ALL THINGS VINTAGE WERE ONCE NEW, RIGHT?
How Many Of These 10 Vanished Food Brands Do You Recognize?
Published on July 22, 2024
Image: Nik
Few things are more comforting and nostalgia-inducing than the foods we used to eat when we were kids. That includes the flavors, the package designs, and, especially, the brands that are no longer around.
Many prestigious and cherished names have gone the way of the Dodo a long time ago but there are always cases that linger in our memory. In this list, we have dug up ten examples of such treasures. Do you remember any of them?
Burry's
Image: Clem Onojeghuo
Not many cookies can claim to be as famous and successful as Girl Scout cookies. And the old-school brand Burry's Biscuit Co. was just that. That is how big they were. The brand was created in the late 19th century and was a big name in the cookie and cracker industry for decades.
Its factory in New Jersey was the largest producer of assorted treats in the country in the 1960s. These days, the brand is unheard of and only makes baked goods such as bagels, English muffins, bread, and rolls.
Force
Image: Ryan Pouncy
A great name for a brand that provides the strength that a good breakfast should provide, right? Force was one of the first wheat-based cereal brands and it was introduced by the Force Food Company in 1901.
Its mascot was a cartoon character named Sunny Jim, who turned from ill-tempered to happy after eating the cereal. Even though it found success both in the US and in the UK, the brand was discontinued in 2013.
Curtiss
Image: Vinicius Amano
In the early 20th century, Curtiss Candy Company was one of the biggest brands with its name on many iconic treats including Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, and Coconut Grove. Quite the roster, right?
In fact, the candies Baby Ruth and Butterfinger are still around today but sold under a different brand name. Curtiss Candy Company was sold in 1964 and eventually merged with the giant Nabisco brand.
Sunny Jim
Image: Towfiqu barbhuiya
Sunny Jim was a famous brand of peanut butter founded by a German entrepreneur named Germanus Wilhelm Firnstahl who bought a peanut roaster and factory during The Great Depression.
By the 1950s, its manufacturer Pacific Food Products Co. supplied a third of all the peanut butter in Seattle. However, it was sold in 1979 for $3 million to the Bristol Bay Native Corp.
Ayds
Image: Gabriel Dalton
While the fate of a product whose name sounds like a terrible disease may have been written on the wall, back in the 1930s, Ayds was quite popular as an appetite-suppressant candy popular in the 1930s. It contained chemicals similar to those used in cough medicine to make people eat less.
It was marketed by movie stars and magazines printed "real life stories" from people who had success with the candy. Its downfall came when it refused to change its name during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. Maybe not their best move.
Snow Crop
Image: Mateusz Feliksik
Imagine being the first orange fruit concentrate brand at the time when frozen foods were taking off. That's how good Snow Crop had it. Everybody wanted it, and the brand single-handedly increased the popularity of the frozen aisle.
After the orange juice craze, it brought out frozen peas, broccoli, spinach, and strawberries, but was retired sometime in the 1970s.
Freezer Queen
Image: Dev Benjamin
Frozen dinners have been a staple of American food for quite some time now and Buffalo-based brand Freezer Queen was a big player in the TV dinner market in the 1950s.
Its products included Homestyle Gravy & Meatloaf Slices, Gravy & Sliced Turkey, and Gravy & Salisbury Steak. However, it was unexpectedly dropped after the factory failed a food safety inspection.
Swanson
Image: Duskfall Crew
Keeping on with the frozen dinner trend, we can’t avoid the brand that created the category. Swanson’s first tray had turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy, and it was reheated in the oven.
Launched in the 1950s, around the time more women were going into the workforce, they were wildly successful. These days they’re sold under the Hungry-Man brand.
Lucky Whip
Image: Nathan Bingle
Before Cool Whip, there was Lucky Whip. The dessert topping came in a box as well as a spray can and it was a staple in kitchens across the country in the 1960s and 1970s.
You may remember its ads with cute kids putting the whipped topping onto desserts. Sadly, by the 2000s it had all but vanished from the shelves.
Mug-O-Lunch
Image: Ioann-Mark Kuznietsov
The equivalent of a TV dinner, but in a cup, the curiously-named brand of dehydrated meals from General Mills, Mug-O-Lunch was known for being quick, convenient, and, yes, tasty.
It appeared in the 1970s, the era of all sorts of weird and wonderful convenience foods, and included varieties like macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, and beef noodles. It lasted on shelves a few years before, alas, it was discontinued.
