# Foods whose names have changed

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-whose-names-have-changed/531412>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 5, 2010, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-whose-names-have-changed/531412 "2010-03-05T14:45:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 8

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**Author:** ![3waygeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e95f7d/32.png) [@3waygeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3waygeek)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-whose-names-have-changed/531412/141 "2010-03-18T15:40:42Z")

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> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#):
>
> I could be wrong on this, but I could have sworn that when I was a child, that Oscar Mayer’s braunschweiger was sold under the label “liverwurst.”

Depends, I suppose, on when you were a child. Back in the 70s, when I was a child, it was sold as braunschweiger, at least in the Midwest where I grew up.

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**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-whose-names-have-changed/531412/142 "2010-03-18T16:03:27Z")

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> [@3waygeek](#):
>
> Depends, I suppose, on when you were a child. Back in the 70s, when I was a child, it was sold as braunschweiger, at least in the Midwest where I grew up.

It was the same in California during that time period as well.

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**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-whose-names-have-changed/531412/143 "2010-03-18T16:13:27Z")

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> [@overlyverbose](#):
>
> I believe honeydew and canteloupe used to be called muskmelons. Not sure why that changed - probably to draw a distinction between the two and because musk just sounds stinky.

I don’t think honeydews ever were, but technically almost all (if not 100%) of canteloupes sold in North America are musk melons. Real canteloupes are from Europe. I guess between marketing, and the fact that muskmelons look and taste a lot like canteloupes, that term took over for both.  
[

> [@](#):
>
> Originally cantaloupe referred only to the non-netted orange-fleshed melons of Europe; however, in more recent usage it has come to mean any orange-fleshed melon (C. melo).

]([Cantaloupe - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canteloupe))

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**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:** [March 19, 2010, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-whose-names-have-changed/531412/144 "2010-03-19T12:28:07Z")

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> [@Raguleader](#):
>
> In the Air Force, Flight Lunches (official name) were called “Bag Nasties” (… you will be distressed to find your ham and cheese sandwich has become hot and melted - ick).

Mmm… melted ham and cheese sandwich …

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**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-whose-names-have-changed/531412/145 "2010-03-22T00:49:44Z")

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> [@Mahna\_Mahna](#):
>
> I’ve never in my life heard it called “pocket bread”. Is this one of those conservative American knee-jerk re-namings like “freedom fries” or “freedom cabbage” because pita sounds too Taliban-ish?

I seriously doubt the Taliban was a big concern when my mother was packing “pocket bread” in my school lunches in the early-mid 80’s.

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**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-whose-names-have-changed/531412/146 "2010-03-22T01:55:55Z")

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> [@TBG](#):
>
> I seriously doubt the Taliban was a big concern when my mother was packing “pocket bread” in my school lunches in the early-mid 80’s.

Heh, even in Wisconsin in the late 80s my fairly unadventurous parents had no problem with giving me pitas for a nice brown-bag lunch. Of course, this was Madison and they were already comfortable with gyros, so who knows. The “pocket bread” thing must be very specifically regional. In the Chicago burbs now I doubt I could find “pocket bread”, but pitas ain’t anything fancy at all.

/You know, I haven’t had a good pita stuffed with Tuna salad since I was a kid. Maybe I’ll rectify that this week.

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