Trends in food come and go, just as they do in fashion and music and home decor , and when dishes slip out of popularity they fade from view. People might make their oldie-but-goodie recipes at home, but we don't see menus-of-old in restaurants and cookbooks are always being updated with new trends. It's usually not until someone mentions a once-popular dish from decades ago that we say, "Oh yeah, what ever happened to that?"
For instance, if you're Gen X or older, you may remember French and Thousand Island dressings being offered as standard choices when you ordered a salad. Today, you'd be hard-pressed to find a restaurant that serves those dressings at all. Changes in nutrition research and health awareness affect these trends, as do pop culture and marketing pushes from various food industries. But sometimes foods just fade in popularity for no obvious reason.
Someone on Reddit asked people to share "a dish that was extremely popular or trendy on restaurant menus but then virtually disappeared," and it's a mouth-watering trip down nostalgia lane. Some of the dishes people named haven't entirely "disappeared" but they definitely aren't as ubiquitous as they once were on restaurant menus.
Which of these babies should we bring back?
Beef stroganoff
Beef stroganoff is a classic. Photo credit: Canva
It's a classic. Beef? Good. Mushrooms? Good. Pasta? Good. What's not to love about a dish of beef stroganoff on a cold winter's night? That's right. Nothing.
"Nobody serves beef stroganoff anymore."
"I was just in South America, it’s everywhere there, especially in Brazil. There are even stroganoff restaurants in the food courts at the mall."
"There’s a Russian restaurant near me that does it, but they only do it if you schedule it and have a party of 8 or more."
Blackened (and Cajun) everything
Mmmmm, charcoal. Photo credit: Canva
Yes, we really did burn meat to a crisp all over the country for a while there. Blackened chicken, blackened salmon, blackened shrimp—and throw a little kick in there to make it "Cajun." Nothing like some added carcinogens to really whet the appetite, am I right? (Though the Cajun part was pretty darn good.)
"I credit the original cajun gourmet, Justin Wilson for this. Late 80s/early 90s when more & more people were getting cable TV, he had a few different shows that reached coast to coast. Maybe not iconic, but he was pretty popular and inspired people to have a taste of the culture & cuisine he fondly promoted."
"Add a little... on-YAWN!"
"I gar-on-TEE!"
Pineapple upside-down cake
Pineapple upside down cake is soooo good when done well. Photo credit: Canva
Hello, sunshine! Sweet, sticky, yummy and pretty to boot. This is one that you really can't judge til you try. So much better than it sounds.
"In 6th grade home EC we made pineapple upside down cake. With jiffy cake mix and canned pineapple and even the v maraschino cherries. I made that on the regular though the 80s and 90s."
"Oh man, thanks for reminding me of this. I think I’m going to make one today. I made them all the time as a kid in the 70s and a young adult in the 80s. I haven’t had one in years!!"
"It's in my regular dessert rotation. I get requests from family, friends and colleagues for pineapple upside-down cake."
Potato skins
Tater skins. Yum. Photo credit: Canva
These were all the rage for a bit there. They can still be found sometimes, but potato skins—and baked potato bars—are not nearly as popular as they used to be. Potatoes have gone through the ringer many times when it comes to healthy vs. unhealthy, but few people would argue that they're not delicious when topped with some cheese and bacon.
"Potato skins were pretty big in the 80s."
"That's because they had baked potato appeal; 'cause they're made with potatoes and skins that are real!"
Try to eat a baked potato and you'll be stuffed by the end. i bet that's why they're rarely found on menus anymore."
Salad bars
Anybody miss salad bars? Photo credit: Canva
Ah, the salad bar. The pandemic really messed with this one. They used to be found in most grocery stores, and then pre-COVID there was a big boom of restaurants that were just enormous salad bars. Yet another thing the 'rona stole from us.
"Salad bars. In the 80s every restaurant had one, even some fast food burger places like Wendy’s."
"I love salad bars. I remember the Soup n' Salad chain. That was good."
" Salad bars were all the craze. Nice restaurants to Wendy’s. Salad bars everywhere!"
Quiche
Sheesh, quiche was popular. Photo credit: Canva
Ah, the French egg pie we all knew and loved. Maybe we still do, and maybe we make them at home, but quiches aren't the staple menu item at restaurants that they used to be.
"Quiche. Back in the 80’s."
"Quiche, In the late 70s and the 80s. Every fern bar restaurant like TGI Fridays featured quiche, and people were cooking quiche. The popularity of quiche even inspired the title of the book Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche. That book inspired the humorous meme of "Real Men Don’t (fill in the blank).'"
" I still make quiche once in awhile. It's ridiculously easy."
Sun-dried tomatoes and pesto
Is there anything more 90s than a sun-dried tomato and pesto pasta? Photo credit: Canva
Right around the time when we were all sudden super into Gregorian chants for like a year, sun-dried tomatoes were being put into everything. Pesto, too. Roasted peppers, too. It's like our collective inner Italian came out with flags a-flying.
"I can’t think of a specific dish but there was a period in the 90s when pesto was EVERYWHERE and so were roasted red peppers."
"Sun dried tomatoes were freaking EVERYWHERE for a while there."
" They even had sun dried tomatoes flavored potato chips."
Fondue
Fondue was all the rage in the 60s and 70s. Photo credit: Canva
There are fewer foods more fun than fondue, but you just don't see it much anymore—with one notable exception. The Melting Pot is an all-fondue restaurant chain, so fondue-lovers do have a place to go if they want to dip all the things in melted cheese (and then in chocolate for dessert).
"My mom told me about how after the 70’s she’s fine not touching fondue ever again. Everyone got a fondue pot for their wedding which they used precisely twice before it found its way into storage."
"People are talking about fondue in the '80s and '90s, but it got really popular in the 1960s. My family got a fondue pot then even tho we weren't very trendy food-wise. But being able to cook beef and melt cheese in it ticked all of my dad's boxes!"
"Hot pot is the new fondue."
What else should be added to this list?
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