Snacking Through The Decades: 1950s & ’60s - Canteen (2024)

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Snacking Through The Decades: 1950s & ’60s - Canteen? ›

Spaghetti-Os, Gatorade, Diet Pepsi, Doritos, Taster's Choice, Quaker Instant Oatmeal, Campbell's Chunky Soups and Pringles. Candy also made a resurgence with 100 Grand, Swedish Fish, Fruit Strip Bubble Gum, Lemonheads, Now and Laters, Starburst, SweeTarts, Tic Tac Mints, Trident Gum, Twizzlers and Swizzle Sticks.

1950s Appetizers

Before dinner, all sorts of finger foods, snacks and apps were served, oftentimes dictated by the occasion. Stuffed celery was always a popular choice, as were pinwheels, shrimp co*cktail and canapés.

Items like pancakes, sausages, meatloaf, burgers, and sandwiches were standard on diner menus, and still are today. The meals were priced low, making diners popular even before their rise in the 1950s.

The 1950s brought treats including the Hot Tamales candies in 1950, Eggo Waffles and Cheez Whiz in 1953 and Trix Cereal in 1954.

Pringles, Pop-Tarts, Doritos, Starburst, Chips Ahoy!, Gatorade, Sprite, and Ruffles all debuted during the decade, and fast food came into its own with McDonald's. New kid-friendly (read: super-sugary) breakfast cereals abounded, like Froot Loops, Honeycomb, Cap'n Crunch, and Lucky Charms.

1954: Marshmallow Peeps

The original candies were made by hand, but in 1954 Born invented a machine to mass produce his Peeps. Now the company, Just Born, makes about 4 million Peeps every day!

1951: Dunkin' Donuts

I mean, Dunkin' still makes a mean donut to this day. But back in 1951, a year after the company's inception, everyone was snacking on those frosted doughy delights when the munchies hit.

McDonald's is the original fast food restaurant and has dominated the fast food industry throughout history. It was founded in 1940 but really began to take off in the early 1950s. That might be because McDonald's introduced its best-selling menu item in 1949: french fries.

In 1964, Bugles made its debut alongside two other shaped snacks — Whistles and Daisy*s — as the first snack brands from General Mills. While Whistles and Daisy*s didn't withstand the test of time, Bugles' crispy, salty, roasted corn flavor and unique horn-shape became an instant hit, inspiring a new wave of snacking.

1953 – Peeps.

Manufactured by Just Born, everyone's favorite marshmallow chicks were created by hand until Bob Born joined the company in 1946. Since then, Peeps have been produced in Bethlehem, PA, using a machine, popping out a package of the cute little guys in only six minutes.

Did people snack in the 1940s? ›

Voila, eat it up. There will be no snacking later. A '40s breakfast was offered in the early morning, lunch rang in at noon, and after school your time was used for chores, not chips. Most people didn't eat before or after a meal, with perhaps one exception: going to the movies.

Popular packaged foods included Kellogg's Frosted Flakes and Special K cereals, General Mills' Trix and Cocoa Puffs cereals, Star-Kist Tuna, Minute Rice, Eggo Waffles, Pepperidge Farm Cookies, Ruffles potato chips, Rice-A-Roni, Ramen Noodles, and Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream.

The Cambridge Diet was a very-low-calorie meal replacement fad diet developed in the 1960s. The diet launched with different versions in the US and the UK. The US version filed for bankruptcy and shut down shortly after the deaths of several dieters.

Pigs in a blanket, Swedish meatballs, shrimp co*cktail, vegetables with green goddess dip — and pineapple upside down cake or the popular bundt “Tunnel of Fudge Cake,” which won the Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1966. Drinks: According to mixologists, this was a strange time for co*cktails.

Johnson says it was all about ease. "In the 1950s, there were a lot of people cooking who didn't really like cooking," she said. "The convenience of gelatin salads definitely had something to do with it. They're colorful, it's super easy, you don't have to bake.

Often tinned hams, salads, breads and dessert would be served in a field. However, for an easier alternative make sandwiches and wrap them in greaseproof paper. Don't forget the hard boiled eggs as no picnic would be a picnic without one! Tea and lemonade.

One standout diet was the “cabbage diet” which involved consuming nothing but soup for seven days. The original recipe called for cabbage, vegetables, water and dry onion soup mix. And that's all you ate.