From the Snack Aisle: Nabisco Sooper Kookies

Sooper Kookies
Company: Nabisco
Years: 1973-???

Image from Dan Goodsell's - check him out!

Ah, Sooper Kookies.
Who duesn't reemembr thees wunderfull kookies from Nahbisko?
"I doent", I'm shure yore saing.

Whitch is funne, becuse I sayd the saim thing.

Alright, I can't do it. I can't keep spelling this article wrong on purpose.
You see, I had this whole bit I was going to do based on the purposeful misspelling of the words "Sooper Kookies", but I just can't do it. Between you, me and spellcheck, it's just really starting to hurt my head.

So instead I'm going to do some real hard research................................................

...researching...................

......................researching..........................


I got nothing.

Other then a few images from Dan Goodsell and poptartsbox on Flickr (check em both out!) I couldn't find much of anything. I did media searches over the last 50 years on newspapers, hoping to dig up an advert or something, but didn't find squat. Not a mention. All I know is they came in at least 3 flavors: Fudge Cream, Chocolate Cream, and Vanilla Cream. They were sort of a pop-tart, more or less. And that's about all I know.

They remynd me uv a cros beetween kookies and.......I can't do it. I just.....can't.....do it.

So I'm gonna pull the ol' "throw it back on the readers" trick, where I hope you can help me fill in the blanks.

Anyone remember these? Were there other flavors? Did they last more then one year?

Let me know in the comments below! Until then I'll file these under another mystery product without much history top be found.

From the Snack Aisle: Dizzy Grizzlies

Product: Dizzy Grizzlie Cookies
Company: Nabisco
Years: 1996-199?

Teddy Grahams were a good cookie. Bite sized, snack-able, delicious.
But they weren't one thing.

They were not.......EXTREME!!!! (Loud screeching guitar solo).

Yes, like many of the products in the mid 90's, Nabisco felt the need to take their successful snack cookie and crank it up to 11. They made the cookies larger, frosted them, and for good measures, added sprinkles.

Extreme enough for you? No? Well, the bears aren't just calmly standing around anymore like those "lame" Teddy Grahams were.....these new bears are TO THE EXTREME! (loud screeching guitar solo).
Skateboarding!
BMXing!
Rollerblading!
They're so EXTREME they grabbed you by the throat and yelled "HEY, YOU THINK YOU ARE EXTREME ENOUGH TO EAT THESE COOKIES, KID!!????!"

"ARE YOU???!!!!!"  (Even louder Guitar solos).

I was not extreme enough for these cookies back in the day. I remember seeing them on the shelf and thinking that I was more of an indoor kid...you know......eating regular Teddy Grahams while playing Super Nintendo instead of eating Dizzy Grizzlies and base jumping off the nearest cliff.

And lots of kids must have though the same, because these were only around for a few years.

Anyone else remember these cookies?

From the Misc. Foods Aisle - Tuna Twist

Product: Tuna Twist
Company: Nabisco
Years: 1976

"I'm Sir Celery, I'm Ms. Parsley, We are the Onion Twins...
We're...in....Tuna Twist, a tuna taste, fresh as the garden"

Let me just start off by coming clean: I think Tuna is disgusting. It smells bad, it tastes bad, and the seafood industry wants you to believe that it's this wonderful high class product, when it's actually, in my opinion, the seafood version of Spam. Cheap, canned, and oh so gross. (There goes my big Tuna/Spam sponsorship money......)

I have to say, though, that I was intrigued the other day when I stumbled upon a product that I had never heard of in my life, called Tuna Twist. The product, made by Nabisco in 1976, was a "meal extender", which is a fancy term for "this is all the food we have in the house until next payday, so we need to make it last". Basically, it was seasoning packets that was to be added to tuna salad that somehow magically made your pound of tuna turn into a pound and a half.

Witchcraft? We can't be certain.

Actually, the packets contained textured vegetable protein. Remember this. It will be important later on.

Tuna Twist came in 3 flavors: Onion, Cheddar, and Italian.
"We are giving the consumer a way of adding variety to her tuna. Most housewives just don't take the time to do things like take an onion, dice it, and add it to the tuna, themselves". Stated a Nabisco Representative - From a newspaper article from July 27 1976.

This product was launched in the summer of 1976, and was going to be the new big thing in stores and kitchens around the country. Heck, they even had a commercial with dancing vegetables.....

But it turned out there was a problem.
That textured vegetable protein I mentioned earlier? Yeah....about that...
..it was making people sick. Lots of people.

So only a few months after it's launch, there was a recall on the product, and Tuna Twist was pulled from all store shelves. Considering that I couldn't find any advertisements or coupons from any year other then 1976, I'm pretty sure it never returned.

Did it ever come back? That's where I need your help. Do you remember eating Tuna Twist later then 1976? And can you be certain it was in fact, Nabisco Tuna Twist, and not some knockoff that came later.

You know, a product that had a name like Tuna Tonight! (and Tomorrow night...and the night after that....), or "Totally Tuna! (made with 92% Vegetable Protein). If you remember it, let me know below.

And as for the commercial - here you go. Watch 4 tuna sandwiches turn into 6!
(She's a witch! Burn her!)

From the Snack Aisle - Nabisco Snaps

Product: Snap Cookies
Company: Nabisco
Years: 70's - maybe early 80's(?)


Hope everyone is having a fun summer! I know I haven't posted much lately, as family is dictating most of my time. Kids are busy creatures, so I spend many of my hours at the baseball/soccer fields and traveling too and from the baseball/soccer fields. But enough about me, lets talk about NABISCO SNAPS COOKIES!!!!

You know what?

I don't remember these.

The boxes are WAY cool, and I imagine I was around (as in living, not fat) when these cookies were around, but I just plain don't remember them. They came in 4 flavors, Chocolate, Chocolate chip, Ginger, and Vanilla.

How cool are these?

Like I said, I don't remember them, but enough people do to create a Facebook page for them. https://www.facebook.com/NabiscoSnapCookies

Yep, Nabisco Ginger Snaps have a Facebook page. (I'm pretty sure they would just send me annoying game requests, though, so I didn't friend them. No I won't play Farmville with you, Nabisco.)

Oh, shoot, I have to get my 12 year old to baseball practice ASAP.......talk amongst yourselves about these sweet treats from the 70's (and maybe 80's? Anyone know???)

If I could go back in time, these would certainly be on my list of must try treats.

Until next time, shoppers............enjoy your summer!

From the Snack Aisle: Nabisco Flings

Product: Flings
Company: Nabisco
Years: Late 1960's - 1980's (?)

Dear Nabisco,

Stop trying so hard. We get it already. You can turn anything, no matter what the flavor, into a delicious chip, snack, or cracker. Here at Gone But Not Forgotten Groceries, we stumble across something new (old/new) from you almost every day, and honestly, I've almost stopped keeping track. You are good at what you do, Nabisco, so why spread yourself so thin? Pick a core group of products and make those products the best damn products we have ever seen....and maybe, just maybe, you are already starting to do that. But in the 60s, 70s and 80s.......well, lets say you were snack aisle whores. You put it all out there year after year, every flavor.....every shape. "Don't like Curls? We have Sticks? Don't like Sticks, we have cones? Don't like cones? We have a goddamn chip shaped like a platypus. "Well that's random", you say? Goddamn right it is, because we're Nabisco, and we can make these chips/snacks and crackers into any M%#$@R F^&%ING shape we want? Got it......GOT IT???"
"Oh, and you can get that Platypus shaped cracker in 5 flavors, Cheese, Ranch, Papaya, Dandelion, and New Car Smell. "But New Car Smell isn't a Flavor" you say.....look, do you want me to lose my shit? Because Nabisco can lose it's shit REAL easy, and one day, when you wake up, all these shape and flavors will be gone.....and all you'll have left are Triscuits, Wheat Thins, and Chicken in a Biscuit. So don't push it, pal."

I'm almost certain Nabisco would say something like that if confronted. Maybe.

Box picture from Dan Goodsell

Flings were a chip that looked similar to today's Cheese puffs, and came in 3 flavors: Chicken, Cheese, and Ham and Swiss. These were mostly around in the late 60's/early 70's, but I did stumble upon a newspaper ad from 1984, where it appears Nabisco tried to bring back Flings, this time in a bag instead of a box.

Like the other hundreds (possibly millions, or possibly less) of Nabisco Products that have appeared on store shelves over the last 50 years, I'm going to guess that very few of you readers out there remember these. I don't. Which is pretty cool when you add it onto the vast sea of groceries that have filled up store shelves over the years...these could have been someones favorite snack to curl up with on a Saturday night. People have a weird nostalgia towards food, especially discontinued food (which is why I started this blog), so it's neat to find stuff like this that might bring someone a smile.

From the Cereal Aisle: Sweet Wheats!

Product: Sweet Wheats! Cereal
Company: Nabisco
Years: 1971-197?

Image By Jason B. on Flickr

Come on, Nabisco....quit yelling. There is absolutely no need to use an exclamation point in the name of your early 70's cereal called "Sweet Wheats!". I mean, you even went as far as to not use all caps, instead choosing the subtle approach of using all lower case letters. But then, boom, you drop in that exclamation point all willy-nilly, and damn it Nabisco, it's unnecessary.

But then again, so was your cereal, Nabisco, as it only lasted 2 or 3 years tops.

I know what your all thinking: Kellogg's Mini Wheats.
Yep, I was thinking the same thing too. Mini Wheats were introduced in 1971, same time as Sweet Wheats!!!!!, but the original Kellogg's offering was actually the larger size. The bite size version wasn't around until 1980. So I won't go as far as to say Nabisco copied Kellogg's, or vice versa. They both had an idea for a lightly sweetened wheat cereal. Kellogg's won.
Probably because they DIDN'T YELL AT THEIR CUSTOMERS, NABISCO SWEET WHEATS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nabisco did have a cool box design, with a quartet which included 3 children and a blue kangaroo, which from what I understand of the early 70's (mostly from watching Krofft), was completely normal. Willy, Milly, Big Boo and Blue Kangaroo. They would sit around all day, eating cereal, playing jams, playing with the Kanga-zoom that came free inside, and contemplating future career paths once the cereal was discontinued. 3 of them went on to form 80's pop group "Kajagoogoo",  and one ended up in the San Diego Zoo, which if you ask me is a horrible place to keep a little girl locked up.

What the hell was I talking about again?

Oh yeah, SWEET WHEATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cool box, not as cool of a cereal. Just another blip in the breakfast cereal history books.

From the Snack Aisle: Buenos Tortilla Chips

Product: Buenos Tortilla Chips
Company: Nabisco
Years: 1981-1983

Wow, I actually remember these. Which is weird, because they didn't last very long. I don't remember the taste, I just remember the package.
Made from real stoneground corn, these chips came in 2 shapes, round and triangle. Seriously, it was the same freaking chips, just in 2 different shapes. So all the equipment that was used to make and package these chips had to be doubled, one set for the rounds, and one set for the triangles. Which is probably why they were discontinued. It was expensive to produce the same basic product in 2 shapes.
I'm guessing old people bought the round chips because they were safer....no sharp edges, very friendly looking. Almost like a smiley face, minus the face. The triangles were what the kids ate....3 sharp points, almost like a knife, not so safe for those kids who loved to live on the wild side and roll the dice while eating their chips. Will I stab my mouth or not? Who cares, I'm young! *Crunch*

If you hurry you can rush out and get yourself a bag with the attached coupon, assuming you have a time machine. Expires 9-30-83.

They came in traditional and Nacho cheese flavors only. Back in simpler times, when 2 or 3 flavors were perfectly ok. Not like now when to be a successful chip company you need to have at least 87 flavors.

Ah, the 80's. Simpler times.

From the Snack Aisle: Krazy Glazy

Product: Krazy Glazy
Company: Nabisco
Years: Early 70's

Once upon a time, Pop Tarts weren't the only breakfast toaster pastry on the market. You had a choice to make while strolling the cereal aisle. One such item that I'd like to highlight today was a little remembered pastry called Krazy Glazy (with a K, because it's gangsta.)

Total disclosure: I hadn't heard of these before either until about a week ago when I stumbled upon this ad in the Spokane Daily Chronicle from November 28, 1973.

Krazy Glazy came in 4 flavors, Apple, Cherry, Strawberry, and Blueberry. The rest, as it turns out, is a mystery. I contact Nabisco/Mondelez and got nowhere. Nobody had any information or even remembered these (as it usually goes with large companies that have a vast history of products and have changed ownership at some point). How can these companies have no library of products? Or do they, and they just don't like to share that information. If they don't, it's kind of sad, actually.

The thing that struck me most about this product is the box. As a collector of vintage packages, I tend to gravitate towards silly characters and colorful boxes that have a distinct feel of the era they were created. And this box certainly hits all those marks. I've never seen an actual box, but if anyone out there has one to share, let me know. I'd love to see it! It has a Crazy (sorry, Krazy) looking Pastry dude on the front...with a massive head wound! I mean, why is he smiling?! He's seconds from death!

Other then the above, I couldn't find any information about this product, so I'm guessing it must have been a flop that wasn't around very long. The only information I could find was a few stills from a Krazy Glazy commercial that was never aired. You can read that interesting little story about that experience here.

http://www.getthefive.com/articles/the-marketeer/adventures-in-adland-3-peter-the-copywriter/

And that's it. I would love to get more info on this product. I would REALLY love to get one of these boxes for my collection, or a scan of a box even so I can reproduce it. Surely someone out there must have one. Or has this product already been forgotten? I hope not. So I'm going to do my part to stop that from happening by adding it to the shelves here at Gone But Not Forgotten Groceries.

From the Cereal Aisle: Rice Cream Flakes

Product: Rice Cream Flakes
Company: Nabisco
Years: 1968-????




This has to be hands down one of the more interesting ideas I've ever seen for a breakfast Cereal. It was the late 60's, and the country was all about free love, drugs, and doing what felt good. And what felt good to one Nabisco employee was to eat ice cream for breakfast. Not just any ice cream, mind you, but freeze dried ice cream. "THE FUTURE IS NOW!!!!" I imagine employees chanting as they carefully formulated this concoction known as Rice Cream Flakes, the smash hit from Nabisco that was going to be the future of breakfast for kids and adults across this great nation of ours.

The cereal itself was a rice cereal, but the kicker is that they covered the flakes with this Freeze Dried Ice cream they purchased from Oregon Freeze Dried Foods. There were 3 varieties, Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry. Everyone smiled and cheered! VIVA LA ICE CREAM!!!! Let's put it into mass production! USA! USA!USA!

Oh, 2 small problems. It's 1968, and there aren't that many companies out there producing the volume of Freeze Dried Ice Cream that Nabisco needed for mass production of this. And the one company they had been using, Oregon Freeze Dried Foods, was shutting down.

So what should have been a national smash hit in the cereal game turned out to be nothing more then a successful regional test market that left people wanting more, but there was no more to be had. None more Rice Cream Flakes.

Anyone else thinking it's time to bring these back?

From the Snack Aisle: Oreos Bacon Cream Cookies

Item: Oreos Bacon Cream
Company: Nabisco
Years: 2013-2013 (24 hours aprox.)



Oh shit, I was trying to be clever and I think I might have actually given Nabisco a good idea.
I mean, they've tapped out every other Oreo flavor combination in the last 2 or 3 years.

"It's like dipping a warm piece of bacon into a glass of Chocolate Milk!®"

 Yum!!!!

From the Snack Aisle: Nabisco Chit Chat Crackers

Product: Chit Chat Barbecue Crackers
Company: Nabisco
Years: 1964-?

Short post today. I've got a bad head cold and feel pretty crummy. I need a bowl of chicken soup and some crackers to make it go away.

That's my segway into the post. Crackers. Yup, pretty crummy I tell you.

 Nabisco makes crackers, that's their thing. And I'm guessing over the last 50+ years they've had hundreds of crackers I've never heard of and have never seen. That's why it's always fun to stumble upon a long gone flavor, such as the Chit Chat Crackers.

What a 60's sounding name.

I just picture people sitting around their horribly decorated apartments talking about how awesome the last episode of "Gidget" was. Then someone would say "hey, lets go down to the drive in and get some burgers!", to which someone else would respond "We don't have to, I've got a box of new Chit Chat Crackers, by Nabisco!", to which the first guy would then respond in a really whiny Richie-from-Happy-Days-voice "But I wanted a Cheeseburger!"
Then they'd all start to dance. Probably the Twist......no, no...the Mashed Potato.Yeah. That's it.

So, yeah, I don't really know much about these crackers. Other then the Nabisco trademark of the name "Chit Chat" expired back in 2005 and is still available if you're bored and/or starting a fledgling cracker company.

That's all I got today. I need to go blow nose and drink a bottle of NyQuil.

And don't lie, you've never heard of these crackers either.

From the Candy Aisle: GORP (Good Ol' Raisins and Peanuts)

Product: GORP
Company: David & Sons / Nabisco
Years: Early 70's-early 80's (?)

Just a quick post today. I wanted to make sure I added this unique treat to the shelves before I forgot. I have never heard of this product before until I read about it on the super awesome blog by Jason Liebig called "Collecting Candy".

You should check it out. Go now! (Or hang out here for a bit. But then check it out immediately after.)

Image by Jason Liebig/Collecting Candy.com

Anyway, here it is, Gorp. By Nabisco or David & Sons, depending on what year you are talking about, and who you ask, but since nobody seems to remember this, there aren't many people to ask. Except for Jason Liebig. And he's already told me everything he knows I think. (haven't you checked out his blog yet?)

http://www.collectingcandy.com/wordpress/

Anyway, I'm looking for first hand memories of people eating/consuming/purchasing this product.

We need to keep these forgotten treats memory alive. GORP/GORP Plus........We will never forgot!

(Is it possible to forget something if you don't remember it in the first place? Hmmm.)

Anyway, GORP. Good Ol' Raisins and Peanuts.

It did exist.

From the Snack Aisle: doo-dads

doo-dads
Company: Nabisco
Years: Late 60's-90's

 
Image from Jason Liebig

Another great Nabisco Snack Mix that people seem to fondly remember is doo dads. It was a snack made up of 5 different parts: Toasted peanuts, pretzels, rice squares, wheat squares and cheese Tid-Bit Crackers (which were so popular you could buy Tid-Bits by themselves).
I know it sounds like Chex Mix, but as it turns out, it was nothing even close, so much that if you even compare them to an avid doo-dad lover you will get beaten. They are nothing alike. doo dads are 100X better (or so I've been told).
Once a snack staple starting in the late 60s, they really became a childhood favorite of everyone in the 70's/80's. In the 90's, as sales stared to slip due to the influx of chips/crackers/snacks that were in the market, doo dads tried out some new flavors hoping to bring them back to life, but the as the 90's came to a close so did doo dads. (though I have heard people say they lasted into the early 2000's....if anyone can confirm that let me know).

90's "Flavor" box (Cheddar and Herb) - photo by ManKatt


I remember eating them as a kid in the 80's, but I don't have the same connection that a lot of people seem to have - eating them while playing board games with the family...snacking on them during long car rides....sharing a box with dad while watching football on Sundays.....doo dads were a popular snack that many people trace back to their youth.

Sadly, they are now gone. Will they ever return from extinction? People have been trying to get Nabisco to relaunch them for years now, but we will have to wait and see if doo-dad nation gets their prayers answered.

Oh, and if you turn the box upside down, it looks like "spap oop". I've seen lots of people make this observation, so flipping the box must have been a regular occurrence for kids in the 70's and 80's.


image by Jason Liebig

From the Snack Aisle: Korkers Corn Twists

Korkers
Company: Nabisco
Years: 1968-Mid 70's

As I add Nabisco's Korkers to my list of extinct groceries, I realize that I am eating Frito's Honey BBQ Flavor Twists. Completely by accident. And my mind is blow. I was going to explain how Nabisco filed for the Korkers Trademark back in 1968, and that Trademark expired back in 1992 (and is still available). I was going to comment on how they marketed Korkers as a great snack for digging through dips, and how I'm surprised nobody has revived the spiral shape in a snack chip since. And then as I wiped the Honey BBQ residue from my finger tips to type, I realized I had been stuffing my face with twin sister of the Korkers the entire time. So I don't really have a whole lot to say anymore.

Korkers were an early 70's snack that were spiral shaped corn chips. Think a curled up Frito. But the name.....Korkers? Does that name seem like an  odd name to anyone else? Almost sounds dirty.

Do you remember Korkers? Feel free to share your thought of the Spiral Snack That Ain't Comin' Back.

Hey, that's good....I should trademark that.

From the Candy Aisle: Bonkers!

Bonkers Candy
Company: Nabisco
Year: Mid 80's


Photo Courtesy of Jason Liebig

"Bonkers - the candy that will cause giant mutant fruits to fall from the sky and crush you." Or at least that is what 10 year old me was hoping would happen. I gave them to my teachers, my parents, my older sisters, and nothing. No giant Fruit. No screams of pain as produce crushed their bones and internal organs. Only a pleasant smile as they enjoyed their candy, and a quick nod or sometimes, a "thank you". So Bonkers always left a bitter taste in my mouth. Not the actual taste, as they were quite fruity (they came in flavors like Grape, Orange, Strawberry, Watermelon, and I think there was even Chocolate), but the bad taste left by the fact that it was blatant false advertising. Lies. Boldfaced lies.

Anyway, Bonkers was a squareish candy that came in a wrapped row, much like Starburst, only they had a fruity outside and filling that was even fruitier. Apparently, there is a knockoff "Bonkers" candy available today that has no relation to the great 80's candy, so I can safely say this one is extinct.