# Foods That Taste Different Now than When You Were A Kid **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 3, 2017, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492 "2017-12-03T22:38:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/41 "2017-12-04T22:49:38Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > Breast milk. Loved it as an infant. Now? Not so much. If you’re not now getting it from the same source you got it from back when you’re an infant, it’s bound to taste different. If you are getting it from the same source as earlier, you should inquire into dietary and medication additions/changes in the interval. Also consider past vs. present tobacco, alcohol and other substance use status. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/42 "2017-12-04T22:51:21Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I suspect that canned spaghetti/ravioli and what not was always very sweet to appeal to a kid. I remember all the canned spaghetti and ravioli stuff being a sugar bomb when I was a kid in the 80s (which was part of the reason I didn’t like them. I didn’t and still don’t have much of a sweet tooth.) I also recall Campbell’s Tomato Soup always being weirdly sweet, too, but that could be because I was used to my mother’s tomato soup, which never had any sugar added to it. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/43 "2017-12-04T23:23:44Z")
> [@BuckChongo](#): > > Anything of American made chocolate, American chocolate these days seems to be made mostly of paraffin, food coloring, and skatol. Hardly, in fact the opposite. Used to be Hersheys was the norma American chocolate, and Euopeans dont care for it. But now there’s Ghiradelli, Guittard , Scharffen Berger , Scharffen Berger and many others: > **[The 50 Best Chocolatiers in America](https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/victoria-marfan/best-chocolatiers-in-america)** > > Chocolate is rivaled only by diamonds in terms of charming your girl. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/44 "2017-12-04T23:27:06Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Apples, specifically Red Delicious. While breeders have made great strides in creating a perfect palm-sized treat that can be stored for months and shipped thousands of miles without bruising, they’ve also bred both texture and flavor out of it. Apparently, it is the same Apple, but now stored differently and much longer. I say strawberries. They were small- a BIG one was the size of a adults thumb- and sweet and squished easily. Season was short (but sweet). If you bought a flat, you’d know quite a few on the bottom would be squished. For fresh, even here in Califorinia, you had maybe a month. We ate them several times a week during the season. McDonalds fries. First fried in beef fat. Then flavored with beet fat. Now- just greasy and salty. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/45 "2017-12-04T23:38:49Z")
KFC chicken seasoning reminds me of the seasoning that some place sells so one can recreate ‘Lum’s’ burgers and fries. Anyone remember Lum’s? Used to be a nice casual restaurant in the 70’s selling schooners of beer, and remarkable burgers and fries coated with intense spice mixes. I did find the company online and sent for the burger mix and the fries mix, but as far as I can tell, both are just some forms of seasoned salt. Lum’s used to coat their burgers in a real complex spice mix, with seeds of some kind in it. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/46 "2017-12-04T23:40:30Z")
In the 90s they changed the Budweiser can. My Daddy swore the taste changed. I never drank enough of it to know. He switched to Busch light after that. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/47 "2017-12-04T23:48:54Z")
> [@golffan1963](#): > > Not sure if this has been done before…anyway, my nominees are Kellogg’s Pop Tarts and Kraft Deluxe Mac and Cheese. Still OK, but not near as good as they used to be. I highly recommend Aldi brand Mac and Cheese. It’s the best on the market and is only 33 cents per box. I can’t even eat Kraft anymore. > [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > Burger King fries are way better than they used to be. Yeah, this was a “new Coke” moment that actually worked. Their “new” fries are way better than what they offered before. I still prefer Wendy’s fries over any other fast-food place, but Burger King’s are great. I agree that McDonald’s should go back to the 80’s style. I may be in the minority, but I swear McDonald’s McNuggets were also different in the 80’s. I don’t know if they were better or worse, but I remember them tasting different. Am I alone? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/48 "2017-12-05T02:07:42Z")
Everything. I was a kid during WWII and I doubt if there is singe heirloom food item from those days that I could eat without recognizing the difference from today’s food. Sweet corn, huge difference. Nowadays it tastes like candy. Beer nowadays is laughable, even if you can find a can not marked “light”. Milk then was not homogenized, so there would be particles of butterfat floating in it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/49 "2017-12-05T03:14:49Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I may be in the minority, but I swear McDonald’s McNuggets were also different in the 80’s. I don’t know if they were better or worse, but I remember them tasting different. Am I alone? Yeah, I kind of feel the same way. My memory is that the early McNuggets were a bit fattier and flavorful, maybe with more dark meat or something. But they’re still okay. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/50 "2017-12-05T03:49:02Z")
McDonalds went from a mix of dark meat and white meat to all white meat in 2003. Some had a different ratio than others, but they were all a mixture. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/51 "2017-12-05T05:44:59Z")
Table grapes. They used to be reliably sweet, IN season, but the last few times I have bought grapes, I have had to pitch them, no taste. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/52 "2017-12-05T11:13:07Z")
**Cantaloupe**. I remember it being so flavorful and juicy as a kid. Today it has no flavor. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/53 "2017-12-05T12:19:12Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > Table grapes. They used to be reliably sweet, IN season, but the last few times I have bought grapes, I have had to pitch them, no taste. Smaller grapes are better than bigger grapes (at least for green ones). I never cared for the red/purple. But I don’t know if there’s more-water-less-flavor in the bigger ones or if it’s just that the skins are too think and the skins aren’t tasty. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/54 "2017-12-05T12:48:19Z")
Alpha-Bits cereal. Yeah, they still call it that but the taste is entirely different now. I can’t eat the new version. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/55 "2017-12-05T13:11:34Z")
> [@Brodi](#): > > Chief Boyardee seems to have gotten sweeter than I remember. This was what I was going to say. I used to always be tempted to buy ravioli and such from Chef Boyardee, but wouldn’t since I’m trying to eat healthier. But after giving in a few weeks back, I was just so unhappy with the ravioli that I no longer feel the desire to have it anymore. So thanks Chef, for making it just a little bit easier to eliminate unhealthy food from my diet. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/56 "2017-12-05T13:15:04Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Alpha-Bits cereal. Yeah, they still call it that but the taste is entirely different now. I can’t eat the new version. Not enough information. You’re going to have to spell it out. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/57 "2017-12-05T13:17:44Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Not enough information. You’re going to have to spell it out. “Look Brian, it says ‘Ooooooo!’” “Peter, those are Cheerios.” ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/58 "2017-12-05T15:29:29Z")
> [@caligulathegod](#): > > McDonalds went from a mix of dark meat and white meat to all white meat in 2003. Some had a different ratio than others, but they were all a mixture. I hadn’t thought of it in years, but you just reminded me of the annoying customers who would come to the McDonald’s I worked at and ask for “only white meat” McNuggets. I’m sure we knew they were all a mixture, but what we did was give them the short, round/square McNuggets, and leave out the longer rectangle/oval nuggets. That seemed to satisfy them. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/59 "2017-12-05T15:43:02Z")
> [@caligulathegod](#): > > McDonalds went from a mix of dark meat and white meat to all white meat in 2003. Some had a different ratio than others, but they were all a mixture. Overnite, legs and thighs got cheaper than breasts. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492/60 "2017-12-05T15:53:05Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Overnite, legs and thighs got cheaper than breasts. Were legs and thighs ever more expensive than breasts? Back in college, mid-90s, I remember breasts being about twice per pound as thighs or drumsticks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-taste-different-now-than-when-you-were-a-kid/803492.md?page=4)