various **Chef Boyardee** items and **Bugles** fall into that category for me. You are quite right - I got a box of Hohos for my goddaughters about 10 years ago. The chocolate coating was waxy, the cake part was a pale tan, not the deep cocoa looking cake of my youth. The filling was just odd - over sweet and left a sort of oily residue lining my mouth. Last year or so Chef Boyardi came out with their ‘legacy’ like, select stuff went back to the sauce formulary from like 50 years ago - it was different, the new sauce was almost candy sweet. I think it was the lasagne and spaghetti? And lots of snack foods have changed formulary - to reflect cheaper ingredients like that nasty allergen Palm Oil/Coconut Oil/Tropical Flavorings … lots of people are actually sensitive to palm oil [and yes I know there is a difference between oil palm and coconut palm and hearts of palm palm, but one can be sensitive to one but not the others, and some like me can eat salad palm but not coconut or oil palm] ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/56 "2021-07-17T15:05:20Z")
> [@Oglomott](#): > > I loved Cap’n Crunch as a kid. Tasted good, but it did something funny to the roof of your mouth. Yes! It ripped my mouth up, but I loved the flavor. I used to love Fruit Loops, but the last time I tried them, they were not good. They left a greasy feel in my mouth. Yuck ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/57 "2021-07-17T15:08:00Z")
Raw hamburger. Those straws with flavored powder. Fizzies. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/58 "2021-07-17T15:39:58Z")
Frankenberry > [@Oglomott](#): > > I loved Cap’n Crunch as a kid. Tasted good, but it did something funny to the roof of your mouth. Well, yeah, if shredding your soft tissue is ‘funny’. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/59 "2021-07-17T15:49:57Z")
My ignorance, successfully fought. Didn’t know I didn’t know, and don’t know how it helps, but it still counts. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643/60 "2021-07-17T15:54:57Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Looking around online, I see credit given to a 2009 SouthPark episode. I never saw the episode, but I’m going to try to find it. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMgPZTsvhQo) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XdZnGz9CWpU/maxresdefault.jpg "Bill Hader on Writing the "South Park" Kanye Fish-Sticks Joke | The New Yorker Festival") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdZnGz9CWpU) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloved-childhood-foods-you-would-never-eat-today/946643.md?page=4)