Oh the 20th century. It truly was a brave new world when it came to what people ate. No matter if you are writing about it, reminiscing, or learning about the past, there are some foods that are no more but stand as icons of the times. The late 20th century was anything but drab. Some even credit LSD for the love of color and novelty that marked this era of history. People not only wore color and texture, they ate and drank it.

What are some lost foods of the 20th Century? I’ve assembled a list.

Whip N Chill

This, along with Jello-1-2-3  was a gelatin that separated into layers like a mousse. Apparently it could be made into lots of things and is one of those products that just goes to show that in the 1960s, people would eat just about anything.

Space Food Sticks (click link for advertisements)

These snacks were made for astronauts in the 1960s and could be commonly found on shelves until the 1980s. These rubbery sticks of food evolved into energy, protein, and breakfast  bars. Since I’m never in the mood for breakfast, I’ve loved these sticks and their modern versions. However, the recipe and the nutrition label makes them seem less stellar than I remembered.

Team Flakes (even used as a chicken topping) I loved these and I’m sure they powered me through graduate school along with Space Food Sticks. I wrote a story in which the naughty protagonist and her pets, who later killed her boss, ate Team Flakes. The big deal about Team flakes was that they stayed crunchy in milk so that you didn’t have to eat quickly. Team Flakes, I miss you!

Jello 1-2-3

Again, a dessert that made shimmery layers of color and texture. This one came along on the 70s.

Ecto Cooler

I think that one of my daughters drank this instead of eating for many years. It’s from the 1987 so not too distant from everyone having the Internet which means  many recipes for it exist. (It’s basically tangerine lemonade.)

Fizzies

These were tablets like Alka seltzer only when dropped in water, they made a drink. People claim it wasn’t that tasty but in the 50s when they began, kids were not as highly sweetened as they can be today. In fact, these had no sugar. Too bad they had sodium cylamate.

If you are what you eat, people in the second half of the 20th Century were quirky, colorful, crunchy, and artificial. What lost foods do you remember?