This Twitter Account Full Of Discontinued Snacks Is Making Our Damn Day

Take a walk down the grocery aisles of your mind palace with @Snack_Memories.

By  Dennis Lee

We reminisce about discontinued food products a whole lot here at The Takeout. RIP, Choco Taco. We hope to see you again someday, Taco Bell Beefer. The Girl Scout Cookie graveyard abounds with delicious bygone treats. And why, oh why does McDonald's Hot Mustard continue to elude us?

Much to our joy, we've discovered an entire Twitter account dedicated to these ephemeral snacks, appropriately titled @Snack_Memories. Once we found it, we were hooked; we've been scrolling through to find all sorts of limited-time offerings long lost in the back of our minds. There's something weirdly revelatory about the bright packaging and one-time flavors that you haven't thought about in decades. It instantly transports you to a different time in your life in a way that few other things can.

Anyone remember McDonald's short-lived Beef Wennington? @Snack_Memories does. Sold between 1998-1999, it was an homage to Chicago Bulls center Bill Wennington, who played for the team throughout their championship run of six games in the '90s. The Beef Wennington featured a burger patty, American cheese, onions, barbecue sauce, and Canadian bacon, a nod to Wennington's Montreal roots.

I grew up in and around Chicago, and to say all things Bulls-related were huge is an understatement. I was 17 then, and holy shit, did this tweet open up a floodgate of memories. Naturally, my mind floated toward the McJordan Special, a Quarter Pounder with barbecue sauce, onions, and bacon.

The Twitter account is full of great anecdotes from fast food history, recounting, for example, the time Burger King debuted bone-in ribs in 2010 as a limited-time-only product. I definitely ate these, and they were surprisingly good for being a fast food offering. Do any of you remember chowing down on them?

Perhaps even more fascinating is the fact that plenty of stuff featured on @Snack_Memories' Twitter feed are items that I either never experienced in person, or never would have remembered if not for this nostalgic nudge. I would have been a little young when Little Caesars' Chocolate Ravioli were around, but they sound great: a ravioli-shaped truffle of sorts, with a white chocolate exterior and milk chocolate cream center. How did I miss these?

And of course, many products on the feed date back to before I was born, like Betty Crocker's Mug-O-Lunch. These were essentially instant noodle dishes, but rather than today's popular ramen, varieties included mac and cheese, beef noodles and gravy, and spaghetti and tomato sauce. Betty Crocker was ahead of its time.

If you have some time today to scroll through the @Snack_Memories Twitter feed, which began in April, I highly recommend it. You'll probably end up spending way more time nosing through it than you intended to (doing many Google searches along the way). Be prepared to get smacked by giant waves of nostalgia, incurable bouts of curiosity, and a strong desire to taste historical novelties that might never return to shelves. You've been warned.

 

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