Food – Retro

Welcome to the Spooky Foods Graveyard! Enjoy this look at *40* seasonal snacks from yesteryear, and try not to wake the dead while you browse. #40: McDonald’s Pumpkin Pie! (Introduced in 1984) I’ve been sitting on this one for weeks, because it seemed like the perfect food to end this

Well, since we’re a few weeks late on this episode of The Purple Stuff Podcast, we knew we had to deliver a crowd-pleaser. Time for us to talk about cereal again! Get set for Eight Great Cereals, Volume III! Yep, the long-awaited threequel to our ongoing series is here, and it’s full o

I don’t know if we’ve ever done back to back podcasts on the same subject before, but we had so much fun gabbing about old cereals, we thought we’d give it another go: On the latest Purple Stuff Podcast, me and Jay from Sludge Central celebrate *another* eight great cereals from the

With just seconds left in the month, we’re ready to drop the latest episode of The Purple Stuff Podcast! You’re gonna need a spoon for this one, guys. It’s our long-awaited CEREAL SHOW! Oh yes! Me and Jay from Sludge Central dive deep into eight of our all-time favorite cereals, from

It’s the first Purple Stuff Podcast of 2022! We wanted to kick off the new year with something big, so here ya go — a whole freakin’ hour of Burger King nostalgia! All hail the king! Me and Jay from Sludge Central are ready to assault your ears with SO MUCH BURGER KING STUFF, ranging

Guys, it’s time! Ancient Holiday Appetizers, Part 9! In this series, I dig through old cookbooks and recipe mags searching for edible Christmas treasure. Sometimes the dishes are best left in the past, but more often than not, they’re just as good now as they were back when every jacke

Before October slips away, I need to continue my Halloween Junk Food History series! We looked back at 2003 and 2004 in prior videos, so this time, it’s all about 2005. To put that year into proper context, imagine yourself watching the insect scene from Peter Jackson’s King Ko

Today I’m continuing my Halloween Junk Food History series with a look at ten of the hottest Halloween treats from 2004. Get set for Shrek Twinkies and Mountain Dew Pitch Black! Who knew that discontinued candy could make you nostalgic for the 2000s? You can watch the video above, or mor

Memorial Day is a baaaad time to post, but it was either that or miss our self-imposed deadline, so… hope you can take time out from barbecuing to listen to a podcast? The Purple Stuff Podcast returns with a sequel to a very old episode, SNACKS WE WANT BACK! We’re naming ten more d

Time for my most important article of the year: Ancient Holiday Appetizers! Every December, I dig through old cookbooks looking for edible holiday thrills, no matter how out of style. This has been my favorite Christmas tradition of the past decade, full stop. I couldn’t imagine letting

I rarely drink soda these days, but it will forever be one of my passions. Everything about soda fascinates me. How it looks! How it tastes! How it’s packaged! How it’s marketed! Every soda has a story to tell, whether it’s a top dog with a million dollar ad campaign, or a no-name br

Maniac Cop 2 is a wonderful horror movie that improves upon the original in every way. At least, that’s what I’ve heard. I’ve never actually seen the whole thing, despite listening to the Maniac Cop Rap several times each week. I did watch the first 15 minutes, though, thanks to a ti

I was introduced to McDonald’s McSalad Shakers during the summer of 2000, not long after they debuted. Picture a chopped salad stuffed into a 7-Eleven Slurpee cup. They were essentially that. Salads for people who had no time to sit. If you were hoping for an all-business McSalad Shaker

Let’s talk about Nabisco’s Suddenly S’mores. The magically microwaveable cookies arrived in 1989, but didn’t go national until 1990. That’s when I tried them. I was eleven years old, and junk food was the only thing that loved me back.  Suddenly S’mores arrived with fanfare.

For the seventh consecutive year, here’s a new edition of Ancient Holiday Appetizers. Let’s make some weird food, dudes! If you’ve been with this series from the start, you know that I usually pull recipes from old cookbooks. This year, I thought I’d try something different. Y’al

Y’all know the scoop by now. To celebrate the Happy Meal’s 40th anniversary, McDonald’s just released A TON of old school Happy Meal toys. I mean a legit ton. Check out their promo vid: People like me had been on McDonald’s case for years, wondering why they weren’t tapping i

At the tail end of 1984, Hormel introduced the most Halloweeny of all hot dogs. Probably not the kickoff line you were expecting, but whatever, you’re here. Let’s talk about Frank ‘n Stuff! I’ve mentioned Frank ‘n Stuff in prior articles, but I thought it deserved a proper, stand

Geez, I wasn’t sure if we’d make our deadline on this. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when not accomplishing something would be a total disaster. Just in the nick of time, here’s the concluding episode of the Purple Stuff Podcast’s SUMMER SATURDAYS event! This week, me and

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cereal debuted in 1989 and lasted through late ‘92, which was pretty impressive for the kind of tie-in cereal that was usually only on shelves for a few months. The Turtles’ own longevity partly explains it, what with their live action films and their ten t

If you didn’t hear the big news, Coca-Cola is dusting off NEW COKE as part of a special partnership with Stranger Things. (The show’s third season is set in 1985, smack in the middle of New Coke’s shaky debut.) This past Thursday, thousands of us struggled to place orders on New Coke

I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a collector of old soda cans, even though I’ve accumulated over a hundred of them. I prefer to think of myself as an extreme dabbler. That sounds like something a guy who badly cuts his own hair would be, at least. Below: Five of my favorite soda cans

This was a good day. The weather was nice, I won a cheap eBay auction, and oh yeah, I made VINCENT PRICE’S SUPPER CASSEROLE. Back in 1977, Vincent Price shared this wonderfully weird recipe on behalf of Creamettes Macaroni. Price never shied away from paid endorsements, but since he was

Below are five ridiculous movie-themed junk foods that I’ve collected over the years. They were pulled from storage bins that I wish were airtight, but definitely aren’t. Hostess Snoballimus and Chocwave Cakes! Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) I still rate these as the weirdest sn

A little over ten years ago, I started collecting old cereal prizes. It was the right time to do it. Even the most humdrum old prize is good for a few bucks these days, but nobody was really paying attention to ‘em back then. I’d win auctions for ten bucks and walk away with piles

Hey guys. I’d like to tell you about some of my all-time favorite cereal marshmallows. It’s one of the few subjects that I’m extremely passionate about it. Really, the only other one is that weird couch the Romans used to eat on. Pizza-Shaped Marshmallows! TMNT Cereal (1991) I love h