Life
The 20 Best Tastes Of The ‘90s, From Otter Pops In Summer To Dunkaroos After School
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Well, we’ve covered every other sense there is, so I guess it’s about time we revisited the best tastes of the ‘90s, isn’t it? I mean, we can’t really leave the set unfinished. That would be weird. Unsettling. There’s nothing quite like the lack of closure brought about by a cliff-hanger, and it will always, always bug you. So hey, let’s take care of that, shall we? Because seriously: The ‘90s had some of the best-tasting things around. There’s a reason we remember all those snacks so fondly.
I realize that not everyone’s tastes are the same. I hate grape juice; you may love it. I think popcorn is gross; it may be your favorite snack in the history of everything, especially when you’re watching a movie. That said, though, these 20 different tastes were the flavor of the ‘90s in an extremely literal way, so feel free to interpret “best” to mean “most memorable” if that’s how you roll.
Either way, though, I’m willing to bet that you still have a soft spot for at least one childhood snack. We all do. And hey, you know what? You can totally go out and recapture the magic right now if you want to. Adulthood may not be quite what we thought it was going to be when we were kids… but at least we can eat Fruit by the Foot whenever we want.
Your Fruit Snack Of Choice
Everyone’s got their own opinion here, whether it’s Gushers, Fruit by the Foot, or the frequently forgotten yet still awesome Fruit Wrinkles.
French Toast Crunch For Breakfast
Because it actually tasted like French toast.
Dunkaroos After School
Mostly for the frosting. (No one really remembers what the cookies tasted like on their own, do they?)
Anything You Won As A Prize
Scored 100 on your spelling test and earned a lollipop as a result? Best lollipop ever. Managed to correctly guess how many jelly beans were in that jar? Best jelly beans ever, even if you normally hated jelly beans. It was literally the taste of success, after all.
The Cupcakes You Brought Into School On Your Birthday
Or the cupcakes your classmates brought into school on their birthdays. You weren’t picky, because… well, cupcakes.
Lunchables
I mean, yeah, in retrospect, Lunchables pizza is vastly inferior to actual pizza — but who cares? Pizza.
Halloween Candy
Somehow, it always tasted better than regular candy. I’m fairly certain this is still the case for kids today, too, but for me, Halloween candy will always bring me straight back to my peak trick-or-treat years in the early-to-mid-‘90s.
Ants On A Log
Not necessarily because you liked celery, but because you were eating ants on a log.
Worms In Dirt
Same goes for worms in dirt, with the added bonus being that worms in dirt consisted of chocolate pudding, Oreos, and gummy worms.
That One Piece Of Junk Food Your Parents Let You Get On Special Occasions
For me, it was the box of “sugar cereal” (as we called it) my brother and I were each allowed on our birthdays. I pretty much always went for Cocoa Krispies, because who didn’t want to eat chocolate for breakfast?
Breakfast Acquired From Anywhere But Home
Hotel breakfast? Epic. Burger King breakfast? Gimme those French Toast Sticks. If it wasn’t something you yanked out of your pantry or fridge at home, it was the best.
Play-Doh
Don’t eat Play-Doh. Seriously. Don’t do it. I mean, it’s non-toxic, so it won’t do any harm, but it's still not meant for eating. Instead, bask in the memory of that one time you tried it when you were five and your mom yelled at you and wouldn’t let you play with the stuff for another three years. It was the taste of the forbidden.
Squeezit
To be honest, I don’t know that it really tasted all that different from every other fruit drink we guzzled down in the ‘90s… but there was just something about drinking out of a bottle with a face on it that made the whole experience that much better.
Otter Pops When It Was A Zillion Degrees Out
Hands down the tastiest way to cool off in the summer.
Sleepover Snacks
Like I said, I hate popcorn. But I ate so much of it at sleepovers in the '90s. Why? I really couldn't tell you. All I know is that sleepover snacks are magic.
Great White Shark Bites
Also known as The Best Shark Bites.
Mystery Flavors
Dum-Dum Pops, Airheads, take your pick.
A Fresh Strip Of Bubble Tape
But only for the first couple of seconds. After that, it stopped tasting like bubble gum and started tasting like rubber instead.
Those Drinks That Came In A Plastic Barrel
I don’t think they tasted like fruit so much as like colors.
That One Food You Remember That No One Else Does
PB Crisps? Magic Middles? Sprinkle Spangles? Morning Funnies cereal (which I realize was an '80s thing, but work with me here)? We’ve all got that one ‘90s food stored away in our brains that, for some strange, unknown reason, no one else we know actually remembers. Did we make it up? Was it a figment of our imaginations? Probably not — but know that you alone might be responsible for documenting this otherwise forgotten taste. We can’t let it be lost to the sands of time.
