The 1980s was a time of big hair, big shoulder pads and some fascinating foods. In children’s pack lunches there were Fruit Roll-Ups and Lunchables, teens could be found at the mall with Chicken McNuggets and an Orange Julius, and parents were serving dips in bread bowls and chicken Marbella at dinner parties. Here are the foods and drinks we fell in love with in the Eighties.
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Dip in a bread bowl
You can guarantee you’d find dip in a bread bowl on the buffet table in the 1980s. This dish featured a hollowed-out and filled loaf, and some crudités for dipping. Spinach and artichoke was a popular variation, while New Englanders preferred crab, clams or shrimp inside their pumpernickel.
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Barbecue chicken pizza
Before the 1980s, pizza toppings mainly consisted of sausage, onion, pepperoni and peppers, but in this decade that changed forever. A then-experimental chain, California Pizza Kitchen, opened with the menu designed by Ed LaDou (the man behind smoked salmon pizza), and creations such as sweet and smoky barbecue chicken pizza were brought to the masses.
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Lean Cuisine
Lean Cuisine was an under-350-calorie ready meal range by Nestlé brand Stouffer’s. It debuted in 1981 with delights such as Zucchini Lasagne and Oriental Beef in Sauce & Vegetables with Rice. They were so popular – thanks to the decade’s obsession with dieting and convenience food – that it wasn’t unusual for supermarkets to run out.
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McRib
The meaty McRib, first brought out in 1981, has been on and off McDonald’s menus so many times in the past 40 years we’ve lost count. Not actually made of rib, it’s processed pork meat covered in barbecue sauce in a bun. Nonetheless, the seasonal item has reached mythical status and fans get very excited every time it returns.
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Baked brie
This easy appetizer was a real crowd-pleaser in the 1980s. A wheel of brie, smothered in a condiment such as apricot jelly or mustard, wrapped in puff pastry (or crescent dough) and baked. Voilà – you had a cheesy starter which went perfectly with sliced apples, crackers or baguette.
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Diet Coke
One of the most famous brands to be born in the 1980s, Diet Coke came into our lives in 1982 and overtook TaB as the king of diet drinks. A year later, a caffeine-free version came out, followed by Cherry Coke and Diet Cherry Coke.
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Hot buttered Cheerios
This throwback movie night snack of Cheerios toasted in a frying pan with butter and salt was a winning dish of the decade. Although not the healthiest, it was super easy and could be made sweet or savory with the addition of sugar and cinnamon, or grated Parmesan and garlic.
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Reese’s Pieces
Although this peanut butter candy became available in 1978, it was Steven Spielberg’s 1982 movie E.T. that put the product on the map. Sales shot up by 65% in the weeks after its release. Legend has it Mars was offered the opportunity for M&M’s to feature in the film first, but the candy brand said no.
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Impossible Cheeseburger Pie
In the 1980s, Bisquick started putting recipes for “Impossible Pies” on the back of its baking mix boxes (which contained flour, baking powder, salt and shortening). One of them was Impossible Cheeseburger Pie, an easy weeknight dinner. Time-poor cooks combined the flour mix with milk and eggs, and poured it over the top of cooked ground beef. In the oven it magically turned into a pie with a crust.
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Plum torte
Between 1983 and 1989, The New York Times printed a recipe for plum torte every September. It marked the start of the Italian plum season and the arrival of fall. After that, they decided to stop, but not without upsetting hundreds of readers who had failed to cut out the recipe for the fruit and sponge cake, and missed the bittersweet annual tradition which signaled the end of summer.
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Chicken Marbella
This Mediterranean-inspired dish is what you made to impress dinner guests in the 1980s. Found in Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso’s super accessible The Silver Palate Cookbook, which was all the rage in this era, its key ingredients are bone-in chicken legs and thighs, garlic, prunes, olives, capers in brine and herbs. Everything is baked in the oven until it turns into a saucy stew.
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Hot Pockets
Arriving in the frozen aisle in 1983, Hot Pockets are microwaveable savory pastries with fillings such as Ham & Cheddar and Pepperoni Pizza. They gained a reputation for being the choice snack of school children, college students and overworked parents. But in reality most people have enjoyed one at some point.
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Pesto
This pantry staple shot to fame in the 1980s. Originating in the Italian city of Genoa, it has been enjoyed in some form as early as Roman times. But it was the nation’s fascination with regional Italian cooking that accounted for its rise in popularity in this decade. Made with basil, garlic, pine nuts and Parmesan, homemade pesto is every bit worth the hype.
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Chicken McNuggets
Chicken McNuggets are now a Golden Arches classic and most people can’t hit the drive-thru without picking up half a dozen. However, the deep-fried chicken pieces only became available at all McDonald’s franchises from 1983. Before that chicken-lovers were eating bone-in chicken.
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Pasta salad
Quick to make and easy to prep ahead, pasta salads were a real lifesaver when guests were obliged to bring a dish to a buffet or barbecue. Tri-color pasta, olives and chopped veggies were all exciting additions – but really there were no strict rules about what you could mix in. A sweet vinaigrette was the secret weapon that brought it all together.
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Cinnamon Toast Crunch
The Eighties was a decade of cereal innovation and General Mills came up with tens of now-iconic brands. One of its most enduring was Cinnamon Toast Crunch which came out in 1984. America has been eating the crunchy cinnamon and sugar-coated wheat and rice squares ever since.
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Blizzard
Although this soft-serve ice cream dessert, blended with ingredients like cookie dough, M&M’s and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, first launched in 1962, it was the reintroduction in 1985 that saw major success. Dairy Queen reportedly sold 100 million Blizzards within a year and it has been a menu staple ever since.
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Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something through recommended links in this article.
Peanut Butter Boppers
The Eighties’ coolest snack bar, Peanut Butter Boppers had a creamy peanut butter center and crunchy cereal coating – they certainly weren’t healthy. Launched in 1985, its first flavors were Fudge Chip, Honey Crisp and Peanut Crunch, but it wasn’t long before Fudge Graham and Cookie Crunch joined them on shelves. Sadly, they’re no longer available.
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Squeezit
This fondly remembered, additive-filled fruit juice launched in 1985 much to kids’ delight. It came in an unbreakable plastic bottle that could be squeezed as hard as you liked, or put in the freezer for an ice-cold snack. In the 1990s it was given fun flavor names such as Silly Billy Strawberry and Chucklin’ Cherry, but was sadly discontinued in the early 2000s.
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Orangina
These pear-shaped bottles reached the US in the mid-1980s. First launched in France in 1935, Orangina is a sparkling soft drink made with orange juice and pulp. It’s known for its bold advertising campaigns and catchphrases such as “shake the bottle, wake the drink” and “shake it to wake it”.
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Five Guys
This global chain began as a family business in Arlington County, Virginia, in 1986. It was opened by Jerry and Janie Murrell, plus their five sons, hence the name Five Guys. It sold fresh beef burgers with customizable toppings and fries cooked in peanut oil. Word of this new, amazing-tasting fast food quickly spread around the world.
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Frozen yogurt
The Eighties was when frozen yogurt chains began franchising across the country, such as the still-popular TCBY (The Country’s Best Yogurt) whose first store was in Little Rock, Arkansas. You could find it in malls with all its fruity topping options on display. People couldn’t get enough of the new low-calorie alternative to ice cream.
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Wine coolers
A sweet concoction of wine and fruit juice in a convenient ready-to-drink bottle, wine coolers defined the 1980s. They came in flavors such as peach, passion fruit, lemon and berry, and were particularly popular with the younger demographic. You might remember brands such as California Cooler, Seagram’s and Bartles & Jaymes. By the following decade they were replaced by spirit-based coolers.
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Sex on the beach
This vodka-based cocktail gained popularity in the 1980s but its origins are unclear. Some people say it was first created during Florida Spring Break in 1987 as a peach schnapps promotion. However, others argue that a recipe for it was published earlier. Nonetheless, it’s still widely ordered at bars – probably because of its saucy moniker.
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Tiramisù
This sumptuous Italian dessert went from unknown to everywhere in the 1980s. Featuring layers of mascarpone and espresso-soaked sponge fingers, it appeared on menus at Italian restaurants across the USA. It wasn’t long before home cooks were trying out recipes for tiramisù in their kitchens.
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Fruit Roll-Ups
The sweet and fruity tape you unrolled and ate, Fruit Roll-Ups were probably a staple snack if you grew up in the 1980s. The brand was originally Fruit Corners but later became Betty Crocker. Initially sold under the guise of a healthy snack, the company was forced to change its labels when people complained that there was actually very little real fruit or nutrition in it.
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Lunchables
Believe it or not these meat, cheese and cracker kits, introduced in 1988, were created as a way to sell more bologna (sliced sausage) and initially going to be aimed at busy mothers. However, market research revealed kids would enjoy building their own lunch more. Years later it’s still on shelves along with spin-offs such as Lunchables pizza and hot dogs.
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Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something through recommended links in this article.
Orange Julius
Orange Julius was an American shopping mall staple and you just had to stop for one of the smooth and frothy, Creamsicle-flavored drinks. Sadly, Dairy Queen bought the brand in the late-1980s and swapped fresh orange juice for carton. The vanilla and orange-flavored smoothie never quite tasted the same.
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Seven-layer dip
This Tex-Mex dip featuring refried beans, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, grated Monterey Jack, shredded lettuce, scallions and black olives, was ubiquitous in the Eighties. You don’t see it much anymore – perhaps because its distinct layers looked impressive when it was first made but didn’t stay neat for long and the guacamole quickly turned brown.
