1950s-1980s food trends
Remember when TV dinners were trendy, continental food was fashionable, and Spam on toast was common? Here are childhood favourites.
Cake mix, which has been around since the 1930s, didn't take off until frosting and other ready-made decoration components were released.
Betty Crocker mix
Early 20th-century Switzerland invented processed cheese. Kraft Foods created pre-sliced cheese squares for cheeseburgers and sandwiches in the 1950s.
Cheese pre-sliced
Kellogg's introduced sugar-coated Corn Flakes in 1952. (called Frosties in the UK). The name was shortened in the 1980s. Tony the Tiger's catchphrase "They're Gr-r-reat!" promotes them.
Froasted flakes
Clarence Birdseye introduced frozen food in the 1930s, but it took off in the 1950s when many houses could afford a freezer.
Frozen Pizza
This delicacy of bananas flambéed with brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, black rum, and banana liqueur was created at Brennan's Restaurant in New Orleans in 1951.
Bananas Foster
Precooked pork product Spam Spam was produced in 1937 and fed troops. 1950s ads and recipes show that tinned beef was a staple in the common diet.
Spam
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