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80's food


phlawless

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Can you all help me think of some iconic 80's eats?

What flavors/dishes I'm come up with so far are:

-pesto

-'exotic' pestos: cilantro, sun dried tomato

-anything wrapped in phyllo

-pasta bars

-california style pizza: bbq chicken, shrimp, artichoke hearts

-southwestern u.s.

what else can you guys think of?

"Godspeed all the bakers at dawn... may they all cut their thumbs and bleed into their buns til they melt away..."

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Party?

Chevre

Kiwis on fruit tarts. Any kind of tart, including savory ones, those with blue cheese or nuts in crust. I can't tell you how many tart pans and spring-form pans I bought in that era despite budgetary constraints.

Seafood quiche

Wasn't that the era of croissant sandwiches?

I'd go to your local library or any second hand bookstore and look for The Silver Palate or Perla Meyer's The Seasonal Kitchen (a 70s book, slightly before its time).

Salmon! Salmon was big, too

Carbonara was fairly new

Vegetarian lasagna

ETA: phyllo is excellent idea. I had a party to introduce my new kitten, Cato, to society and we all had phyllo triangles (Silver Palette) stuffed with PINENUTS, spinach, mushrooms, fresh herbs, sun-dried tomatoes, etc.

Mushroom caps stuffed with prosciutto? Not sure if that's era-specific. SMOKED salmon is, though. It kind of eclipsed cavier on blinis for a while. Make sure you find something with shoulder pads to wear, electric blue and shiny, belted, with a strand of beads, big clip-on earrings, bright red high heels and poofy hair.

P.S. Are deep-fried calamari 80s or 90s?

Edited by Pontormo (log)

"Viciousness in the kitchen.

The potatoes hiss." --Sylvia Plath

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Actually a book club meeting...we're reading Bonfire of the Vanities

I totally forgot about croissants and kiwi

Edited by phlawless (log)

"Godspeed all the bakers at dawn... may they all cut their thumbs and bleed into their buns til they melt away..."

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Froze Fruit bars....I like strawberry

the Croisanwich at Burger King

tracey

Edited by rooftop1000 (log)

The great thing about barbeque is that when you get hungry 3 hours later....you can lick your fingers

Maxine

Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.

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I love that part of Bonfire where all the rich folks are at an elaborate dinner party, and everything is very chi-chi except for the entree--a simple roasted cut of lamb or some such.

Bagels and muffins were "healthy" breads. Blackened anything. Cappuccino was newer and more novel.

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I love that part of Bonfire where all the rich folks are at an elaborate dinner party, and everything is very chi-chi except for the entree--a simple roasted cut of lamb or some such.

Bagels and muffins were "healthy" breads. Blackened anything. Cappuccino was newer and more novel.

Don't forget Tuna Carpaccio.

And here in DC, Thai food first swept through. While Sichuan faded away.

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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a few more forgotten oldies ...

POPULAR AMERICAN FOODS INTRODUCED IN THE 1980s:

[1980] Jell-O pudding pops

[1981] Newman's Own Oil and Vinegar Salad Dressing

[1981] Yukon Gold Potatoes

[1981] Tofutti

[1985] Classic Coke

[1985] Hamburger Helper Taco Bake Dinner & Tuna Helper Tetrazzini

[1986] Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn

[1986] Cheetos

[1987] Oscar Mayer Bun-Length hot dogs

[1987] Snapple

[1988] Boboli Pizza...prefab crusts/make your own pizza

[1988] Hershey Kisses with almonds

[1989] Fresh Express "salad in a bag"

[1989] Healthy Choice (frozen dinners)

Remember food in the eighties? It was this decade of excess which sowed the seeds of our current state of culinary affairs. We discovered food in the eighties. Mexican restaurants were popping up on the East Coast and the roots of fusion, the beginnings of the so-called "California Cuisine," were taking hold in the West. In this age of voracious consumerism five star restaurants were notorious for charging a hundred bucks for some tiny, modernist food sculpture.
source of this quote Edited by Gifted Gourmet (log)

Melissa Goodman aka "Gifted Gourmet"

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Can you all help me think of some iconic 80's eats?

What flavors/dishes I'm come up with so far are:

-pesto

-'exotic' pestos: cilantro, sun dried tomato

-anything wrapped in phyllo

-pasta bars

-california style pizza: bbq chicken, shrimp, artichoke hearts

-southwestern u.s.

what else can you guys think of?

Busboy mentioned "Cajun" --I second that but refine it to

"Blackened"--Thousands of restaurants jumped on the Prudhomme technique and

started blackening not just red fish which I believe came close to extinction--but any and everything:

chicken, swordfish, steak etc etc etc!

In fact at its worst--blackened meant taking a piece of protein dousing it in "cajun spice mix' (most of them were two thirds table salt)--and tossing it in a microwave!

:shock:

YEOW!!!!

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Chimichangas! Frozen Margaritas! The Sushi Explosion! I had my first date with my wife because she had never had sushi before (1983).

John Sconzo, M.D. aka "docsconz"

"Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster."

- Ferran Adria on eGullet 12/16/2004.

Docsconz - Musings on Food and Life

Slow Food Saratoga Region - Co-Founder

Twitter - @docsconz

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a few more forgotten oldies  ...
POPULAR AMERICAN FOODS INTRODUCED IN THE 1980s:

[1980] Jell-O pudding pops

[1981] Newman's Own Oil and Vinegar Salad Dressing

[1981] Yukon Gold Potatoes

[1981] Tofutti

[1985] Classic Coke

[1985] Hamburger Helper Taco Bake Dinner & Tuna Helper Tetrazzini

[1986] Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn

[1986] Cheetos

[1987] Oscar Mayer Bun-Length hot dogs

[1987] Snapple

[1988] Boboli Pizza...prefab crusts/make your own pizza

[1988] Hershey Kisses with almonds

[1989] Fresh Express "salad in a bag"

[1989] Healthy Choice (frozen dinners)

I'm surprised that some of these are that old and that some aren't older than they are! I loved Snapple back then before it was sold. I don't know if it changed or I changed. Maybe both. :hmmm:

John Sconzo, M.D. aka "docsconz"

"Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster."

- Ferran Adria on eGullet 12/16/2004.

Docsconz - Musings on Food and Life

Slow Food Saratoga Region - Co-Founder

Twitter - @docsconz

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How about fondue? Got my first kiss from my wife because of a fondue. :biggrin:

John Sconzo, M.D. aka "docsconz"

"Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster."

- Ferran Adria on eGullet 12/16/2004.

Docsconz - Musings on Food and Life

Slow Food Saratoga Region - Co-Founder

Twitter - @docsconz

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Spinach dip served in a bread bowl

Chicken Kiev

McRib sandwiches

Sushi

Fettucine Alfredo

Baked potato skins (covered in sour cream, chives and bacon bits)

Popcorn shrimp

Long Island Iced Tea

Wine coolers

Joie Alvaro Kent

"I like rice. Rice is great if you're hungry and want 2,000 of something." ~ Mitch Hedberg

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How about fondue? Got my first kiss from my wife because of a fondue. :biggrin:

Fondue is always popular in my book, but I think of fondue's significant initial foray and heyday in the States as being in the 60's-early 70's. My parent's used it often for entertaining or special meals then... They hadn't used it in a long time so I recently inherited an early 70's Crate and Barrel type model in bright yellow enamelware.

Nice that you have fond memories of fondue in the 80's also though... :smile:

Here's a dish that I associate with the 80's: fajitas

(These were likely popular in Texas before this time but it seems like it was the 80's when fajitas hit it big nationwide becoming a fixture at certain style family-style restaurants.)

Edited by ludja (log)

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

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...

Carbonara was fairly new

...

SMOKED salmon is, though. It kind of eclipsed cavier on blinis for a while.  Make sure you find something with shoulder pads to wear, electric blue and shiny, belted, with a strand of beads, big clip-on earrings, bright red high heels and poofy hair.

P.S.  Are deep-fried calamari 80s or 90s?

Combining the smoked salmon and the carbonara, I seem to remember angel hair pasta with smoked salmon in cream sauce.

I *think* more wide spread use of fried calamari (i.e. outside of Italian restaurants) as 90's... but it was probably picking up in the late 80's at least.

Also, to your vegetarian lasagna, I'll add seafood lasagna

Tofutti! The name of one of the golddiggers taking advantage of rich bitch Goldie Hawn's absence in Overboard. Very 80s.

Frozen yogurt? (Don't think I remember that in the 70's too much.

For dessert I remember flavored cheesecakes like amaretto or cappucino being very popular.

And although California pizza started in the 70's in CA, it seems like this took off in a bigger national way in the 80's.

All sorts of variants on nachos including those turned into a meal iwth meat added seemed to become big in the 80's as well.

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

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When did spinach, Lipton's onion mix and sour cream take off? Late 70's or was that more in the 80's?

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

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Spinach dip served in a bread bowl

When did spinach, Lipton's onion mix and sour cream take off?  Late 70's or was that more in the 80's?

I'd say the eighties.

What else?

Microwave popcorn

New Coke :blink: and Coke Classic (thank God)

Mud pie and turtle pie

Daiquiris

Jelly Bellys

Chicken "fingers"

Joie Alvaro Kent

"I like rice. Rice is great if you're hungry and want 2,000 of something." ~ Mitch Hedberg

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I think some of you people are just young punks who think they invented everything. :laugh:

I was doing doing fondue with my parents while Nixon was still in power. Potato skins were peaked in '78. I never actually saw spinach mixed with sour cream and onion dip, but it was a Sunday afternoon special in my house back when the Colts playedout of Baltimore and Sonny quarterbacked the 'Skins.

Raspberry did make a major appearance in the 80s -- I assumed that they finally bred a breed that couldmake it up from Chile during the winter. $10 Supplemental for the prix fixe when I was working at the swel French place in 1984.

Italian was the new French for a bit in the 80s; California cooking came east then --- the whole seasonal produce attitude and that sort of thing -- and mango salso got big. And, on the more swell level, all those reduction sauces now touted as light and modern replaced Bernaise circa 1981. Free range chickens, sushi, expensive (and worth it) Indian food...

Jeez -- who could forget sun-dried tomatoes?

I liked skinny ties and REM, but when Kim saidt he food was better than the music and the fashion, she was damn right in one way (speaking of fashion, remember big shoulders andm en's jackets in the colors of 70s appliances? Avocado and burnt pumpkin?). Things were moving in the right direction, real fast. Outside the silly stuff (New Coke) things were getting a boatload better.

You couldn't much buy fresh herbs other than parsley and maybe some thyme in a DC grocery store in 1980. 25 years later they're still a lot more important than foams and airs are going to be in 2030.

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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Funny.  From most of the above posts, I think the food of the 80's was a lot better than the music or the fashion!

Nah. I still have a lot of nostalgia for 80's music. While I still like it, with a few exceptions I don't have any particular predilections for 80's food.

John Sconzo, M.D. aka "docsconz"

"Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster."

- Ferran Adria on eGullet 12/16/2004.

Docsconz - Musings on Food and Life

Slow Food Saratoga Region - Co-Founder

Twitter - @docsconz

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