I am not a foodie. For me, a Lean Cuisine can be a bountiful night of flavorful fulfillment. (Seriously... try their meat lasagna) So I'm never in the "know" about what makes a stellar menu. It actually shocks me that food can become "last season." I mean.... its food. We eat everyday, for survival. How is it a meal can be compared to fashion? But apparently we can Miranda Priestly sustenance. From now on if someone serves me arugula I'm going to respond with a "that's all!"
Redditor u/lizardlibrary wanted to know what menu items are so last flavor at this point by asking.... What food used to be popular but has fallen out of style?
Wally Down
kourtney kardashian eating GIF by KUWTKGiphyWaldorf salad.
Have only seen it a handful of times since my grandparents died. Used to have it there all the time.
I literally made cranberry Waldorf salad this morning for my Thanksgiving meal. Although I do it with yogurt instead of mayo.
Back in the Day
In England, a lot of French foods.
Go to a restaurant 20 or 30 years ago, a lot of French dishes would be on the menu, seen as the height of sophistication at the time - duck a l'orange, paté starter, soufflé, potatoes dauphinoise etc. I remember Ramsay criticizing some restaurants on Kitchen Nightmares for having some of these dishes, telling them it's not the 1980s anymore.
Nowadays, you're likely to see dishes from further afield such as Thai or Japanese instead at a fairly standard gastro pub.
No Due
excited halloween GIF by HiHo KidsGiphyThe 70s were all about the fondue.
Don't see too much fondue these days.
Sugar Puffs
Candy Cigarettes.
They still have them. They just call them "candy sticks" now. Same thing, different packaging. It's usually superheroes or cartoon figures on the boxes now.
"bushmeat"
In the late 1700s and early 1800s in the US "bushmeat" was very common. Squirrels, Raccoons, and Beavers were all on the menu - they were very common and easy to hunt.
Rabbit also used to be WAY more popular than it is today.
Edit: Since this blew up - I know, please stop telling me. I know people still eat this stuff in certain areas of the country. The point is, it all used to be way more popular. In the timeframe I mentioned probably 90%+ of the country ate bushmeat. Today it's certainly less than 10%.
I'll do Scrambled
Pickled Eggs. Lounges and bars would always have a jar of them on the bar top.
We make a regional variant here in Pennsylvania out of red beet brine. Most of the time we just call them pickled eggs but they're definitely a different thing from the traditional pickled egg.
It's just a wrap
Panini GIF by Lil Nas XGiphyFor some unknown reason, Panini. Used to see them at cafes and lunchrooms almost everyday 10 years ago. Now I haven't seen a panini for at least 3 years.
the push
Push-ups popsicles. I loved eating push ups as a kid. Took me three days to find some for my son. Found them in dollar general of all places. And the large banana/fudge bomb popsicles. I can only find small baby like ones. They use to have both these everywhere when I was a kiddo.
With a Chianti
the silence of the lambs hannibal GIFGiphyKidney was served at the finest restaurants at the beginning of the 20th century, but its popularity diminished greatly in recent decades. A more popular offal was liver, but it, too, has fallen out of favor. Ditto calf and lamb's brain.
Tommies....
Sundried tomatoes.
Remember when people put them in everything c.2002?
Making bread, sundried toms, rice salad? s.d.t
A salad. What salad? Any salad. You know it: Sun dried damn tommies.
Guests coming over? Ramekin of sdts. Right next to the giant capers and bowl of anchovies packed in salt.
Is everyone alright for salt? Great here's a budweiser.
You're not eating the sundried tomatoes. Here have a few on a crostini topped with sun dried tomato purée.
back to the 50's...
I Love Lucy Dancing GIF by CBS All AccessGiphyMy mom makes ambrosia and said its from the 50's but nobody eats it. Its really good tho its got coconut, marshmallows and tiny oranges and stuff.
When in Japan
Here in Japan traditional Japanese meals (grilled fish, rice, miso soup + seasonal vegetable side dishes) seem to be more and more a thing for older people. Younger people are all about meat. Seafood is in danger of losing its throne if it hasn't already. Bread has also begun supplanting rice as the go-to for breakfast.
Of course there are young traditionalists, but it's gone from basically everyone eating the same styles of meals and wanting nothing else to them seeming quaint or special in the way that a roast dinner is in the West.
Beef Thoughts
Beef stroganoff? I fell in love with it from a processed food pack (just add water and meat). Then I made it from scratch with crème fraîche and dill - it was heavenly (https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/beef-stroganoff-102134). But I don't see it mentioned nor offered often.
Edit: included recipe I used. Didn't realize this dish was all the rage - at home, lol.
Another Generation
Chipped beef on toast aka SOS was popular with my grandparent's generation, but I actually really like it.
There's also a really good older cooking show called Two Fat Ladies and pretty much everything they made on the show has fallen out of style. Still really entertaining show.
Great Due
I have a vague memory from when I was a kid of my parents getting a fondue pot. We all sat around the table dipping a giant fork with bread hunks into melted cheese and then we never used it again.
Dough Issues
Ice Cream Yes GIF by TescoGiphyAny style of Bread Pudding. Something my grandma used to make often when i was a kid. Even now she doesn't really make it. I just never see it anymore.
You should get her recipe and try making it yourself. I wish I had gotten my great-grandmother's recipe. I know most people use regular loaf bread or maybe Texas Toast. She used leftover biscuits (American terminology). Best bread pudding I remember ever having.
WTF?!
Jello salad, It's a abomination. Just... why, why, and why?
My mother is making hers today for Thanksgiving. It's disgusting, and she puts Cheerios that are just terrible since they're soggy.
When in the 1800's....
Eating Robins was quite popular in the 1800's.
Here's a recipe from Wehman's Cook Book, published in 1890: "Cover the bottom of a pie-dish with thin slices of beef and fat bacon, over which lay ten or twelve robins, previously rolled in flour, stuffed as above, season with a teaspoonful of salt, a quarter ditto of pepper, one of chopped parsley, and one of chopped eschalots, lay a bay-leaf over, add a gill of broth, and cover with three quarters of a pound of half puff taste, bake one hour in a moderate oven, shake well to make the gravy in the pie form a kind of sauce, and serve quite hot."
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