When I was little, my favorite thing in the world were Gems. They were a kind of hard shell candy with chocolate inside. A pre-curser to M&Ms, they're probably what gave way to my M&M obsession in the first place.
I only ever had access to Gems in India, so I was excited when my family went there on vacation. Wanting to have my favorite candy again, that was what I looked for the first time we went grocery shopping. To my dismay, I found out Gems were no longer being made.
While this incident with Gems took lace a couple of decades ago, this is a modern age thing as well. Just a few years ago, Hersey's bought Cadbury and the classic Cadbury chocolate my friends and I grew up with became a thing of the past.
There are lots of food from our childhood that were either discontinued or rebranded with a new recipe. These foods were an integral part of our childhood, and many of us would like to see out old favorites make a comeback.
Curious about what these old favorites actually were, Redditor knumbersix asked:
"If you could have any rare, no longer available food from your childhood, what would it be?"
Taco Bell Favorites
"Taco Bell shredded chicken soft taco supreme. Only meat option I liked was shredded chicken. They’ve hurt so many of us."
– FlightoftheBeeMovie
"Grilled stuft steak burrito from taco bell the year they came out. They were so f*cking good when they were a new item."
– ClydePeternuts
"Taco bell cinnamon crispas."
– pyncheon
Better When It's Frozen
"Pudding pops. Chocolate specifically."
– Wren_and_Arrow
"Jello pudding pops."
– flamingoeater
Flavor In The Limelight
"At some point in the early 2000's lime flavored candies were replaced with green apple. Lifesavers, skittles, runts, all ditched the lime flavor. I loved the lime flavored runts. F*ckin green apple...."
– BoardOld8124
Candy Day
"Original Cadbury cream eggs."
– iRan_soFar
"They've gone from chicken to quail somewhere between then and now."
– Quigleythegreat
"Original fun fruits. Not “fruit snacks”, but the little bump-shaped Fun Fruits. So good."
– elchignacio
Newer Is Not Always Better
"The original Spaghetti-Os. Back when they were made by Franco American (now they're Campbell's), I remember them tasting rich and savory. Now, they're just swimming in a sugar sauce that kind of resembles tomato sauce. They're disgustingly sweet. Bring back the old recipe!"
– NoGoats_NoGlory
"Original Trix"
– runswithdolls
"Original recipe Twinkie. They were never quite the same after they were discontinued for that brief period."
– Doctor__Proctor
Quick Meals
"Original lunchables with the 2 meats 2 cheeses and little spicy mustard packet. Those were fire AF. The meat and cheese were on point. Now the sh*t taste like hot dog water, and imitation cheese slices. Back in the day if you had a lunchable at school, you could trade that for anything anybody else had, plus boot most times. Now don't nobody give AF if you eaten that processed bologna and vegetable oil nasty box. OG lunchables had a turn down service chocolate mint and that's all you needed."
– Xanderfied
"Kid cuisine(or however you spell it)"
– CoyoteAny6615
"My favorite was always the chicken nuggets and chocolate pudding one. I would dip the chicken nuggets in the pudding. Don’t judge me it was delicious."
– captainbuckybarnes
The Sweetness Of Sours
"Altoids sour mints"
– jbsoriginality
"Altoid Sours."
"Not technically food, but I miss those. Still have some of the old tins I use to store random things in."
– -eDgAR-
"Even after all this time, it still makes my mouth water just thinking about them haha"
– bananapancake1717
The Days Of Yogurt
"I think they were called Yogis. Yougurt like candy things. Oh they were unbelievably good."
– tesswhitewoods
"yogos! they're also my answer"
– kirihz
"Trix yogurt!!!"
– laleee3246
"Where has all the yogurt gone? Nowadays it's all 0% "diet" nonsense, and they've all got lumpy "fruit" in them. No chocolate, no coffee, hardly even vanilla sometimes - and it's all gelatin instead of actual dairy"
– MyPunsSuck
Color Makes A Difference
"Light brown M&M’s"
– Errol-Flynns-Ghost
"I remember my middle school took this very serious. Also the voting of the new color. We had class presentations for our arguments."
– SuperMadCow
The Flavor Be Gone
"There was a brand of whipped cream called Reddi whip, and they had those cans that were like aerosol cans that sprayed the whipped cream. They still have those today, but they no longer have the chocolate kind. I want another can of the chocolate Reddi whip"
– PsychopathicPoro
Better As Bars
"Not really from my childhood but still a long time ago. The Snickers adventure bar, omg the taste of coconut andhint of cinnamon made it something special."
– deehicks420
"That M&m bar with the yellow packaging"
– TraditionalElk2891
Good School Lunches
"At my first elementary school, they served these flatbread pizzas that I always loved. For some reason, they stopped serving them and I have never been able to find one. So I would choose them"
– Living-Earth6694
A Scooby Snack
"Those Scooby Doo fruit snacks"
– haleyrosehender
"Those scobby doo gummies they were so good."
– Etson1046
Those Days Are Gone
"When I lived in Montana there was a fast food place called 'Arctic Circle", I LOVED the burgers and the fry sauce. I just loved going there with my mom and sometimes Grandpa. We moved to AZ and when we went back to Montana it was closed, I still miss that Fry sauce though."
– mikeweasy
Chocolate Of Yore
"Cadbury Astros. Used to get them in the late 90s, and all I remwmber is that I really enjoyed them."
– thabdica
Missing Those Mints
"Citrus Altoids. Tangerine in particular."
– AMerrickanGirl
"Green apple sour Altoids. Them sh*Ts were DELICIOUS"
– GiftIdea4Mom
"Those Altoid sour candies that sent you to mars and back I’d you placed them precisely on your sour taste buds. My mouth is watering"
– Lunar_Gato
We All Scream
"Rainbow Icecream from Bryers."
– Lyziechu2
"blue moon ice cream. perhaps it is still out there."
– redditshy
Never To Be Chewed Again
"Sour chewing gum. I can't find it anywhere anymore"
– Wardruna96
"There's only 1 thing I liked that isn't available anymore as far as I'm aware: Sour Patch Kids Watermelon Gum."
– GayLavenderHazard
"Hubba bubba Chocolate bubble gum"
– katontheroof
A Prize And A Treat
"Wonderballs. Those huge chocolate balls with prizes on the inside. Unfortunately they discontinued it."
– Transpanics
Books Never Tasted So Good
" Pizza Hut personal pan pizza. And for anyone that says that they still make them: They aren't the same ones or the same recipe as the ones from the 90s. Pizza Hut back then used higher quality ingredients and was the absolute best chain pizza you could get! I always did the best in my class every year in elementary school with Book-It. Yes, I did love books, but a free personal pan pizza was always a huge incentive too! I still get cravings for those and there's nothing I can do!"
– youreyesmystars
"Book-it had my chubby a*s securing pan pizzas left and right. Books never tasted so good. My parents loved it too, gave em an excuse to go to the Hut."
"Edit: The Button and gold stickers had me pretty jazzed too."
– GroundbreakingPipe91
I remember the Book-It challenge and those pizzas too! I never needed any encouragement to read, but it was nice to get rewarded with my favorite food just for engaging in my favorite activity.
Those pizzas are just another food from my childhood I'll always miss.
We may never get out favorite childhood foods back, but at least we can revel in the good memories they hold!
