Food of the Eighties, Products Beginning with G

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]
Gadzooks
These were small chunks of gum similar to Tiny Chiqlets, they came in a box similar to nerds with 2 aliens on the box. I believe these came out in the mid-80's, my first time seeing them was in 1986.
Garbage Pail Candy
Hard, sour candy shaped like various pieces of garbage that came in a small replica of a garbage can.
Garfield Chocolate Soda
There was this soda that was carbonated and chocolate flavored, with Garfield on the can.
Gargoyle Taffy
Green chewy taffy with black spots all over it and they were sour when you bit into them, the package was red and had a gargoyle on the front. It was my favorite candy and no one remembers it.
GatorGum
I remember it during the late 70's and early 80's. It was chewing gum made by the Gatorade drink people. It was bright green & tasted like Gatorade. I think it maybe also came in grape flavor. Stopped selling around 84 maybe
Ghostbusters Cereal
This was a tasty concoction made by Ralston Purina. It consisted of white marshmellow ghosts and red and yellow cereal bits. Lasted a good long while after the movie was out.
Ghostbusters Slimer Gum
Ghostbusters Slimer gum. This gum was in a big tube like toothpaste and it was green and slimy. Similar to Bazooka in a tube.
Giggles Cookies
These came in either chocolate or vanilla and had a creamy center. What was unique about them was that the cookie was shaped liked a giggling face which was supposed to make you laugh! They even came with stickers.
Go Ahead
Candy bar with chocolate coating and peanut butter inside, kinda like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.
Gobstoppers
This candy may have been around before the 80's but I remember them around '83-'84. They were made by the Willie Wonka Company and came in a yellow cardboard box. They were a hard gumball-shaped candy that had several levels of different flavors. I recently saw a box of them at a local convenience store, so apparently they are still around.
Godzilla Shreds
Godzilla Shreds was pretty much an exact copy of Big League Chew, even in the same kind of package, with a cool drawing of Godzilla. This came out around 1985, just about when Godzilla's "comeback" film "Godzilla 1985" came out.
Gold Rush Bubble Gum
Yellow coated bubble gum that came in a little fabric bag with a drawstring. Each piece of gum was a different size... like little nuggets. The bag had brown lettering and a gold drawstring.
Gold Rush Ice Cream Bars
Almost identical to the Snickers frozen ice cream bars of today. I think there were 3 varities. These were awesome!!!
Goober Grape
PB&J in a single jar. It made making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches much easier. It had alternating columns of peanut butter and grape jelly throughout the jar. I'm pretty sure it's still around.
Good Buddies
Boxed fruit drinks, kind of like HI-C. There were 4 flavors, Awesome Orange, Galactic Grape, Superstar Strawberry, and Captain Punch. They had a commercial where the flavors danced around and were all friends - hence the name.
Good Humor Fat Frog
A Green spotted frog on a popsicle stick. It was a very sweet artificial flavor. Distributed by Good Humor. It existed basically in the mid-80's then faded away.
Gourmet in a bag
Vicki Lawrence did the commercial. You put fresh chicken in the bag, shook it up and nukked it. It was horrible but I ate a lot of it as a newlywed who was not a great cook.
Granola Clusters
These were long, tube-shaped granola bars with a nougat center. SOOOOOO good! My mom would pack them for school lunches.
Grasshopper Cookies
From Keebler, these looked like Oreos, but had green filling with a minty taste, and were particularly delightful. These are NOT the same as modern grasshopper cookies, which are chocolate covered hard one piece things.
Great Blue-dini Kool-Aid
This Kool-Aid had an octopus on the front with a top hat on. It was green powder but it changed to bright blue when it hit water. Not sure when this went away (90's I believe) but OMG, it was so good, my favorite of all time. I've even written to Kool-Aid to bring it back but no luck. :o(
Green Christmas Tree Ice Cream
Please, someone say you remember these! No one believes me!!! They were Christmas trees made out of green ice cream with tiny little rainbow ball sprinkles on them. I can't remember what flavor the ice cream was, but you could get them every year at the grocery store. They were delicious!
Grilled Chicken Sandwiches
During the low-fat craze of the late '80s, every fast food joint had grilled chicken sandwiches. They are about the only low-fat fast food still around from that era.
Groff's potato chips
I remember the original flavor being in a white bag with dark blue stripes and they were very crunchy and delicious. They may have only been sold in New England and in the early to mid 80's.
Gummi Colas [?]
I remember them from the very late 80's, they were little gummy root beer flavored chewies in the shape of a soda bottle. I don't remember if they were marketed by Coke or not, but they were a HUGE fad when I was in 1st grade.
Gummy Bears
Before Disney launched a cartoon about them, there was gummy everything. But the original gummy candy was the Gummy Bear. A rubbery like candy that came in all kinds of colors and flavors. I used to like licking the back of them and sticking them to windows.
Gummy Burgers
A gummy-bear type snack that had different layers and looked like a hamburger. I don't know if these are still around or not!
Gummy Worms
Like gummy bears only in the shape of a worm...it actually felt like eating a worm.


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]
Do You Remember Something Food Related We Forgot?

This site grows only with submissions from dedicated visitors like yourself. If you would like to reflect about a concert you attended, please fill out the form below.

Crystal Colas came out in the 1990s. Please stop entering these!

Please only submit one item at a time with the form. After you submit the information, go back and enter additional items.

There is a separate page for corrections. DO NOT USE THE FORM BELOW or your corrections will not get saved. Spelling and grammar mistakes on this page are from the original author of the comments, and are intentionally left uncorrected.

If you have a question to ask, please use the Messageboard, otherwise you will not receive an answer.

All fields are required! The email is not gathered or displayed on the page, and is only used to contact you if there is a question about your submission.