Food of the Eighties, Products Beginning with C

I've been asked a couple of times for information about what food was specific to the 80s, so I've started a small list which I'm sure will grow pretty rapidly. Cereals of the 80s have their own page.

This list contains items that were around before and after the 80s, I'm looking for stuff that was still popular in the 80s. So this list will contain items that were around in the 70s, and maybe earlier if they were still popular.

Please note! Zima and clear colas were a 90s fad, not an 80s fad! I know it might seem like a long time ago, but that's only because they tasted so awful and were marketed so heavily. (Somehow, Zima still persists, though no one has determined why).

This page currently edited by: 80s Cheerleader. Past editor: Banasy



Food beginning with: [Index] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] [misc]
C-3POs Cereal
C-3POs Cereal, This was two Cheerios stuck together and had a slight sugar coating that made it just sweet enough.
Cajun Spice Ruffles
Delicious Frito-Lay Ruffles potato chips with cajun spices. Unfortunately they don't make them anymore.
California Coolers
Wine coolers in lots of fruity flavors.
Campbell's Nacho Cheese Soup
Had to mention this cause I used to eat this at least once a week after coming school from Jr High and High school. Cheeder cheese sauce/soup that had little bits of peppers in it.
Campbell's Souper Combos
These came in a red box with a bowl of soup on one side and a sandwich on the other. They were microwaveable. My favorite combo was Tomato Soup with a Toasted Cheese Sandwich. There were a bunch of different combinations, though. This site is making me long for the foods of my childhood! nikki
Campbells Meatball Alphabet soup
Beef broth with meatballs, vegetables, and ABC noodles. So delicious that I sent a request to Campbell's begging them to start making it again.
Campfire sauages
Sauages that came in a can. You would fry them like breakfast sauages.
Canada Dry Peach soda
This came in a 16 oz short, tubby glass bottle w/the styrofoam-like label on it. I remember these during my senior year of high school ('87-88) and the taste was absolutely out of this world. Usually these were found in convenience stores, but have disappeared into oblivion around the early 90's. This one had a bit stronger peach taste than the Nehi that's currently around, but it's similar (and IMO better.)
Canada Dry Tahitian Treat
A fruit punch flavored drink from the makers of Canada Dry ginger ale.
Candilicious
A fruit chew that came in an assorted flavor pack of 12 or so; it was a Starburst-like candy that was created by Bubbilicious and was off the market by like 1988-1989.
Candy Cigarettes
They came in Winston and Malboro boxes, smaller than a real cigarette, all white, and almost all glucose/sugar not very sweet.
Candy Dots
Pieces of candy stuck on rolls of paper. The paper used to always come off with the candy, which I always thought was a little gross. Originated before the 80s
Candy Paper
Candy paper was a 4" by 4" paper thin piece of candy that had a waffled texture to it and tasted like it may have been compressed cotton candy. It came in Blue and Pink. I remember getting it at the local corner store when I was very little. I haven't found very many people who actually remember the stuff because I don't think it was around for long.
Candy Pudding
Not sure who made it... but it was a pudding mix that had a thin coat of chocolate candy on top after it was set. So good!!
Candy lipstick
A reddish pink candy, its consistency reminiscent of a crayola. It tastes like it's flavored with grandma's favorite cheap perfume. One half was wrapped with a shiny gold foil to complete the illusion of mom's finest lipstick. Haven't seen it since the early 80's.
Candy necklace
Candies on an elastic string that you wore around your neck
Canfield's Diet Chocolate Fudge Soda
It was a HORRIBLE diet soda with the slightest, fake chocolate flavor. YUK!
Canned yogurt
DelMonte came out with this in the late 80's('88-'89) and would buy it by the 4 pack and put it in my lunch pail for work. It wasn't bad. It came with a pull top like instant pudding did. You certainly didn't get the live cultures though.
Capari
Do you remember a soft drink called Capari? It was in San Diego around 1983 and it was in a very thin can and was a light citrus carbonated beverage.
Capri Sun
Tinfoil packaged drinks, a lot like drink boxes, only they don't have a cardboard outer package (and they're bigger too).
Captain Crunch ice cream pops
I graduated in '82 & our high school cafateria used to sell Captain Crunch ice cream bars. They were very similar to the Good Humor chocolate eclair ice cream bars with the same chocolate crunchies. I do beleive that the Captain Crunch ones had a much better flavor though & they also had strawberry. I miss them!
Caramello
A candy bar filled with caramel, around mid to late 80's
Care Bear Ice Cream
It was vanilla ice cream and it had little rainbow-colored candy bits in it. Possibly in a blue and very decorative box.
Care Bears Waffles
The box had pictures of The Care Bears on it.The waffles looked like any other waffles except they had Rainbow colored spots all over them
Carl's Jr. Crisp Burritos
I choose this cause I know it was created in the 80s. It's basically a chimchanga (I would have simply said this but I'm not sure the Chimichanga was created in the 80s).
Carnation Instant Breakfast
A powdered drink mix that you stirred into milk. Came in vanilla, chocolate or strawberry flavour. Great for bratty little kids that wouldn't eat their breakfast (like me). Still sold in Canada.
Carnation Instant Breakfast Breakfast Bar
A hard granola bar in different flavors (chocolate chip, peanut butter) with a chocolate coating. Great for afternoon snacks!
Cavatini Supreme
Pasta/meat/cheese casseroles from Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut has a product now called PastaBakes which are almost exactly the same.
Certs
Back in the '80s, they came in a plastic container similar to Tic-Tacs, but it was horizontal
Certs (Winter Green)
Pop one of these Certs in your mouth, turn off the lights and bite it....you were supposed to see sparks of light as you bit into it.
Certs Variety Pack
Breath mints that came in different flavors in one roll. It was like orange, grape cherry, etc. But there was one flavor that was in there that I miss and it was the mixed fruit flavor.
Chachos
Made by Keebler, I beleive, these spicy tortilla chips have been missed!!!
Charles Chips
I remember my best friend had these at her house. You had to order them from a catalog and they came in a 5 pound can. They were lighter than Lay's Potato Chips but had a lot more flavor. Wonderful!!
Charleston Chew
You can freeze it and crack it or just unwrap it a chewy chocolate coated center for you charleston chew 3,2,1 charleston chew! strawberry, chocolate and vanilla. Around before and after the 80s..
Checkermint Gum
Put out by Bubblelicious, i believe. Each piece looked like a miniature checkerboard with four squares of hot pink and white. Tasted like peppermint.
Cheeblers
Like a pretzel twist in size and shape, but with the consistency of a chip. It was made by Keebler, I think around 1985.
Cheerwine
Some kind of carbonated drink that came out around '89. Tasted terrible, but had the best commercial on TV. It's slogan was: "Cheerwine. It's not your ordinary soft drink, it's like...something else, okay?"
Cheesarito From Taco Bell
A torilla filled with lots of cheese and scallions and rolled...like a Meximelt without the meat.
Cheese Filled Hotdogs
They were hotdogs with bits of cheese inside.
Cheese Whiz
Jarred cheese-food (like Velveeta) that you could microwave and pour over anything. Rich in Cheesy-goodness!
Cheesy criss cross
These were made by Cadbury around the mid 80`s in the UK (not sure about anywhere else). The package was bright yellow and inside were two sticks of very strong flavoured processed soft cheese with a lattice/criss cross wafer on the outside. They were then sprinkled with a very strong cheese flavoured powder. They were really strong!!. I think they were only about for a year or so - then they disapeared. Shame. I used to love em!!
Cheetos--Bacon/cheese flavor
These cheetos were the best! They were cheese and bacon flavored and the package was a maroon color. Why the heck don't they bring it back?
Cheeza
Very, very short lived. Not sure of the company but it was this stupid invention of Pizza with little eggrolls and stuff on it for you to microwave. It was supposed to solve the age-old dilemma of "Chinese Food or Pizza tonight? -Lets have both!" My mother bought it once and then could never find it again...
Chef Boyardee Chicken Ravioli
Ravioli filled with chicken in a cream sauce...pretty tasty.
Chef Boyardee Mini-bites
Made by Chef Boyardee, mini cheese ravioli with small meatballs. What happened to them?
Chef Boyardee Pizza Kit
Dough powder, cheese powder, oily bright orange sauce in a can--delicious! Only in the very loosest interpretation is this stuff pizza. Still available, and can't beat the 80s nostalgia price of $3.50!
Chef Boyardee Roller Coasters
Came in a blue can and it had floppy roller coaster looking noodles.. soo yummy .. I know they had it till the 90s.. It was my brother and my favorite food.
Chefwiches
I used to eat these things whenever I came home from a playing gig at about four in the morning. They were frozen microwavable sandwiches with a cellophane top. They came in tuna melts, barbecued beef, beans and franks and chili-burgers or something like that. So good! Some of my fondest memories. I used to eat two or three of them before going to bed and sleeping till noon. Then I went to law school.
Chelsea Chips
Chocolate-covered toffee, if I remember correctly. Kinda like a Heath Bar, only smaller.
Cherry 7-up
This was cherry flavored 7-up.
Cherry Candy Cigarettes
I remember getting these a few times round about '82. They were your typical candy cigarette, but instead of the bland chalky taste, they instead had a fantastic cherry flavor.
Cherry Clans
These actually belong to the lemon heads and Alexander the Grape family but deserve special mention because they are the only ones no longer available. The racist, stereotypical Chinese charicature depicted on the front of the box wasn't politically correct enough for the 90's.
Cherry Coke
Came and went pretty fast in the mid/late 80's (Scandinavia). Sold in half litre glass bottles with a white label and purple letters. Tasted great with a cherry Hubba Bubba... I believe the Cherry Coke survived in the States, though...
Cherry Ripe
Came out when I was in Jr. High. IT was a cherry/cocanut chocolate bar. I LOVED it. It was an Australian import, like Velvet Crumble, but I haven't seen it since about 1985.
Cherrycoke Bubbalious
It was gum that tasted like the pop cherrycoke
Chewels
Soft, square of gum with a sweet liquid center. Yumm!
Chewy Chalk
It was candy shaped like little pieces of chalk. It had a powdery white outside and a red chewy center.
Chicken Helper
Similar to Hamburger Helper, but used with pieces of chicken. There were several flavors.
Chicken Hot Dogs
Hot dogs made with chicken. Tasted like plastic!
Chicken Littles
Small chicken sandwhiches from KFC!!!!! The best!
Chicken Nuggets
Made big in the food industry by McDonalds. This small breaded pieces of chicken are common in many fast food chains. Usually served with a variety of sauces including BBQ, hot mustard, sweet and sour, and honey.
Chicken Tonight
It was a sauce in a jar that you put over chicken. I remember the commercial "I feel like chicken tonight.." and the people in the commercial were flapping their arms like chickens.
Chicken in a Biscuit
These were snack crackers that still exist today.... They are shaped like chickens, are very greasy and actually made with real chicken (which part?). They have an almost pwdery coating. They are excellent with Easy Cheese
Chicklets
Chicklets came in a box and came in all sorts of horrible artifical flavours such as strawberry. I never see Chicklets in the stores anymore.
Chicko Sticks
A version of Butterfinger, but slimmer and covered with coconut. Came out before the 80s
Chico stick
Orange,crunchy stick with a buttery taste
Chilito
A chili and cheese burrito from Taco Bell. Came out late 80's, died an unfortunate death in the early 90's. Was the staple of my college career, I might add.
Chilli Dogs
They were hotdogs filled with chilli, they where good. Easy to make; the chilli was already inside. All you had to do is add cheese.
Chipopities
Bite-sized chocolate chip cookies that came in a little red foil bag. Not too many people remember them, but the commercials were pretty humerous.
Chipsters
Little yellow chips shaped like a crescent moon.
Chipwiches
They were big cookies (chocolate chip or oatmeal) sandwiching vanilla ice cream.
Cho Cho Bars
This was a chocolate-malt flavored ice cream on a stick. It was covered with a thin chocolate shell with rice crispies mixed in it.
Choco Bliss
It was the ultimate in chocolate snacks. It was layers of chocolate cake , Chocolate cream and then it had a layer of chocolate icing on top. There were 2 in a package and they were shaped like chocodiles.I wish they would bring these back.
Choco Taco
These were a perfect candy (dough) taco shell and inside was made of icecream and then all topped with chocolate. I think they came in varieties, fantastic for a warm summer treat.
Choco-Lotto candy bars
Maybe this was just a Canadian product...I dunno...but there were chocolate bars (came in plain, mint and puffed rice) called "Choco-Lotto". Under the wrapper you could win 5, 10, 25 cents or a free candy bar. I remember eating a lot of these!
Chocobliss
It was similar to a Susie Q but had layer of chocolate on top that could be peeled off, and had sort of a whipped chocolate filling.
Chocodiles
Like a Ho-Ho, but much bigger... Came with Cream filling and later with peanut butter.
Chocola (drink)
Chocola came in a can like a softdrink (hence the name). It had a very smooth, rich chocolate taste w/ a hint of cola. It was sold in convenience stores everywhere. It was SO good! I never knew why they stopped selling it.
Chocolate Abba Zabba
Not sure if it was introduced in the 70's or 80's but it was a light cocoa flavored taffy with a dark chocolate middle. Wish they were still available.
Chocolate Baby Ruth
A chocolate Baby Ruth that only existed for a little while.
Chocolate Coins
These little delights were chocolate in the shape and mold of a coin. There were pennies, dimes, nickles, & quarters. Each coin was incased in a foil of the color of coin that they were and the chocolate was embossed to look like the coin. They came in milk chocolate only.
Chocolate Covered Frozen Bananas
The name says it all.
Chocolate Cow chocolate drink
It was a chocolate drink I use to purchase from the ice cream truck and various stories in the 80's. It had a picture of a cow jumping over the moom on it and it was a brown can.
Chocolate Dinosaur Egg
These were large chocolate dinosaur eggs with a cripsy white + rainbow speckled candy shell. It was chocolate on the inside and in the middle there was a dino shaped gummy. Jelly Belly was the maker.
Chocolate Fruit RollUps
Milk Chocolate fruit roll-ups by Betty Crocker. My son loved them!
Chocolate Macaroon Bundt Cake
Pillsbury used to make a mix. It was dark chocolate with a tunnel of cocunut flavored white cake. White frosting. Yum. They no longer make the mix and will not release the recipe.
Chocolate Mint gum
A very disgusting and shorty-lived brown-and-green bubble gum put out by Bubbalicious. Always looked (and tasted) like it had been sitting around on some shelf for a number of months before it got to you. Dusty and chalky and weird.
Chocolate Payday
This was a chocolate covered Payday bar. They were great but they didn't last too long.
Chocolate Riesens
Yummy chocolate covered carmels that are still sold today by Storck. Very tuff carmel though, until it is thoroughly worked over. I lost a few baby teeth eating these, and a few that didn't even feel loose beforehand. We actually started either freezing them to make them crunchy, to avoid the tooth pulling properties of the candy.
Chocolate Snaps
I think Nabisco made them. They'd come in a small brown and white box with a superimposed drawn face of an animal over a cookie. Small, dark, crispy chocolate cookies that were around until the early 90s. They also came in chocolate chip (red and white box I believe). They were so good!
Chocolate Soldier
Chocolate drink in a little bottle a lot like Yoohoo but not as good. Very watered down chocolate taste.
Chocolate Twinkies
This was not a chocolate covered twinkie but an actual choclate twinkie with white filling. They also had a chocolate "twinkie the kid" on the box
Chocolite
It was a chocolate candy bar infused with air bubbles. It was covered in a yellow wrapper surrounded by a brown wrapper.
Chu-Bops
Record album shaped bubblegum packaged in full-color miniture LP sleeves popular at the time. Included lyrics to one of the album tracks so you could sing your favorite song while chewing a big wad of gum.
Chuckles
Circular-shaped gumdrop candies that came in various fruit flavors. Probably introduced around mid to late 80s.
Chunky
It was kind of considered a candy bar I think. I think it was wrapped in a silver foil wrapper. They may have come in different sizes. It was a perfectly square piece of chocolate. Very good.
Churches Chicken
Fabulous chicken chain that was competing with Popeye's Chicken in the 80's. They had such side orders as: fried okra, corn on the cob, cole slaw and crinkle cut fries. Still but few restaurants still exist. Mostly in the south.
Cima Red Soda
It was (or is-don't know if it is still around) a red soda that tasted like creme soda. I remember it around 1986-1989. I drank it all through high school!
Cinnamon Toothpicks
You won't find them on any restaurant counter anymore.
Cinnamon or hot Gobstopper
It was around the early 80's It was in a black box, and they were just like today's gobstoppers except they were all red with a delicous cinnamon cany center.....please help me find them. I haven't seen these in 20 years!!!
Cinnimon Crisps
It was from Taco Bell. They were basically cut up flour tortilas in wedge shape deep fried with cinnamon sugar on them. They now market cinnimon twists..which suck. They triangles were incredible.
Circus Fun Cereal
Like Lucky Charms but with marshmellows shaped like circus stuff
Cisco
Alcoholic beverage in a bottle. Comes in different flavors.
Citrus7
Soda made by 7-Up that was test marketed in the late 80s. Basically 7-Up with a citrus flavor; not unlike Sprite or Squirt, but I thought it was better.
Clearly Canadian
They came in a light blue bottle and were flavored water. Many different flavors with a couple of examples being peach and cherry. They're beginning to be sold in stores again now in a new bottle design.
Coconut Quivers
Distributed by Allens these lollies came in a red box similar to Chico's. They were a large chewy caramel bullet covered in coconut. Very yummy and taken off our shelves in the early 90's
Coconut Yoohoo
By far the best coconut drink available.. a milky, sweet lightly-flavored coconut drink made by Yoohoo. They stopped selling it mid-90s and I haven't been the same since...
Coffioca
A candy with a thin chocolate coating and a coffee-flavored caramel center. I probably have eaten a hundred of these in the early 80s.
Coke II
The new coke experiment. This was a real public relations flop for the Coke company. They announced they were changing the formula (in order to compete with Pepsi better) and the public backlash was instant. They relabeled it Coke II and re-issued coke as Coke Classic. The funny thing is that they had changed the formula a few times before in the past without any problems.
Cola Bottle Fruit Snacks
Back in the 80s there were some cola bottle-shaped fruit snacks with sugar coating that came in individually wrapped packages for school lunches. There were root beer bottles with white foam caps and soda bottle shapes. Surprisingly the root beer bottles tasted like rootbeer.
Cola Bubble Gum
It was bubble gum with a liquid center that was flavored like Coka Cola or Dr Pepper...there were other flavors as well. It was out around 1985-1987.
Collosal Fossil
it was was popsicle that tasted like italian ice from what i can remember, they came out around 1987. and they had a little "gummy" (i use this loosely) dinosaur in the center you enjoyed.
Combos
Snack food consisting of a small rounded, bite sized outer shell of pretzel filled with cheeze-spread. There was also a potato chip version that was made from dehydrated potatoes (ala pringles or munchos flavor) and filled with a "sour cream & chives" derrived product. They were gross tasting but fun to suck the middle creamy layer out of the pretzel/chip layer.
Coney Island Hot Dog- New York Deli Potato Chips
Tasted just like a Coney Dog! Chili/Cheese/Onions/Hot Dog. My Aunt loved them.
Cookie Crisp
Best excuse to have cookies for breakfast!! Mini chocolate chip cookies that you pour milk over. Comercial had a burgler that was always stealing the box of cookie crisp cereal and the old fashoned looking cop was always chasing him around and putting him in jail.
Cool Ranch Doritos
One of the Dorito's brand chips that I'm certain originated in the 80s. I believe Nacho Cheese came out before the 80s (though I might be wrong), Taco is possible, and the short lived Jumping Jack Cheese came out either in the very late 80s or the early 90s.
Coors party ball
It wasn't as if the beer was different, but it was all in the packaging. It was a two or three gallon ball full of shitty beer with a handle on top.
Corn Pringles
It came out in the mid 80's, and the commercial had a bunch farm girls dancing with the Pringle Canister.
Cornquestos
Same idea as combos, but I beleive they were around before them. They were a corn based shell with picante or a spicy cheese filling.
Cornuts
Hard, salted snacks, made from kernels of corn. Very crunchy, came in different flavors: BBQ, Ranch, etc. I remember trying get away with eating them in class!
Count Chocula
Cereal really big in the 80s...There was also Boo Berry and some other one, but Count Chocula was the best! A lot like Cocoa Puffs (which I also think came out in the 80s). It's still in stores today, but sometimes hard to find!
Crack-ups (gum)
It was a gum with a hard outer shell. The commercials all showed characters taking a bite of the gum and doing something silly. I remember one vividly- a girl with long braids chews one, and her braids stick straight out from her head, she grabs a pole to her bed, and spins around madly.
Cranicot
It was Ocean Spray Cranberry/Apricot juice. I used to have it all the time in the early 80's late 70's. It disappeared in the mid 80's.Nobody I mentin this too remembers it except my mother.
Crantastics
A DELICIOUS cranberry-dominated fruitpunch made by Ocean Spray in the 80s.
Crazy Bones
They were hard candies shaped like bones. They came in a small plastic coffin.
Cream Supremes
These were fruit snacks, but they also had a yogurt/creme-like coating the fruit snack. I loved these. My mom used to get the orange and white cream ones. Anyone else remember these?
Crispburrito
A deep fried burrito (came with salsa) from Carls Jr........A major Yummy in my book, I could eat this morning, noon & night.....I wish they'd bring them back..
Crunch Gators
Hot and spicy jalapino potato chips with a really hard crunch. My high school had these in the vending machines circa 88-89.
Crunchin' Munch
It's somewhat like carmel corn but better, it has more of a butter flavored carmel with peanuts. You can still find it in stores today.
Crunchola
These were granola bars that were coated with something simlar to yogurt coating. I think there were several flavors, and chocolate chip stands out in my mind. They were more like a candy bar in nutritional value but since they had "granola" we all thought they were oh-so-good-for-you!!!
Crush Sodas
Crush soda was available in orange, lime and grape. But the cool thing about it was the way you opened it. The can had two circles in the top and you pushed them to open them. (Not too safe!)
Crybabys
sour candy balls....so sour everyone looked ridiculous eating them...didn't taste very good though, Warheads are the same idea but I think they came out later and they're smaller
Crystal Light
Diet fruit-like drink. Commercials featured perky women in leotards.
Cup O ' Gold
Chocolate candy cups that were filled with a creamy coconut and almond center (utterly decadent)...appeared pre-80s.


Food beginning with: [Index] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] [misc]
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