Xennial Snack Foods: Our Faves Revisited

Did your favorite snack foods growing up dunk, crunch or snap? Does Little Debbie live in your snack fantasies rent-free?

If you like your snack foods extra sticky, you might be a Xennial. And we are too.

Join Dani and Katie as they revisit, and re-taste, their favorite snack foods from their childhoods and teen years. Did any of your favorites make this list?

Don't forget to check out our candy taste-testing episode.

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Transcript

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Dani Combs: 0:01

Did your favorite childhood snacks

Katie Parsons: 0:03

come wrapped in cellophane, or did your fingers end up caked in seasoning and chemical dust by the time your snack session?

Unknown: 0:14

At the end of your snack? Sesh, that's all I was trying to find by the time what

Katie Parsons: 0:24

your sesh of snacks ended? I don't know what I said. It didn't make sense. Okay, it was a very weird way to say that. Okay, one

Dani Combs: 0:31

more third time, this does not happen. We

Katie Parsons: 0:33

haven't even had sugar yet. Maybe that's the problem. Okay, did your favorite childhood snacks come wrapped in cellophane, or did your fingers end up caked in seasoning and chemical dust by the end of your snack? Sesh, if you're gonna have to borrow some of my gum from the candy episode to freshen your breath after your favorite childhood or teen snack, you might be a zennial, and we are too.

Dani Combs: 0:58

Woo hoo. Hi, I'm Katie and I'm Danny,

Katie Parsons: 1:01

and welcome to another taste testing episode of generation in between, a zennial podcast where we are going to revisit and re taste snack foods from our childhoods and teen years and try to determine if they still taste as good as they did when we were young in the 1980s and the 1990s Yeah. And if you are a loyal listener, you may recall our recent episode on candy. There were a few shenanigans that ensued, including candy bracelets as anklets. We poured some straight up sugar right into our mouths. There were some really wild stories about gum. You guys, I know a lot. Whoa, mind blowing. So we heard from a lot of you who said you really enjoyed that episode. You wished we had video to which we said, Thank goodness we did not. Facts also, no video today. Oh my God, no, but I'm sure your imaginations are even better. So this is kind of a follow up to that, because we needed to separate the candy from snack foods. That way we had plenty of time, and our taste buds could adjust to both. So I see some really good ones over there.

Dani Combs: 2:07

I know I'm excited about yours. I'm excited about yours. Well,

Katie Parsons: 2:11

we'll talk about it when we get to it. But Well, it was, there is a single one of these things is not like the others on our table that we're probably gonna save for the very end. And yeah, y'all will be disappointed, as will we. I feel like we will be when we try it. But anyway, yeah, so stick around to the end and then another one we weren't sure was gonna make it on the show today, but Danny found it. Wawa came through. Wawa came through, and you'll all be happy to know I ordered none of my snacks from Amazon this time. Yes, girl, I was properly ashamed. And so these come from other gigantic corporations. Correct box, but local,

Dani Combs: 2:53

but local that employs local

Katie Parsons: 2:55

people at least, and I didn't even use the self checkout interacted with humans at the checkout line to bring you all of these snacks today. So hopefully you all can enjoy some of these too. And the funny thing with snacks, and we'll get into this, but I think a lot of them have staying power. Oh yeah, a lot of these, like, I've definitely had, like, since the 90s, oh yeah, same. But they're, they're tied to maybe those foundational years in a special way. So we'll share those stories too. But before we get to that, Danny, do you have any, like, shout outs or circle backs? I have two. I

Dani Combs: 3:29

don't I think you have the ones. I'm gonna say, yeah. So

Katie Parsons: 3:32

our last episode, not the candy one, but our cartoons episode. That was a two parter, but on part one, we talked about the Snork. Lady loves them. I was really having a hard time wrapping my brain around how this was a thing. But we heard from our friend Jen, yeah, who had a really cute story that she got a puppy when the Snorks were popular, yeah, the 80s, yeah. And they got them, like a little rubber, plastic Snork toy. So they would say, Go get your Snork. And then every dog toy was called that for the rest of his life, for the rest of the dog's life. And if you listen, Snorks was only on a couple years. There were reruns and stuff like that. So like, yeah, 10 years down the road, they're like, go grab your Snork. And like, everyone's like, what?

Dani Combs: 4:17

That's a chicken, or it's a ball,

Katie Parsons: 4:19

it's a rope, huh? So that was really, really cute, so funny. And then a different Jennifer online was just so happy we included it because included snort, oh yes, because she had been, like, talking to her husband about, like, What are you talking about? And then she was like, so excited, I know, like, led off the whole cartoon series that we were talking about snarks. We were she felt very validated. See Katie. She felt seen Snorks are for everyone. Well, Snorks are for Jennifer's Well, andies and dogs, and I'm gonna stick with that story. Okay, all right. Well, let's get snacks. I've been talking for a bit, so why? You'll be together two years first. I'm

Dani Combs: 5:01

pumped, all right, so I tried to go with again. I haven't mentioned my sister in a while, so it's time. She's really nice. I think she is. We'll have to have her on when she visits at some point. Okay, so when I texted her when we were doing candy episode, I said to her, Hey, I'm what were some like, junk food, slash candy. I used to eat as a kid all the time, and the ones, because I want to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything, yeah, my first two are things that she said to me. So my very first one is Cool Ranch Doritos. Cool

Katie Parsons: 5:36

Ranch Doritos, yes, specifically,

Dani Combs: 5:37

Cool Ranch now my older teenager, these are his favorite Doritos. In my opinion, they're the best Doritos. So I'm gonna tell you some history, because the history with Cool Ranch Doritos is pretty interesting. Oh, and then we're gonna eat 'em. Katie's face is not pumped. Do you like Korean Doritos? Love Doritos? Oh, yay. Okay, exciting. I'm

Katie Parsons: 5:56

excited about the Doritos. I'm just not sure like that. There'll be an interesting story. But they are gum surprised us. Gum surprised us specifically. So go on, all right, so

Dani Combs: 6:05

the original, so I have to tell you a little bit about Doritos, just basic Doritos, to tell you about Cool Ranch, okay, about their evolution. So the original Dorito tortilla chip was made at Disneyland, uh huh at Casa de Fritos in Disneyland, okay, during the early 1960s Wow, yeah, I know. So what they would do was they would use surplus tortillas, and they took the original idea from a traditional Mexican snack known as totopo, t o, t o, p O, okay. Y'all know I mispronounced stuff, so I'll just spell it. So what the company, the company owned restaurant at Disneyland. They cut up the surplus tortillas, they fried them, and they added basic seasoning, and it resembled another Mexican snack called, okay, I'm just gonna spell it, C, H, I, L, A, Q, U, I, L, E, S, okay. How do you think you say that

Katie Parsons: 7:04

q lays, okay. That's not bad. I think

Dani Combs: 7:07

I just don't want to like murder, a word that I don't know how to say. But in this case, they were dry. So, so that snack, that Mexican snack dish, is not dry, but this one is okay. So they take that. Here comes capitalism Coming on into the picture here. Well, I mean, it's already there because Disneyland, but so this man named Art West, he was the vice president of Frito Lay okay at the time, and he noticed how popular these Doritos tortilla chips were. So he made a deal in 1964 with Alex foods, who actually provided all of a lot of the food items for Casa de Fritos at Disneyland. And they actually produced the chips for a short time, just regionally, before it was like completely overwhelmed by the volume. And then Frito Lay moved the production in house to its Tulsa plant. Okay, okay, so they started regionally, then they Frito Lay took over. So here's a weird bit of trivia with this man, Arch West, when he died in 2011 his family dusted his grave with a layer of Doritos because he was the original. That's where, very strange, weird. I don't know how I even came across that. It's in my sources, but yeah, weird night. So, right. Anyway, Delita delitos, Doritos released in 1966 and became the first tortilla chip available nationally in the United States. Okay, so

Katie Parsons: 8:28

you're saying Doritos were available before, like, you're like, standard, plain tortilla chips, yep. And when they first came out, they were just tortilla chips. Okay, okay, got it. So

Dani Combs: 8:37

the name actually derives from doradito, that one I can say, which means little golden thing in Spanish, little golden thing. So the original, like I said, the original Doritos, were just toasted corn flavor, like you would think of, like a tortilla chip, right? Okay. There was no extra seasoning. Okay. They were actually that flavor of Doritos was discontinued in 2019 but they're still available in the UK, but they're called lightly salted Doritos. Hmm, yeah, okay. And my husband was like, trying to tell me, I do not remember them at all. I do not remember just tortilla chip Doritos me either. And my husband kept trying to tell me. He was like, Danny, yeah. Do you remember when Doritos was just like a tortilla chip. And I'm like, What are you talking about? No,

Katie Parsons: 9:23

but he's right. Yeah, y'all

Dani Combs: 9:25

heard it market in history book. Troy was right. Troy was right, and I said it out loud. Remember it either? I don't either. But anyway, so Okay, here's the thing, though, market research said revealed that many consumers outside the southwest and and the West United States considered the chip to be too bland and not spicy enough for what was perceived as a Mexican snack. Okay? So they're like, this is supposed to be a Mexican snack, and it's like, this bland chip. So that is when in 1967 they introduced the taco flavor. Ah, and I do remember. Those, and they still make those. You can find those. Okay, I do remember taco Doritos, and they are delicious. So they came out with the taco in 1967 and 1972 nacho cheese flavor was released. That was 172 72 and then in 1986 we got our girl. Cool Ranch Doritos,

Katie Parsons: 10:21

Doritos azeal, yeah, not a zennial. No, not

Dani Combs: 10:25

a millennial. Yeah, millennial.

Katie Parsons: 10:27

That's okay.

Dani Combs: 10:28

Here's the thing, though, it was the very first ranch flavored snack in the United States

Katie Parsons: 10:33

that checks, yeah, like mid 80s, yeah, that checks, because

Dani Combs: 10:37

then I found out this interesting trivia about ranch dressing. So bottled ranch dressing started selling on us shelves in 1983 but the dry packets you know, have been available since the 50s.

Katie Parsons: 10:52

Oh, yeah. Okay,

Dani Combs: 10:55

interesting, right? So Cool Ranch Doritos were like the dawn of the ranch flavor craze and snack foods and all the things. Even though they don't really taste like Ranch,

Katie Parsons: 11:06

they don't really like, I haven't tasted it again today, but I can like taste, yes, like, and I'm like, No, it's, it's not, doesn't taste like any dressing I would put on my salad or vegetables or anything, but, but

Unknown: 11:18

whatever, very distinct. So they were like,

Dani Combs: 11:20

they were the forerunner of ranch snacks. One last little trivia bit, and then we're gonna eat some yay, Cool Ranch Doritos. Katie's, like, ready with her? Please? She's like, shut up. Give me some Doritos. Okay. They're sold under the name cool original in the UK, and are actually called Cool American elsewhere in Europe. Is that because Ranch is not a thing over there, right? Because ranch dressing is less common. I mean, they have it. It's just not. It's kind of like an more common in America. So

Katie Parsons: 11:48

cool, original, cool in America. Okay?

Dani Combs: 11:52

And then I just think, Okay, so now we need some fun fact about me. I have this thing called misophonia, which I don't remember if I talked about in the candy episode or not. I can't stand to hear people chewing and all that. So you talked about it. I did. Oh yeah, great. So there's more of my issues, but here we go. So this is me opening the bag. There it goes. And we're gonna pour some on a plate, and we're gonna go away from the microphone to chat about chips, and you can take as many as you want, because I got a big grab. Y'all remember those big grab and my youngest son is sitting outside the door waiting for snacks. Is he there? Think

Katie Parsons: 12:28

he knocked Cooper,

Dani Combs: 12:32

okay. All right, whatever. Okay, we'll give it some a minute. All right, so here we go. I'm gonna turn away from the mic, and then we'll chitchat. Let's see

Unknown: 12:39

what they still taste 321, go rich.

Dani Combs: 12:45

Yum. Me. Oh, my God, they're so good. Also, Katie and I are recording this at lunchtime. So this is our lunch today.

Katie Parsons: 12:51

Seriously, we blew right through lunchtime. So

Dani Combs: 12:55

did you ever like, I don't know if y'all do this with chips or Doritos, especially like lick the flavor off the chip before you eat it. No,

Katie Parsons: 13:04

I've heard of people doing that. People exist. Well, have you heard the Kelly Clarkson story? No, that's her thing. She talks about how she just licks the seasoning off and just puts them back in the bag. Ah, I mean, not for other people to eat. She throws them away. But, yeah, that's like, gusting, yeah, I went like, viral a couple years ago.

Dani Combs: 13:26

I did not know that, but, no, I used to do that as a kid. I would lick all the seasoning off and then eat the chip. I used to have a pizza too. I would eat all the toppings off and then eat the

Katie Parsons: 13:35

weird, wow, that was weird. I mean, I'm sure that's pretty common, okay,

Dani Combs: 13:39

like, I've heard of people like that. I'm like, her face was like, No, sorry. Somebody out there is gonna be like, Yes, I do that. People like that. Like Kelly Clarkson, you just said gross. So Cory Doritos, hooray, winner. Oh, I

Katie Parsons: 13:54

guess I don't need to open my next one yet, because I'm gonna talk about it first. So mine for a little bit of a side detour from the Cool Ranch Doritos. We've actually talked about mine before in an episode, and we have that will narrow it down enough for listeners, but we talked about it in the can't hardly wait episode, yes, and it was the very breakfast item I was consuming at that moment the frosted Strawberry Pop Tart, yes.

Dani Combs: 14:25

So so many of my mornings, there it goes. So many of my mornings involved this exact breakfast pastry, pastry, pastry, sorry, pastry, yes,

Katie Parsons: 14:37

and that is exactly what it is. So, yeah, so I was just gonna say, like, I loved Pop Tarts. I found Pop Tarts in like, high school. I don't remember, like, Oh, really, yeah, but our high school you could buy them at lunch, you know, super filling or whatever. And because I was involved in like, so much stuff, if I bought lunch, like, I really didn't, like, go through the line and, like, sit down. So I just remember, like, literally. Eating, like a Strawberry Pop Tart for lunch, for, like, I don't know, two years of my life, and so I have to take a break from pop tarts for a few years there. But I don't eat them too much now. But, like, I do love a good, a good Strawberry Pop Tart. And when I was pregnant with my youngest, I craved them and ate a lot of them.

Dani Combs: 15:17

I don't, honestly, right now, I can't, I don't remember the last time I've had Pop Tart, yeah? Honestly, yeah. It's been that long. But, I mean, I even

Katie Parsons: 15:27

remember before they had the frosted Pop Tarts, like we used to eat the kind without the frosting. So I'm excited to hear your turn. Yeah, yeah. So, so, in case you don't know, pop tarts are a brand of toaster pastries produced and distributed by this is funny. It's produced and distributed by Kela Nova. Oh, it used to be Kellogg's, and just in the past few years, they've like, kind of broken up the business, and certain brands went with certain parts of the business. So there's this whole other business called kelanova now. So that's who they're owned by. And they came on the scene in 1964 and they have a sweet filling sealed inside two layers of thin, rectangular pastry crust. Most varieties are also frosted. They are sold precooked, but they're designed to fit into the toaster, microwave, so you can eat them warm, but you don't have to. What's your preferred way of eating a pop tart? I just like it normal, right out of the package. Yeah, straight out of the package. I don't, I don't really like to toast it. I I

Dani Combs: 16:22

used to eat them toasted when I was a kid, and even went before they had the frosting, I'd put butter on it. Yeah?

Katie Parsons: 16:29

So that's a thing too. Like, there's a couple things I found on that, but the start of these was this guy named William post, and at first I thought of like, post foods, yeah, no relationship whatsoever. He actually worked for Kellogg's, and he was born in 1927 so this is crazy. I think it's crazy to Dutch immigrant parents. He was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. That's where I was born, Grand Rapids, Michigan. What father pop tarts and Katie and me. And it says his favorite flavor, strawberry frock. Of all the Pop Tarts going on, it's meant to be and in the 60s, he enlisted his own kids, then ages 13 and 11, to taste test. And he had this idea of, like, kind of breakfast on the go. You know, society was becoming more and more mobile, two parents working that sort of thing. And so they were really looking for ways, kind of, like when cereal became really popular to kind of have quick breakfast. So this was one, and when they debuted in 64 they just had four flavors, and they were Unfrosted, strawberry, blueberry, brown sugar, cinnamon and apple.

Dani Combs: 17:31

Yeah, I remember apple. Remember apple? Yeah. And then the frosting

Katie Parsons: 17:34

came along a few years later, which was also post idea. But they were initially called something else. They were initially called fruit scones. What? Yeah, don't even look like a scone. But Kellogg marketing department knew that that was, that was not the one. I thought you're gonna say. British people were like, what? Don't take our fruit scones.

Dani Combs: 17:58

Yes, I was just waiting, waiting to see what accident was coming out.

Katie Parsons: 18:03

Where is this gonna go? All I've had is one Dorito, and I'm falling apart. Okay, so the name pop tart actually came was inspired by famous pop painter Andy Warhol, really, yes, and the pop art movement, oh, just because it popped

Dani Combs: 18:21

out of a toaster. I

Katie Parsons: 18:22

mean, that makes sense to me, too. So it kind of has a cup, a couple meanings, and then tart, obviously, like a pastry, yeah? So kind of like your dude who had the Doritos sprinkler. So this guy, this William post, was like, so proud that he invented Pop Tarts. He would like, go speak to, like entrepreneurs, like at business schools. Well, I did this. So you can do this. I found all these articles about it fun. He drove a sports car with a license plate that said Pop Tart. Yes. I thought it was gonna say, like, Pop Tart. He would always have, like, his trunk full of them, and he would just like, give them pop tarts. Yes, or like, he'd be like, speaking to colleges, and he'd be like, by the way,

Dani Combs: 19:02

and you get a pop tart, and you get a pop tart. Hey, be careful

Katie Parsons: 19:05

when you're like, throwing those out there with a stray Pop Tart. But these were obviously popular at the time. They're still very popular as of this year, 2024 there are over 24 standard Pop Tart flavors. What? Some of the newer ones include hot fudge sundae s'mores, raspberry. Oh, you're gonna love this one, grape. Ew,

Dani Combs: 19:28

I don't like grape flavor style. It's kind of

Katie Parsons: 19:31

like, why? But this is another one because they are, you know, a lot of people I know, we keep these on hand for hurricane prepared. Oh, because they stay good for so long, you don't have to cook them. They're pre cooked. Yeah, you know, there's just, like, a lot of staying power and and preservatives. When

Dani Combs: 19:48

you were saying in the intro, this is a side note of like, all of our snacks have staying power, I'm like, it's probably because the 80s were full of food preservative creation.

Katie Parsons: 19:59

Honestly. I think the pop tart is, like, such a good example facts, because even once you open the package and it sits out, yeah, you could eat it a week or two later or more and be totally fine, yeah? Like, I don't know that you would want to, but yeah. So because of that, there's some interesting trivia here. Oh, yay. Well, this one's not a yay, unfortunately, or no,

Dani Combs: 20:21

she's gonna say, and pop tarts kill you. Great.

Katie Parsons: 20:24

They they, well, I guess they might. But in 2001 2.4 million Pop Tarts were dropped by plane to Afghanistan after the initial attack. As like, humanitarian aid. Can you imagine 2.4 million Pop Tarts? Jeez. But then, on a little bit of a lighter note, and this is crazy, because this literally just came out in May 2024 Jerry Seinfeld wrote, directed, produced and starred in a fictionalized retelling about the creator of PopTart, William post, and the film's called unfrosted. What it's on Netflix. Okay, we said, like, a month ago, all right, well, guess I'll be watching that. And what's interesting, you know, it's one of those, like, we have to take his story back, yeah, Pop Tart creator, because officially, Kellogg's doesn't have him listed as the creator. They have like, two other people. Oh, it's like, the Happy Meal, yeah? But he worked for them still for like, ever, but I guess after he died, I guess Kellogg's did put out some statement that was like, oh yes, he was very influential in the Creator, but like the two men that are credited, if it were like, you know, VPs of whatever, and he was like, I don't know someone experimenting with foods in the kitchen, so, but I think it was William post, Well, we're

Dani Combs: 21:40

gonna give you credit. William post, yeah, okay,

Katie Parsons: 21:43

it's time to give her a try. It is, hey, getting one out of here.

Dani Combs: 21:47

You know what? I was teasing Katie earlier, because we were talking about things being in foil or cellophane. But look, it says on the box, straight from the foil. My research said foil, see. But that's cellophane that just looks like foil.

Katie Parsons: 22:00

Yeah. I mean, so foil, to me has that, like, really hard, like, yeah? This is, like, very, this is almost plasticky, like, plastic wrap. I'm

Dani Combs: 22:09

just not even gonna look at any of the ingredients of anything where you don't today, don't do it. Okay? You want me to take a whole Pop Tart? Yeah?

Unknown: 22:16

You were very hesitant, like, maybe a quarter. Gosh. She was

Dani Combs: 22:22

like, I don't know. Okay, so here's the thing, my kids always want me to buy these. I hardly ever buy them, so I'm only gonna eat a couple bites and then give them. I'll give the rest of Cooper, because he'll be so happy. He's probably hungry. Okay? He brought snacks out there.

Katie Parsons: 22:34

Well, not pop tarts,

Dani Combs: 22:35

but not right? Okay, I'm ready. I haven't had one of these in so many years. Here we go. Oh yeah, tastes like 1988

Katie Parsons: 22:44

it really does. And when they're just cold like this, out of the foil slash cellophane, they're really they're really something, all right, Pop Tarts still slap. I can't lie, they're pretty good.

Dani Combs: 22:57

I gotta say they're still tasty,

Katie Parsons: 22:58

uh huh. I will say they're like a comfort food for me, because they're definitely

Dani Combs: 23:02

like dessert for breakfast, which is like donuts, scones,

Katie Parsons: 23:07

fruit scones. They are fruit scones. Danny.

Dani Combs: 23:09

They don't taste like a fruit scone, but they are delish. They

Katie Parsons: 23:12

do not, all right, well, let's set that over. Yum. That was good.

Dani Combs: 23:18

And you know something that used to drive me crazy when I would eat these hot and you take out the toaster is the little holes on the side. I would like burn my fingers on the when the strawberry, like gel would come out. Yeah, I

Katie Parsons: 23:34

forgot about that. Well, because you said you like to eat them cold, so, and I think too, because I would just eat them at lunch, I couldn't toast them. That's Oh yeah, so I think I just got used to just rip it open and eat it. Yeah. So, yeah. Anyway, all right, it was yummy. Oh, hey, that was

Dani Combs: 23:48

fun. Yay, Pop Tarts. So I am on a snack that was released in 1990 Oh, okay. And this, this one is, I forgot about how much I loved it, and I haven't had one, probably, since the 90s. I'm pumped Dunkaroos. Yum. Do you know these?

Katie Parsons: 24:08

I definitely ate these when I was, like, a teen. So 80s

Dani Combs: 24:13

and 90? Well, I want to say 80s, even though this was made in 1990 like, it's almost it was all about quick, convenience, yep, preservatives, right? That's all the foods. If people are like, nowadays are like, grossed out of us, stuff we ate. Look, that was a way of the land, whatever. Yeah. So here it is. Dunkaroos were released by Betty Crocker 1990 they're a snack sized package containing little bitty mini cookies and a small serving of frosting. Yum, yeah. So you're supposed to, like, dunk the cookie into the frosting, right? Like, you know, those little cheese packs, like, with the carbon cheese. Same, same kind of premise. So I have some, like, fun info about the Dunkaroos. So the original mascot for this product, because why would you not have a mascot for a food product in the 80s and 90s? You

Katie Parsons: 24:58

have to, and I hope it's, I hope it's an animal. All it is, I knew it. It

Dani Combs: 25:02

was a cartoon kangaroo named Sydney. Oh, but here's the thing, it was a character caricature of modern Australian culture. So he wore a hat, a vest, a tie, and a spoke with an Australian accent. So he was kind of like Crocodile Dundee, except a cartoon kangaroo for cookies. Yeah. So at the height of their popularity in 1996 though, a contest known as Dunkaroos kangaroo kangahoo search,

Unknown: 25:33

oh, my god, withheld, resulting in

Dani Combs: 25:35

a new mascot named Duncan, the Duncan Daredevil. Cute. Okay, so still, still a kangaroo, but away with the cultural appropriation, yeah, which was shocking for 1996

Katie Parsons: 25:49

that they would even be like we need to do, right as well. There's

Dani Combs: 25:52

probably to make money, but I true, yeah, well,

Katie Parsons: 25:54

I worked at an Outback Steakhouse in 2006 2007 still, and it was very like, good day, maybe, oh yeah. Like, and the names of the foods were all very Yeah. And I was in one recently, and I was like, where's the you know, walkabout soon, yeah. And all the names have been changed. And I was like, oh, right, finally. Like, she fixed her life, maybe. And it wasn't even like, Australian men who, like, I did a little bit of a rabbit hole when I worked there, or they tell you who had met. It was, like two American guys. Of course it was. So it's like, yeah, okay, maybe we shouldn't do this. And Dunkaroos was probably part of that whole 100% thing, yeah. But by the way, I love outback.

Dani Combs: 26:37

I do too, actually

Katie Parsons: 26:39

happy I was, we should go sometime. Oh, we should yeah.

Dani Combs: 26:42

Okay, all right. So here's the thing. So these little snack packets, I brought one for each of us. They contain about 10 small cookies and one cubic inch of frosting. Okay, okay. The cookies were made in a variety of shapes. They had a circle with an uppercase D in the center, but now that that's the only shape that you can get now, but they used to have that one, plus they had, like, some kangaroo feet. They also had the mascot that was in different poses, which is what I remember, kind of like animal cracker, yeah. And they had a hot air balloon, which I don't remember, but whatever. Um, so here's the thing about Dunker, is they were discontinued in the United States in 2012 but they were continued. They were continued. They continued to be sold in Canada, okay, and in 2016 General Mills announced a campaign called smugglers, where they encourage Canadians traveling to the US to bring the snack to Americans who wanted them.

Unknown: 27:45

That's cute, isn't that hilarious? Yes, so Dunkaroos

Dani Combs: 27:49

continued being sold in Canada until January 2018 with no comment by General Mills. But here's the thing, in May of 2020 Dunkaroos started to be produced again, and they started arriving at 711, stores, and then they were brought to other stores, like Walmart, Target, Kroger, a few months afterwards, and the new single serving package went from one ounce to one and a half ounces, and the sugar was reduced significantly, significantly. So even though the cookies were bigger, the sugar was taken out. Okay, so whatever I think that evens out. Something fun I found out was that in July of 2020 so not too much longer. After my notes got frozen, what are you doing? Computer, okay, in July of 2020 not too much longer. After they re released, they came out with limited edition 90s merch. Oh, yeah, based on the brand, um, and each, each order you placed on their website came with a pack of Dunkaroos. Fun. It's not there anymore, because, like I said, is limited release. But I looked on eBay, so they're like jackets and like shirts and stuff. They're like, hundreds of dollars now,

Katie Parsons: 29:01

wow, yeah. So limited edition, yeah, retro stuff, yeah, which I was like, that's

Dani Combs: 29:05

fun. And I had, like, hats. So Dina and Patrick may know lots about that. I don't know. Maybe they have add that

Katie Parsons: 29:11

to the list of things we I know do. Have you seen Dunkaroos gear and decorous merch? And it's cute too. Like,

Dani Combs: 29:18

if you look at it's all the bright colors, because you can see on the package, it's turquoise. It's got some purple like sprinkle things. So here we go. You ready to have some cookies and frosting?

Katie Parsons: 29:27

I am I love cookies and frost. Oh my gosh. Did you know I

Dani Combs: 29:32

what these? You can buy these everywhere they have them, mostly by checkout counters, okay, like in gas stations and grocery stores. A little

Katie Parsons: 29:41

quick, quick snack. All right, yes, wow, they're hard to open. Okay, oh, they

Dani Combs: 29:46

are hard to open. Lame. It took us both, like, three tries. Okay, the frosting looks kind of gross, though.

Katie Parsons: 29:53

The frostings like got little sprinkles in it. It's so cute. Okay, it's like that,

Dani Combs: 29:57

you know that rainbow Funfetti frosting that. That's what it

Katie Parsons: 30:00

is. That's what it tastes like, too. By the way, don't think, Okay, well,

Dani Combs: 30:05

anything with frosting? I I'm a huge frosting person. Are you? Yeah, you know some people like, are like, if I have cake, I scrape all the frosting off. I'm like, I want the piece with the most frosting. I'll

Katie Parsons: 30:16

leave the cake and I'll just eat the frosting. Just my family thinks a little gross, but you'll do what? Like leave the cake. Oh, same. Eat the frosting around the edges. I

Dani Combs: 30:23

will take frosting from my husband's plate and add it to my cake.

Unknown: 30:27

So we're the grossest cake

Katie Parsons: 30:28

people, so don't sit by

Dani Combs: 30:31

us. You don't love frosting. Get off the bus. All right, all right. I'm gonna eat one more. Okay. These are really good, but they're really sweet. It's like,

Katie Parsons: 30:40

well, you know when something's sweet and like, your cheeks, like, start tingling, no, but I guess, all right, listeners, if that's just a wee thing, let me know, almost like, so sweet that your mouth, like, has a reaction. I'm having that to Dunkaroos, okay,

Dani Combs: 30:56

I couldn't even keep the thing. We have a very interesting mess happening.

Katie Parsons: 31:00

I did eat all of my pop tart though. Oh, did you no while you were talking

Dani Combs: 31:07

that it was gone, I'm actually gonna start a new plate in a minute, because I'm gonna say you're overflowing. Save my scraps for my son. All right, so those were dunkers. I will say anything with, like, frosting as a snack is probably, probably

Katie Parsons: 31:24

not the best. But you know, sometimes, like you said, like, counters and stuff, it's just a quick, yeah, once you need, I mean, there's candy bars, like, what's the difference? I know you might as well get something like that. And I'm not

Dani Combs: 31:35

kidding. Like, if you ever make a cake at home and you have, like, the canned frosting, I will dip me a spoon up in some frosting and eat it. Yeah, like you do in a peanut bar jar, but frosting. But frosting.

Katie Parsons: 31:46

Erin does that? Oh, I'm sure I've seen her, like, looking through the cupboards. I'm like, What are you looking for? Frosting? Just

Dani Combs: 31:51

need a scoop.

Katie Parsons: 31:53

Well, while we're on a seat, okay, yeah, what's next? So my, I guess I'll do two in a row. Oh, because, oh boy. Mine are oh because they're related. They're related, and some of like, the facts about them kind of intertwine. And mine are two Little Debbie Snacks. Yes, one is the star crunch, and the other are Swiss rolls. I don't know. I thought those were called Swiss cake rolls, but they're not. They're not. They're called Quist. What cake rolls Say with me? Oh no, the frosting is starting to hit you guys. They're just called swiss roll. Emphasis on the s. Anyway, yeah, let's

Dani Combs: 32:42

start with star crunch. That

Katie Parsons: 32:43

was the one I couldn't find. So I swear, like, I've seen them everywhere, because I love them. Oh yeah. I'll be like, Oh, Star crunch in and I'm not gonna get a like, do I really need a star crunch? No, I don't. Well, the answer should be, always going to be, because I'm thinking, for the show, I went four different places by my house and couldn't find it. My husband looked a couple places. I think he even went to some of the same places I did, because he didn't believe that, like, it wasn't there. And he's like, you're right, they don't have it at Dollar General. I'm like, I know I was but Danny this morning was able to find it at Wawa, yeah. And it's probably, like, the Walmart by me is smaller, probably at like, normal size. Walmarts and targets, I don't have a target by me either. Yeah. So it's like, I just went to dollar, generals, CVS, Publix, you know, gas stations. Publix didn't have it. Come on, public have it. But that's where I got my Swiss ski girls.

Dani Combs: 33:42

The funny thing was, ironically, I had when Katie texted me this morning, I had I had a client fairly early this morning, and I on my way home, I went to the super Walmart. Katie and I live in very different areas, and I went to the super Walmart by my house, which also has a super target right across the street. And I was like, I was just there, and I didn't have time to go back, because, you know, there's no quick trip to Walmart or Target like it takes forever. So I was like, Okay, let me try and go to the Wawa. And they had it, yay. So we get to try this. Talk about it. Okay, so Little Debbie, so the company as a whole has its star all the way back in 1933 really? Yeah, this guy, OD McKee, he began, yeah. What's his name? O, like the letter, I was thinking Odie, like Garfield. No

Unknown: 34:35

noticeable name was, but it just Oh. So it's o period,

Katie Parsons: 34:38

D, period McKee, okay. He began selling five cent cakes for a bakery where he worked, and he used his truck as a delivery truck, so he would take it places. And so in 1935 it was the middle of the Great Depression, and McKee had this idea to experiment with hard oatmeal cookies, and then kind of put he made them softer, he put them together. He put cream in the middle. All, and that was the first oatmeal cream pie back in 35 Yes. So he continued kind of selling it under that name until 1960 Wow. Little Debbie as a brand was created. So he was still selling them and all of that, but this is when it actually got branded. And Little Debbie is named after his granddaughter, cute, Debbie. And this is what is Abby, who would be the perfect face for his delicious treat. Oh, which is so, so sweet. And then a portrait of Debbie, right? It's not a photo, it's like a painting was commissioned. And then that's the one we still see today. Cute. So that brings me to one of the items I brought today. Yes, Swiss rolls 1962 so after they spanned out. So it's all oatmeal cream pie until the brand was established, and then Swiss rolls were the very next thing. So the reason they got the name is because McKee took a trip to a European Trade Show looking for the next big thing. And he saw versions of this there, right? So this is kind of a popular way to make pastries around the world, okay, where you kind of got this pound cake, yeah, that has a filling. And then he went ahead and put, like, more of, like a crusty chocolate, yeah, outside. And so by 64 so only four years after they came into existence, most of the Little Debbie things we know and love already existed. Oatmeal cream pie, swiss roll, Zebra Cakes, raisin cream prize, nutty buddy.

Dani Combs: 36:25

Raisin cream pie. Nobody wants that.

Katie Parsons: 36:27

Is that a snack? It's listed, oatmeal, yes, oh yeah, for sure. Cream prize. Is that a thing? It says that we know and love. Anyway, we'll have to look for that. Sorry, that's where those came from. And then in 1970 okay, you can kind of guess, yeah, why these are, oh, we've

Dani Combs: 36:46

talked about space race, yeah, we talked

Katie Parsons: 36:47

about this with other, like, capitalistic ventures that you put, like, Starburst was one, yes, anything with the space race, you could, like, market it that way. So it says star crunch snacks, blast off. They were actually originally called Star crunch, cosmic cookies, oh, like the cosmic brownie, yes. And then they changed to moon crunch snacks. Love. But then they were finally settled in 1972 and named star crunch, okay, yeah. And so if you haven't had one before, a star crunch has layers of crispy rice cereal, caramel and chocolate, and it's kind of this, like, kind of crispy, kind of chewy snack. And then I already mentioned the Swiss cake is a sponge cake and that sort of thing. So that's it. That's all I have on those. It was just one guy who made it oatmeal cream pies, and then 30 years later, decided to have a brand and his granddaughters from her famous I love

Dani Combs: 37:43

that. You know, what's interesting is that so a lot like, Well, besides Dunkaroos, well, I guess corn Street is where 1986 I'm saying a lot of like, the foundation for these snacks was not in our childhood time. That's just when they were heavily marketed, I

Katie Parsons: 37:55

guess, correct. Okay, yeah, I think so I

Dani Combs: 37:57

can't wait to eat this. Katie's so excited that I found these, although,

Katie Parsons: 38:01

let's do the star crunch first. Okay, yeah, let's

Dani Combs: 38:04

do that. Now. You can I remember star crunches in my lunchbox, like, this was like a lunchbox staple, little Dovey snacks of any kind. This is big, though, right? Were they always this big? No, the ones that you can buy in the box, like that are smaller. This is a gas station version.

Katie Parsons: 38:19

Makes sense. Yeah. I was like, am I misremembering? But I don't remember them because same they would be in my lunch. But it was just like a small,

Dani Combs: 38:25

yeah? These are, these are like a king size. So here's the thing, though, you know what I feel think star crunch tastes like in my memory. I also haven't had one of these in years. Is like a rice crispy treat dipped in chocolate. That's what they taste like to me.

Katie Parsons: 38:38

Okay, yeah, yeah. And I like the caramel. Like, I like anything with caramel. Me too. All right. So here we go. Yeah. Me, these are really good. Oh my gosh. It tastes like a, um,

Dani Combs: 38:53

like a whatchamacallit,

Katie Parsons: 38:54

very similar. I feel like the texture is a little different. Or do you think it's the same? Hmm. I don't know. I can't tell. I don't know, but all I know is, it's delicious. It's really good. Awesome. All right, while you take another bite, I will pull out a Swiss cake. Oh, nope, swiss roll. I'll just pause and let the cake just be said in my head, enough to do that for a daughter's teacher of mine, I couldn't get his last name right, so then I remembered a word it rhymed with. So I'd say Mr and then I'd pause and say the word it rhymed with before I go, Mr Smith, or whatever the name was, and I still do it. She's like, you really still don't know his name. I'm like, No, I just like the dramatic pause. I could

Dani Combs: 39:40

seriously sit here in a scarf. Now, this whole thing, I'm going to so good because

Katie Parsons: 39:43

I have to do the swiss roll.

Unknown: 39:46

I see I did it. Okay, these are hard to open.

Katie Parsons: 39:51

You might have to grab your own package, just because I don't

Dani Combs: 39:54

want to gunk up. Oh, here I've got napkins. Okay, good.

Katie Parsons: 39:58

Thank God I know. If you tuned in for candy, you know, we didn't have plates. We didn't have napkins. We did have trash which was needed, which was needed.

Dani Combs: 40:07

I brought napkins and plates. I'll take this kind of funky Karen,

Katie Parsons: 40:11

let me just take this guy that I kind of ruined. I'm gonna hand this out the door. Yeah, hand it out the door. So Danny brought very colorful plates, which is, which was amazing. And then we've got these, like, we'll take a picture, yes, these very bright and rainbow esque napkins that say you're magical, which is very fun. I should take a picture of this guy's listeners, because it's like, this beautiful, bright napkin. And then this, like, kind of boring Swiss swiss roll in the middle. All right, I promise I haven't touched that one. That's okay. Cooper will be so happy to have his snacks.

Dani Combs: 40:49

I brought him. I brought him my, my, my plate, and he went, dang. And that's just the beginning. Oh, the foods we don't have in our house regularly. Okay, here we go, Swiss cake roll. These are, these are, like, my probably not one of my favorite little Debbie's.

Katie Parsons: 41:05

I like these. I think they're good,

Dani Combs: 41:09

but okay, they're not bad. They're not bad, right?

Katie Parsons: 41:11

I don't like pound cake generally, but I think it's like, the combination of the cream, maybe on the chocolate and the chocolate covering helps. Chocolate helps. If it was just like literal pound cake, I'd be like, No, thanks. Okay, these

Dani Combs: 41:21

are better than I remember. I think I can appreciate these more as a grown up than a kid. Look at that. You know why? Because the pound cake is kind of dry ish, and maybe it bothered me as a child.

Katie Parsons: 41:32

I don't know. There's no frosting on pound cake normally, but the Swiss rolls have, like, that little bit of it's not frosting, but it's that idea, right? That filling what's the same idea as frosting?

Dani Combs: 41:44

Yeah, okay, oh, my stomach just made a noise at me, like, what's happening at lunchtime today? Danny,

Katie Parsons: 41:50

this is not our normal, normal scheduled program. That was really good, and I'm happy that you liked it. Yeah, there's growth.

Unknown: 42:01

What? The way I said that was really yucky. Oh, I was like, Wait, you don't like it now. No,

Dani Combs: 42:07

I had, like, marshmallows stuck in my or filling or whatever it is, stuck in my throat. Yes, growth, taste buds. All right, moving on. So

Katie Parsons: 42:15

you're gonna have to do two, because we have to save this one for the last one. Okay, because I just did two. So what are you gonna

Dani Combs: 42:22

do first all, right, well, they both start with F so, well, that's great. So I've got a salty and a sweet so we'll do that. So first one, the next one is one that my sister said was as my number one snack when I asked her the question, right? Oh, and it was Funyuns. Yes. Okay, so Funyuns, everybody is an onion flavored ring shaped corn snack made to resemble an onion ring, right? I loved these so much. Do not eat these if you want to have good breath. Actually don't eat any of this stuff good breath, because you're not gonna have it. These actually were introduced in the US in 1969 which is not what I expected. I thought they came out in the 80s. Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't have expected that either. Again, another Frito Lay product. It was created by a Frito Lay employee named George Wade Binger, which is just fun to say. Okay, so actually, I'm gonna get a little you're gonna like this sciency with how these are made, because they're made kind of interestingly. So Funyuns are made of cornmeal, actually, and it's shaped into rings through an extrusion process, which I'll explain in a second. So that leads to a product that has kind of a fried food type texture, and it also makes it possible for Funyuns to have like that onion ring shape, like I just mentioned. So here's here's the deal. The process kind of starts with the cornmeal, which is mixed up with water and a giant Hopper, which is just a word they use in food production places for like, mix big, giant, mixy things, okay? And that creates the batter. Then the extrusion machine both needs and heats the batter along with a central screw, wow. So you can probably picture that in your head. So it kneads it and it heats it with the screw thing, and then the dough continues to warm up as as it kind of flows. So then it's forced through a chamber, and it hits a lower atmospheric pressure, causing the dough to rapidly expand. Okay, so this is like, way more intricate in sciencey things, or, I guess this isn't really science. This, like engineering, I don't know. Then I usually go, but this when now that happens, it creates kind of a popcorn effect that puffs up the dough and cooks it cooks it instantly. Wow. Yeah. So that also provides Funyuns with its like distinct onion ring shape and the crunch, yes, the crunch that it has as it lands on the production line. So before it's even seasoned, it's like that. So then they're expected to make sure they're all uniform, okay, which that would be a really interesting job, right? Are

Unknown: 44:56

they all uniform?

Dani Combs: 44:57

I mean, I think just to make sure they're on. Ring shape, and they're like, relatively the same, right? Yeah, okay. And then they travel through the fryer, where they get just a gentle coating of flavor, before going through a drum, where then a salt and onion mix gives the funyun flavor. So they get a little bit of something, and then they get another something. Okay, okay, so they were actually named Funyuns. This is kind of a fun by a University of North Texas professor and a copywriter named Jim Albright. He's one person. Sorry. It sounded like I was saying a professor and a copywriter. No one man, two jobs. Sorry. Feel that after Frito Lay figured out the first choice of the name for the product, which was on yums. Wait, what? So think of onion on so o, it was capital O N, yum, capital Y, U, M, S, okay, that's weird. Doesn't roll off the tongue, right? Yeah, it but actually, it was already a registered trademark of something else, right? Oh, it is a smart name after it. Well, maybe not, because you didn't know it me either. So anyway, so this professor and the copywriter came up with the name Funyuns. Hold on, the first advertising for Funyuns was in, like I said, What year did I say? 1969 Yeah, was accompanied by a song sung by a lady named Susan Christie, and it was called, I love onions.

Katie Parsons: 46:29

That was the song. That was the song, these aren't actually onions. It's onion flavor,

Dani Combs: 46:33

onion flavor. They're not actually onions. No, no. And my last little bit of trivia related to Funyuns before we chomp down on them. Yes, in Brazil, they are sold under the name sibolitos. Hmm, I don't know what that means. I meant to look that up and I forgot, so I apologize. But anyways, that's about our little friend, the funyun. Like, even

Katie Parsons: 46:53

the bag to me, and I mean, I'm sure they've had updates over time, but like, even the bag to me, looks like 80s, like it does not or maybe late 70s, it does not look like anything born of the 1960s Well, I

Dani Combs: 47:06

don't know if that's the original bag. It might not be. It might not be, but I totally thought those were created in the 80s and Wrong, wrong. They've been around for a long time. I don't really remember

Katie Parsons: 47:15

eating these as like a kid or a team. I knew of their existence, but I just don't remember eating them. But one of my kids, one of my teens loves these. And there was one time we were, like, watching a movie at home or something. I had my own snack, and they had a snack, and I reached over and I was like, let me try one. And I was like, This

Dani Combs: 47:34

is really good, yes, like, these are delicious. Teenagers, know, snack foods. They do. They should have trusted All right. Here we go. You ready? Here we go. There's nothing like a chip bag opening. Just gotta say, make a chip

Katie Parsons: 47:46

bag. I hope all of you are eating some chips or some Swiss rolls or something delicious snack. Really, I

Dani Combs: 47:52

know I think my plate ran out of room. I know I put more plates right there if you need another one, another one. Yeah, okay, let

Katie Parsons: 47:57

me just grab a few. Yeah. Okay, cool, cool. Alright,

Dani Combs: 48:02

so here we go, ready, 321, and go

Katie Parsons: 48:09

cover up the crunching with the bag.

Dani Combs: 48:11

I know crunch, crunch.

Katie Parsons: 48:13

Yeah, they're good.

Dani Combs: 48:15

So there's actually no onion at all involved. And, oh, it lies onion powder. Onion powder. There you go. I was just looking at the ingredients to see, um, to see if it's but, you know, the trademark on the back of the bag says 1987 so I don't know. Hmm.

Katie Parsons: 48:34

So maybe they redid their logo or something then, and that's what that means, weird, or they renew their trademark. Oh no, could be

Dani Combs: 48:42

Oh also, another little fun trivia. They actually have, like, a bunch of recipes that involve crunched up onions.

Katie Parsons: 48:49

It's like a whole genre. Yeah, I didn't know that it's, um, like, lots of crunchy things. Captain Crunch is another one. You can find all these different like, things people make with Captain Crunch. And it's not just desserts. It's like real meals and stuff. Well, ew, as much as it can be a real well, I guess with Captain Crunch. But yeah, there's like, this whole um, culinary side of snack foods exist, cool. Oh, I'm

Dani Combs: 49:13

supposed to do two in a row. Yes, you're back. So I will stop chomping on Funyuns. My apologies to any fellow misophonia suffers out there because we're trying, but I know it's, it's translating over the mic, so if it annoys you, I apologize, because I feel your pain. Okay, my next one also is in my lunchbox all the time. Fruit roll

Katie Parsons: 49:36

ups. Yay. I love these.

Dani Combs: 49:38

This one was invented in the 80s, okay? This, this story is so 80s, I just can't wait to share. And even the box is super 80s, and we'll get there. We'll get there, all right, so to explain, fruit roll ups are a flat corn syrup based fruit flavored snack. That's important to know, okay, rolled into a tube, i. Spread on a backing sheet of cellophane to prevent the product from sticking to itself. So that is so 80s, I can't even cellophane

Katie Parsons: 50:08

fruit corn syrup, flavored corn syrup rolled up

Dani Combs: 50:12

into a tooth, into a tooth. Yes. Okay, so it debuted and US grocery stores in 1983 but General Mills started researching to create the product in 1975 so it took him a few years to get that science just right, get those food additives going exactly so fruit roll ups, which as 80s kids, they were heavily marketed in the United States on TV, especially during like cartoons and such. In the early 1980s most spots had the tagline, real fruit and fun rolled up in one and later spots. In the later 80s, they had children in the fruit roll up Fun Factory. Do you remember those commercials? I

Katie Parsons: 50:57

bet if you looked them up, you'd

Dani Combs: 50:58

remember. I'd be like, oh yeah, this sounds I remember those commercials. So the overall marketing theme for fruit roll offs is that parents can feed their children, quote, unquote, fun processed foods that are based on real fruit. Oh, my God, oh yeah, oh

Katie Parsons: 51:14

yeah, fruit based food, yeah. Well, here's

Dani Combs: 51:16

the thing, studies of American mothers have shown that they are surprised at how sweet fruit roll ups are and how little fruit is present, right, right? Because they're marketed like they're this, like healthy fruit snack, right? It's

Katie Parsons: 51:31

kind of like fruit snacks too. You're

Dani Combs: 51:32

basically eating candy, right? Yeah. So, for example, the strawberry flavor has zero strawberries in it. The only ingredient derived from fruit at all is concentrated pear juice. That's it. Oh, my god, yeah. And actually, in 2011 the Center for Science in the Public Interest sued General Mills over fruit roll ups, saying their packaging and marketing was misleading because it presented the product as a nutritious, healthful, fruit filled snack, despite having approximately the same nutritional profile as gummy bears. Yeah, exactly what you just said, yeah, yeah. So the lawsuit was actually settled out of court. General Mills agreed not to put pictures of fruit on the label anymore. As you can see, look at the box, no picture of fruit anywhere, right? No. And it does say fruit flavored. Fruit flavored, yep, unless they don't have the fruit on there, unless the fruit was actually present in that flavor of fruit roll up, it had to be in that flavor, not just in any fruit roll ups total. And they either had to stop claiming the product is made with real fruit, or to include that potentially misleading statement. Wait, what did I have a typo, sorry, or to include in, I don't know what I typed there, sorry, that makes zero sense. Anyway, what they had to do, they had to stop claiming it, oh, they had to stop claiming that it was made with real fruit. Or they had to include that of the percentage that is made with with real fruit, like, I think, you know, sometimes let me look at the box, it says, like, only has 10% of fruit or whatever. Yeah, it doesn't say that anywhere on here, so 2% less of citric acid, blah, blah, blah. Okay, so that's what I had to say. Sorry. My typing was super weird. So all of that happened. All the changes took place in 2014 Okay, so now what's on the shelf is very different than what we had, yeah, when we were growing

Unknown: 53:23

so funny, because when I look at that, I just assume I'm looking at the front of the package and that I'm looking at fruit I know right to what I mean. Like, I'm like, oh, there's like a strawberry and like a banana on there. And actually, it's like a microphone and sunglasses and a game controller. And it's like, very retro the boxes right now, yeah, too.

Dani Combs: 53:42

So the funny thing is, let's see. Well, you can pick out whatever flavor you want, but the funny thing is, Katie, what does it say it has with it, fruit roll ups with tongue tattoos, yeah? So that became like a big thing of marketing to where you could, like, lick the fruit, roll up and put a tattoo on your tongue. I Cooper actually just told us that kids at school still do that, but they lick them and stick them on their arms. So that's disgusting, and something elementary kids are gross about. Here you go. Yes. So the flavors you can pick from are blue RAS raspberry, strawberry blast or tropical tie dye part. What do you take? I don't I just grabbed one. Okay, oh, I have blue raspberry. I'm

Katie Parsons: 54:26

just gonna grab one too. And I have something else I don't know. Okay,

Dani Combs: 54:32

so we shall try and do these tongue tattoos. Is there directions? Like, I don't know how to do it. Yeah, I

Katie Parsons: 54:38

don't know. It says, choose

Dani Combs: 54:39

it, stick it, show it Okay, so I guess, okay, that is so funny. I need a shirt that says that. No, I'm just kidding. I would never wear that. Actually, I

Katie Parsons: 54:53

would, but it's really just oh boy.

Dani Combs: 54:55

This is Oh, you got the tie dye. One accidentally. Oh. Oh, boy, oh yeah, I

Katie Parsons: 55:02

literally pull it off of here. Well, you have to,

Dani Combs: 55:06

yeah, so you know how I'm gonna show you the way I used to eat this as a kid. This is so but I'm gonna do my tongue tattoo first. Okay, I

Katie Parsons: 55:12

think you just go like this, ready? Literally, oh, I took it off the cell phone. Well, let's see what happens. All right, should be okay, huh? Ah,

Dani Combs: 55:21

did work? No, all I see is blue bar.

Unknown: 55:28

I'm wrong. You guys. Did mine work? Yeah, let me see. Well, I

Dani Combs: 55:32

licked it now. Oh yeah, I could see it. Did you know what it was? It was blue something. What's a shape? It was a P symbol. Okay, it was a shape. Let me try. So, yeah, you just imprint your tongue on the thing while she's doing that. I'm gonna tell you about the way I used to eat these is so gross and such like a weird kid thing. I am, like, I was a weird kid, guys, that's all right. I mean, I'm a weird grown up. So it checks. I was gonna say you turned out great to all you weird kids out there. My mom used to always say weird. Weird. My mom used to always say weird people make life more interesting. So, you know, say that to you. Well, she's weird too. So our whole family's weird. I love that. Well, I don't know. All right, Katie is making a mess. I don't know what is gonna try, just going for it. So, all right, here we go. Tongue tattoos are funny. Is it a penguin? It's a flower. I was like, That's a weird choice for a fruit roll up tattoo.

Katie Parsons: 56:33

This one's, like, off the side. Now, yeah, I kind of don't have any other Okay. Well, I

Dani Combs: 56:37

can see why. That's fun. Okay, so those were, like, really popular in the late 80s, early 90s, the fruit roll up tongue tattoos, which I guess are now a thing. They're back. The thing about fruit roll ups is there's no non messy way to eat them. True, you get sticky no matter what you do. This is how me and my friends in elementary school used to eat these. Okay, I'm gonna describe unless you're describing, ready? It's so stupid. This is how we used to do it. I'm not actually going to eat this the way I used to. I'm just going to show you. Okay,

Katie Parsons: 57:05

so she's wrapping it around her index finger and and pressing on it. So it's like sticking to her finger, like a tube, or like a really long finger.

Dani Combs: 57:14

This is so gross. So we would, we would make these, like giant, long, pointy finger things where we would take it and roll it over our pointer finger, and then it almost looks like a big, like witch finger. You remember those witch fingers, and then we just eat it. I'm not gonna actually do this, because it's actually disgusting. We would eat it from our finger, and then we just lick it and eat it off of our finger. Elementary kids, man, they're

Unknown: 57:45

gross, innovative, though.

Dani Combs: 57:47

I will say, Okay, so maybe it was just me and my friends. So I am gonna eat the tip of the finger. Okay,

Katie Parsons: 57:57

I just the tip.

Dani Combs: 57:58

I don't love fruit roll ups. Did you just say Jessica?

Katie Parsons: 58:08

Man, too much sugar. Anyway,

Dani Combs: 58:11

I don't love fruit roll ups. I don't either.

Katie Parsons: 58:13

It was Emily, you don't I literally just say the whole thing. But

Unknown: 58:17

I hate this.

Katie Parsons: 58:18

Bye. No, I like, that was enjoyable, but I don't like go out of my way to if I'm having a snack, that would definitely okay. Don't worry, I'm gonna bring the mood way down with my last one.

Dani Combs: 58:34

I don't like, I don't like for rolls, because I'm not a big fruit flavor snack. Sweet person, like I want chocolate,

Katie Parsons: 58:40

and I am right, but I'd rather just have Starburst or something I didn't have to unwrap. Maybe

Dani Combs: 58:47

if you wrapped it on your finger and made a witch finger out of it,

Katie Parsons: 58:51

I really should try that.

Unknown: 58:53

I should be walking around. Look what I heard. You guys. Look at Danny taught me, oh boy, terrible.

Dani Combs: 59:03

All right, what's your next one? All

Katie Parsons: 59:05

right, so this is my last one, and I brought it because I remember eating a lot of these, like late high school, early 90s, early college, excuse me, early 2000s and not really loving them, then don't really love them. Now, haven't had them probably in at least a decade. So I was like, this is a good time for us to try them. And these are the Debbie Downer of all snack foods, baked delays, gross. And they are here in the house. I had trouble finding these good I did. Like, I don't

Dani Combs: 59:36

think they're very popular. They still have them at Subway all the time. Oh, I

Katie Parsons: 59:40

could have gone, okay, yeah, I did find him at Dollar General, but I couldn't find like, a big bag. Oh yeah, normal, like, individual size bag, which I think will be enough. Oh yeah. So, as you guys probably know, in the mid 90s, or even early 90s, there's this whole, like, low calorie, low fat, no sugar. Girl, fat free. Fat free. Don't eat fried foods. Kind of push right, which, you know, not that that's inherently bad, but it was marketed everywhere. In fact, one of the first things I wanted to bring today was snack wells, yeah, vanilla cream, cookies, and they don't make them anymore. Yeah? I actually looked on Amazon, because I looked everywhere else, and they give you, like, other things that are similar. So I was like, wow, they don't even make those. So if you think about if you were alive during that time period and cognizant of what was happening with food around you or in your home, that stuff was everywhere, yeah, it was like, the end all, be all. And for, like, some of these things to, like, not even exist anymore. It's really, really interesting. I know that, like, Well, that didn't last, but, um, yeah. So Bakelite. Again, I'm not a nutrition expert, but I in looking into this, essentially, in a nutshell, what I found out about these is they were introduced as, like, a lower calorie, lower fat option for people that wanted potato chips or whatever. However, yeah, they are much higher in sugar, yeah, sodium and, like, chemicals,

Dani Combs: 1:01:00

yeah, because you have to mask the horrible cardboard that they taste like. They're still terrible. They're terrible. We're gonna find out. They also just make you crave the original thing even more. Like, from a science standpoint, there is research showing that if you just have a smaller amount of, like, full fat, full whatever, right? Then if you had a larger amount of the fat free, you still you eat more of the fat free, because you don't have that. Guys, fat is not all bad. You have to have it, right?

Katie Parsons: 1:01:27

And so, like, my non expert conclusion was, yeah, yes, lower calorie, yes, lower fat, not healthier, right? Not really correct, because you're just trading one thing, one thing or another. Yeah, if you want to have, like, the full fat stuff like the Doritos and the Funyuns and all that you should you should have that. But so these came out in 1996 and there are still nine varieties available. And did you know Flaming Hot Cheetos considered a baked Lay's component? Yeah, those are baked, not fried. I love like part of the family. I should have brought those then, but I didn't know till I bought these and I bought these and I was doing the research, I was like, playing the Hot Cheetos, but, yeah, so like, when these came on the scene, they were actually introduced, I'm sorry, in the summer of 1995 okay, but nobody kind of really knew about them. They were on shelves. And then there was this big, you guessed it, new? Oh, I thought it was super bowl. It wasn't New Year's Day commercial. Reno ley, the parent company, diet culture. Oh, you're gonna love I'm gonna die. Here we go. It featured three supermodels, of course, Mandela, Kathy Ireland and Naomi Campbell, eating these and at least one, I don't know which one said you could eat like one of the guys and still look like one of the girls, Oh, stop. But it worked. Baked Lays ended up being like, setting records for, like, snack food debuts. They top like $300 million the first year they were out. Like, as a side note, you said subway, the guy was dating in high school. You know, he his mom would like get a subway sometimes after school, if we were, like, hanging out. And I remembered, that's when I first saw them, because she was like, Oh yeah, they have these, like, bake lays now, you know. And like, she was probably like, the the market, the moms buying the stuff for the house, buy these bake lays. And I just remember her always, you know, getting them and enjoying them, maybe, maybe not enjoying them. Um, but yeah, so that's kind of all I know. But they're not as popular as they used to be. I did a little bit more of a deep dive into the Frito Lay guy, Herman lay and like, kind of how he got started, but it was similar to what I was saying about the Little Debbie started. Just kind of local business got popular and then, believe it or not, Frito Lay is now owned by Pepsi. Oh yeah, they're under the Pepsi like umbrella. So when all of this happened, I think Pepsi came into the picture before these. Yeah, yeah. They're the parent company of lace and Okay, so that's all I have on big plays. But we're I really wanted to bring them because I wanted to see how we feel. I will eat one.

Dani Combs: 1:04:03

I will eat one too. We don't need a plate for those, because I know they're gross.

Katie Parsons: 1:04:07

I remember somewhat liking barbecue ones, but I just like barbecue chips.

Dani Combs: 1:04:11

I you know I feel like they look I know they just look sad. Oh my God. They take again. You know why there's so much salt? Because they cover up the horrible taste totally. Do you remember when olene was a big thing? Yes, and they had all those, wow, Doritos and, wow, whatever. And, like, olene would give you diarrhea, if

Katie Parsons: 1:04:29

you see much of it that with these, uh huh. All right, let's see. Oh no, so bad. I also don't

Dani Combs: 1:04:39

like plain potato chips, yeah? And like, my stepdad will not eat flavored chips. He only wants, like, traditional, like, you know, lays, or tortilla chips or whatever. And I would rather not eat chips than,

Katie Parsons: 1:04:54

yeah, just like, I'll eat something else. And, yeah, it's so salty too. Yeah, it's, like, literally, just. Like putting salt in your mouth, so I guess it probably tastes about the same as it always did, just thanks for that downer on our face was, but we're gonna end with a banger. Yes, time for the banger at the end. Let's do it all right.

Dani Combs: 1:05:12

So I actually had these not too long ago when I was around Katie on our road trip. So these are my favorite gas station road trip snack ever, and it is combos. My sister used to call them dog biscuits because they kind of look like they kind of do, because they're like, just the perfect size. Yeah. So combos are, uh, they're cylinder tubes of cracker, pretzel or tortilla, available with various fillings. Okay, so in the early 1970s combos snacks was established in Michigan, Battle Creek, Michigan, yeah, with a groundbreaking creation, stuffing nacho cheese inside a pretzel by making a hole in it. So they, that was they, they established then and then. In 1978 the manufacturer announced the naming of their full shells, like a shell with filling as shot souls shots and the empty shells were nutsols, no,

Katie Parsons: 1:06:06

no, I know it's like a Rocco's modern life. It is, really is. It is.

Dani Combs: 1:06:11

And additionally, they relocated their operations to Albany, Georgia. So they left Michigan, went to Georgia, and they joined the Mars family. Okay, so Mars is who makes the combos. And in 1980 this is when it comes into our vernacular, Mars released combos pretzels. Okay, then 1985 I put, I put combs, pretzels. Okay, sorry, in 1985 combo crackers came out because, see, this is the pretzel kind, which are my favorite. Um, in 1988 pepperoni pizza cracker came out. Then the pretzel flavor came out later. And now they have several flavors on the market. They used to just have the the cheese and then the pepperoni. Now they have, like, Buffalo blue cheese, which I think is ones I bought on our road trip. They have honey mustard. They have a few. And I didn't know these existed, but dooleys Corn keystos launched in 1982 which are made with tortilla. So it's the same company, same product, but they're not called combos with a tortilla. They're called corn keys. Yeah, I didn't even yeah until I started researching. That's about all I have on those. Because

Katie Parsons: 1:07:34

that was a little like, let's end on something good. I personally really like combos. I love them. Um, my husband and I have, like, very different, like, tastes and like food and snacks and all the things, and we both, like, like, combos, like, it's the kind of thing we can get on a road trip and just and share. Because, can you get it open?

Dani Combs: 1:07:51

Oh my gosh, happening. It's a fruit roll up on my finger,

Unknown: 1:07:57

exactly. It's your witch finger. Okay?

Dani Combs: 1:08:00

I got it. I got it all right? I

Katie Parsons: 1:08:02

like the pretzel ones too. But

Dani Combs: 1:08:03

I like, I like the crack cracker ones? Do you I like the hair? Give me your plate or do you

Katie Parsons: 1:08:07

I think I just might take one or two. I'll just grab a couple. Oh, I

Dani Combs: 1:08:12

ate one. Even white for you. I just put it in my mouth. You're

Katie Parsons: 1:08:15

like, here we go. That's okay. I

Dani Combs: 1:08:16

had to get that baked. Delayed. Taste out.

Unknown: 1:08:18

You're like, please quickly. Yeah, yeah,

Dani Combs: 1:08:21

the pepperoni are my favorite, but I was in Walmart and all they had was a party sized bag of the cheddar cheese pretzel. Yeah, it's good, though, and they're delicious. Yeah, really good. They are. They are not the most appetizing looking of a snack. That's true, right? I also used to do this weird eating trick. God, I just have so many weird things about me. I don't do it anymore. But I would just bite like, the first half the top half off and then eat the filling out and then eat the bottom half. It's kind of like an Oreo cookie, you know, where you open the cookie and you eat the filling. I would just bite the top half off and, like, eat the filling out the bottom. I don't do it now. Don't worry. Katie. Oh, I'm

Unknown: 1:09:02

not worried about it. You can do it however you want. She's like, What

Dani Combs: 1:09:05

weird thing is she gonna say next?

Unknown: 1:09:08

Well,

Dani Combs: 1:09:09

that's it. That's

Katie Parsons: 1:09:10

it. That was a lot of snacks. We're like, surrounded by rappers and, I don't know, half eaten star crunches.

Dani Combs: 1:09:19

That was so much my stomach is gonna hurt after this one. I already know

Katie Parsons: 1:09:24

my little plate I saved stuff on, but I don't think I'm actually gonna save any of it. That's sad. It is sad. Wow, commercialism. Also, most people don't sit down and eat like nine snacks at one time. Yeah, it's

Dani Combs: 1:09:39

like a chartery board, except, except

Katie Parsons: 1:09:41

Swiss, except all, all preservatives, all preservatives, all the time. So did we name any of your favorite snacks? Or what did we leave out? Because you know, we're gonna have to have a follow up at some point. So let us know listeners in the comments, or you can email us that's in our show notes too. I'm. Thank you for listening to generation in between the nail podcast and listening to us revisit our favorite snacks. That was fun, and if you liked what you heard, make sure you share us with your friends of all generations. Leave us a review wherever you're listening right now on podcasts. You can also find us on patreon.com become a monthly supporter. You'll have access to bonus episodes. We have an after show now that we post, which is fun. The I'll have to tell you Danny on the next after show. But someone that listened to it had a thought, the question I had about my hair, oh, I can't wait. We'll talk about on today's after show. Yay. And if you want to join, you can do that. If not, we are happy to see you here in our normal feed.

Dani Combs: 1:10:39

Absolutely where. Every

Katie Parsons: 1:10:40

week you'll have a new topic based item, and most weeks you'll also have a Dawson's Creek to listen to for now, if you're listening to this in 2028 we are probably done with Dawson's Creek, maybe, maybe not, but you can go back in our feed and find it. So thanks again, everybody. And until next time, keep on snacking. But we're not going to. We're done snacking. I'm

Dani Combs: 1:10:58

still eating combos.

Katie Parsons: 1:10:59

Okay, we're gonna keep snacking. All right, bye. Did your favorite childhood snacks come wrapped in foil? Or do you mean cellophane? Well, yeah, let me try that again. Foil. You know what's funny some of the websites, well, the early Pop Tarts were foil. I think it would changed, but that would have been cellophane. It was celery. Yeah, that was so funny. Oh my gosh, okay, okay. Again, we'll put the little blooper at the end. Okay.

Unknown: 1:11:40

Wow, doing good. So far. All right.