Snacks, Candies and Sweet Treats - most often, these would always be a part of any kid's growing up years. Some stay, but sadly, just like us humans, some have to go and leave the shelves of supermarkets never to be seen again...never to be found in a kid's birthday goodie bag...never to be dropped one piece at a time on a poor kid's Halloween pumpkin pail ( OK...I'm guilty of doing that two days ago...but what can I do when I only had a budget of so and so candies against a whole battalion of trick or treaters).
I present my own personal list of some of the much missed junk food. I might not be aware of it but some of these junk foods might have inspired me to become a chef !
1. Goya Puffy Cones- any child who grew up in the 80's would know what a Goya Puffy Cone was. This popular snack had everything any kid would love - it resembled an ice cream cone but instead of ice cream it was a round mound of marshmallow that came in strawberry, chocolate and vanilla variants covered in chocolate. Sold in boxes of six, each individually wrapped in gold foil, it was often found in birthday goodie bags.
2. Dip Pops - I remember buying these lollipops in the early 80's that were sold in packs with the Three Little Pigs emblazoned in the wrap in the DLSZ canteen. For me, the Dip Pop was considered something "out of the box"; something fresh since it was the first time the public saw and tasted a lollipop that you would dip in different fruit flavored powders.
3. Picks n' Pans Cookies - Picks n' Pans was a small cookie shop located in the Greenbelt Mall. It started the "gourmet cookie shop" trend and was our local version of Mrs Fields. They had the usual variants like chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and dark fudge and for fifteen bucks/cookie, this was already considered high end but who could resist these cookies that were normally sold five minutes after being removed from the oven?
4. Mr Hartwell's Chocolate Chip Cookies- another cookie stand that was located at the long gone United Supermarket in Greenbelt. Mr. Hartwell had everything of what a chocolate chip cookie should be - warm, overloaded with calories and chocolate and really messy - which is what made these cookies so good and much missed.
5. Coney Island Eskimo Rolls - well yeah, I had to include this one, since my Lolo Ito along with his children and in-laws (my uncles and aunts) started the family's Coney Island Ice Cream business. My friends, up until now, still ask me why we closed down Coney Island saying that they miss the Bubble Gum/Pistachio/New York New York ice cream flavors and they have every reason to ask me this question every time since Coney Island offered more than just ice cream- we had the different flavored cotton candy, franks, flavored french fries ( I think, we started this trend) but definitely, the Eskimo Roll - a heaping scoop of either vanilla or chocolate ice cream sandwiched between two chocolate chip cookies rolled in nuts-topped the list of much missed Coney Island products. I did post on my facebook page in 2009 that the Eskimo Roll made a limited comeback as well as some of the most popular Coney Island Ice Cream flavors and were available in the stores of my cousin's other food business - Go Nuts Donuts.
6. The Battle of the Bubble Gums (Tarzan, Big Boy and Bazooka)- cheap thrills "kanto" candy. Almost every 80's sari sari sold these 25 centavo candies. Popular during Halloween and birthday loot bags, the Bazooka had an added appeal - the comic strip featuring Bazooka Joe that was found in every piece of gum.
7. Carol Anne's Potato Chips - it's main competitor was Jack n' Jill but for me, this was a clear winner because of it's thin chips and yet was still crispy, not the least bit oily and was packed with cheese flavor.
8. Presto Orange Cream Sandwich Biscuits - I am not sure why this flavor was the one that was discontinued considering that this was way much better than it's chocolate and peanut butter variants which are still available. Whatever it is, these biscuits that were sold in color red foil packs are long gone.
9. Rolling Stones Chocolate Balls - these chocolate malt balls that were sold in orange packs were the local version of Maltesers and Whoppers. Handy and easy to carry, I remember sneaking these in in my grade school classroom - and was reprimanded by my grade school teachers every time I got caught munching on these candies !
10. Cheezels and Chickadees - I had to include these cheese/chicken flavored crunch snacks on my list since most 80's kids who bought Cheezels and Chickadees did not actually buy them for the snack but for the small plastic toy that was found in each pack. Until now, it baffles me why these small plastic toys appealed so much to our generation...and hey...I'm guilty as well for collecting them. Cheezels had this small round plastic rubber toy that when you invert the toy inside out, it will pop and jump. Chickadees had something similar but instead of a round rubber toy, it was a small plastic toy that resembled a four legged bug that when you press the back, it jumps. I remember during grade school recess and lunch in front of DLSZ, the whole sidewalk was full of kids popping these small plastic toys sometimes even holding competitions to see whose toy would jump the highest. How "babaw" can we get right ?
11. Horlicks - I wasn't really a fan of these small malt flavored tablets but I still miss them
12. Skor Chocolate Bar - everything so far in this list are local products but I had to include Skor since a lot of Americans miss this chocolate bar as well. My mom would buy boxes of these every time she went to the States. For me, it was the pefect quintessential candy bar and yet simple - I miss these thin butter toffee chocolate covered candy bars that I have attempted to replicate them...with success!! Check out my Mahogany Buttercrunch Toffee - it tastes like Skor. But quite a number of people who have bought a canister of my buttercrunch toffee swear it is Skor!
13. Brown Cow - the much missed chocolate beverage drink. Mix it with water, mix it with milk, use it as an ice cream topping or simply pour these into a spoon and start licking...I never did get tired of Brown Cow and I'm certain I never will !!!
Just stumbled upon your post after searching for Puffy Cones. I love how even the end of the cones were filled with the chewy mallows. Missing Rolling Stones too. I miss them a lot and would tell my daughter how many truly good snacks were available back then. Thanks for this entry. I remember and miss them all. I wonder if you can also recall these green, triangle-shaped candies-- an imitation of the Vicks Menthol candies of the past. I think they were called Family Menthol Candy (not so sure), and sold in a little plastic pack of threes is sari-sari-stores... :)
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