I still love Fruit Loops :-)

A lot of packaged baked goods we had as kids are no longer the same. First they replaced cane sugar with corn syrup and took a lot of the cocoa out of the chocolate. The final nail in the coffin of snack foods was the banning of trans fats. Trans fats were what gave so many baked goods the mouth feel and also helped to retain their freshness. That is why so many things today taste stale out of the box, especially to those who know what they were like before.

In the mid 90's the Continental Baking which had always owned the brand was bought by Continental Baking and the slide in quality began then. After they filed for bankruptcy and came out of it the entire product line seems to have changed. I won't even buy Wonder bread products at all anymore. The closest things to what Hostess used to be like is are Little Debbie (McKee Foods) items and Rainbo bread products by the Bimbo Bread company.

I grew up on Wonderbread/Hostess and Mother's Cookies (a local family owned brand). Sadly both brands are only a shadow of their former selves. Neither come into our home. They are that awful.

"I loved Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies. I bought some a few years ago and they were pretty awful."

Yes! Those and the ones Keebler makes. I bought a few boxes recently and gave the unopened ones to a food pantry.

Cap'n Crunch is something I know I've eaten because I know I never want to taste it again.

Mom didn’t buy Twinkies etc, but we could get Hostess at the pool. I loved Suzie Qs. But like wildchild said, they have changed ingredients and are no longer the same. I’ll still eat a twinkie, suzie q, or ho-ho, though.

I used to love Hostess Ding Dongs growing up, the ones covered in foil. I bought a box in the last few years for my exchange students, and I remember how awful they tasted. Should have tipped me off.

I know I had never had a twinkie growing up because they were a thing later and I knew nothing about them. I must have had one at some point-college? I have a sense of sweet icky goop. We had the chocolate cupcakes and snowballs for our lunches as kids. I dont know why my mother bought Snowballs because no one actually liked them. They had this thick elastic coating covered with "coconut" in pink or white. The cake was "chocolate" but dry with some sort small injection goop but the covering was fun to play with. You peeled it off and made shapes. I dont think it was edible even way back. The cupcakes were wonderful. you could remove and eat the white ziggity thing on top then peel off the really good chocolatey frosting and the cupcake with its injection of chocolate goop was moist and nice. I really liked those tiny donuts with the powdered sugar coating. They tasted cold. I cant imagine eating one today.

It's odd but the Mexican versions of old favorites and some store brands are better than the redone name brands. Recently bought Safeway Select chocolate chip cookies and they were very close Chips Ahoy used to be.

We used to have a lot of Wonder/Hostess outlet stores. Wednesdays were day old discount days but not much was old. The trucks would drop off what was left from deliveries at the end of each day so it was exactly the same thing you got at the grocery. Had the best raisin bread. No cinnamon. Just a huge pullman loaf chock full of raisins. In the 80s they had a snack cake called Choco Bliss which was a twinkie sized chocolate cake that was layered instead of filled. The middle was a chocolate cream and the top was chocolate icing. Really good.

Never a fan of twinkies but we used to eat Drake's Yodels. Also something called Scooter Pies. A lot of the sweet stuff I ate as a kid make me cringe now...candy corn, those orange peanut things, marshmallow fluff, sweet tarts, fireballs, bazooka bubble gum. Things like the frozen pepperidge farm chocolate layer cakes or frozen chocolate cream pie stuff I loved, but now, yuck! I won't do cool whip anything any more either. And pop tarts...used to have them for breakfast and didn't really like them other than they were quick...can't imagine going near one now. Then there were these other fruit-filled pastry things that you would put in a toaster oven and then drizzle with the packet of icing before you ate them. So artificial.

Thinking back on all the carp I ate, it's a wonder I survived childhood! I guess I was saved by Dad's homegrown organic vegetables...

I've come to the conclusion that no junk food tastes as good as it did when I was a kid. I guess that the manufacturers are subbing out even more artificial ingredients than before. Oreos, for instance, have no taste. Is it Mother Nature's way of telling me not to eat it? Yodels! Did you eat off all the chocolate coating and then eat the cake part? Ah, memories!

Also as we age, our tastes change. I never liked broccoli as a kid, but now it's fine. My parents would tell me how sweet the peas were and I never tasted sweet in them, but now I do, very much...even in cabbage I taste sweet.

Yeah, we didn't get stuff like that when I was a kid either mainly because the money couldn't be spent on it. However, if we had a field trip in grade school and needed to pack a lunch (we did most days anyway) Mom always put a Hostess Cupcake or bag of Fritos in the bag. It was a super treat.

I do like Hostess Cupcakes even as an adult and go on kicks where I have a box in the house frequently. However, the cakes are SO small now days! And then sometimes I'll bring home the Little Debbies version by mistake. I think they are even smaller. Taste about the same tho.

My mom never bought Twinkies so they were a rare treat at others’ houses. A while back they were on sale so I bought a box. Bit into one and BLECH what the heck?! Turns out I bought banana flavor by accident. What a disappointment. I’m sure now I’ll be tempted next time I walk down that aisle.

I like liverwurst as a kid. Can’t say I don’t like it now, but it looks off-putting enough for me not to order it. Maybe I’ll try some again along with a twinkie.

I don't think Twinkies were ever actually *good*. They certainly had to have a ton of chemical preservatives in them. My HS yearbook has a photo of a classmate with a sour expression who is holding a half-consumed Twinkie. It's captioned, "No wonder this was so cheap." At my home, Hostess bread was referred to as 'duck bread', only good for throwing to the ducks in a nearby pond. (And not good for the ducks, either.)

When Northwestern won the Rose Bowl in 1996 we bought a box of Wheaties because it had a Wildcat on the box. Our mistake was eating some of the product. WALLBOARD!

I agree with Wildchild....those things did taste better back in the day. I was a very picky eater when I was a kid. My mother kept some things on hand for me when I didn't eat whatever they were having for supper. (It was just my mother, father and me....all siblings were grown and gone.) I loved Swanson tv dinners. I thought that was such a treat. Another thing I loved was Swanson's Chicken Fricassee. Some years ago, I bought a can of it. It was horrible. Likewise canned soup, which I no longer eat. It isn't that chicken noodle is awful....actually, I think of all of the soups, it may be the best, but I don't eat canned soup any more. I don't eat much of canned anything. I have a couple cans of pineapple and a couple cans of green beans and a few cans of tomato sauce and one, ro-tel tomatoes. I will probably buy a can of tuna when I go to the store again.

As far as eating sweets when I was a kid, my mother was a good cook and often baked, but it was usually pies, because that is what my dad liked. I didn't eat pie until I was in high school, and worked at a little restaurant that served homemade pies and cakes. I learned to like coconut, lemon and chocolate pie. I still don't like fruit pies. Soda pop was a rare treat. Never in the home. My school didn't allow kids to buy sodas....there was a machine in the teacher's lounge, which was off limits.

Packaged treats were seldom in our home. My mother used to buy some to go in my dad's lunch, because he took a lunch to work, but I seldom got any. Only after I was grown did I have very much access to them. I used to like Little Debbie's brownies....can't stand them now.

I had a coupon for free Hostess mini donuts recently, so I got them. They were not at all good - I threw them out.

When I was a child, my mother never bought any of those types of snacks - nothing Hostess, no Little Debbie, etc. I remember sitting in the lunchroom and longing for a Hostess SnoBall or cupcake that I would see so many of the other kids eating! I did finally have a chance to eat one at a playmate's house, but I don't remember if I liked it! Maybe not, since I didn't particularly want them after that.

I used to love Twinkies as a kid but they had to be frozen. Been a long time!

I'm clearly in the minority. I loved Hostess products as a child and still do though I don't get them very often. But that's because they are fattening, not because I don't like the taste. We didn't have them in the house too often when I was a child because my mom made dessert, either pie, pudding or cake or ice cream every night. My friends liked staying overnight at our house because my mom let us have pie or cake for breakfast if we wanted it!! Those are fond memories for me.

Twinkies have always been disgusting to me. They make me nauseous and I simply cannot eat one. I never liked any of the Hostess cakes very much, except for Ding Dongs. I tried them when they started being made by a different company and they're not the same. I don't actually like any kind of snack cake, because they're all too sugary. Sara Lee was making some really good ones, but I can't find them anymore.

I grew up eating lots of mass produced candy, snacks and other 'treats', but now I often detect a chemical taste I can't stand.

Not arguing that some formulations haven't changed over time, but consider that when we were kids, our knowledge and experience were more limited. If we didn't have something to compare, how would we know whether that thing we loved was better or worse?

And yes, I understand our taste abilities change with age. A number of things I hated as a kid are now favorites, and a number of former faves now leave me cold. I recall an experiment that concluded there is no such thing as too sweet, when it comes to kids' taste buds.

I think we love things we're used to, and when they change, it could be the unfamiliar taste that puts us off, but to someone else, it may be what they're used to and love.

P.S. I used to eat liverwurst and braunschweiger regularly as a kid, I can even still recall the flavor and texture, and now - just NO.

I grew up eating Tastykakes. I had two favorites, Butterscotch Krimpets and Chocolate Kreamies. The company was sold so the original Tasty Baking company no longer exists and they arent quite the same as when i was a kid. However, I won’t turn down a Kandy Kake or Krimpet.

Twinkies are and always have been disgusting especially the ones that look like balls of coconut. Gross.

Remember Tastykake chocolate cupcakes which were my favorites were three for ten cents? Also liked Krimpets. They were a Philly company and popular in PA. Because they changed hands maybe that is why I hated them when I tasted one years ago, Very different and chemical tasting.

foodonastump, liverwurst, that brings back memories. I liked it as a kid but haven't had it in years. My mom used to make a liverwurst sandwich for me for school lunch in elementary school. She had to stop because it grossed out the other students and I got teased for liking it. No kids in my elementary school ate liverwurst. More like PB&J. And I never liked PB&J!

I still pack liverwurst sandwiches for picnic lunches, just like my mother did. I put sliced cornichons in the middle.

PS We called it teewurst at home, not sure if there is a difference.

I adore liverwurst! Love it on toast for breakfast or in a sandwich with red onions and rye bread. But the brand I prefer (local - Bavarian Meats) has radically reduced their offerings and it is no longer available. I have found nothing else good enough to replace it.

Braunschweiger on white bread with ketchup!! Yum! My parents had this all the time when I was growing up and I didn't like it then. I don't remember when I tried it again and discovered I liked it. I live in Oscar Meyer country and my brother worked for them for awhile. Good times!

Liverwurst/braunschweiger for me is a poor man's pate. Pate isn't so common in the US and is usually quite pricey. This grocery store deli section cousin is pretty readily available and is a reasonable substitute. I don't eat it often, but I enjoy it when I do.

Yes, cornichons and pickled onions are the traditional accompaniments to pate.

I was a much pickier eater as a child, and I did not like sweets. Therefore I am unable to think of anything I liked as a child that I would not today, although I liked a lot of very bland things back then. I liked squash and potatoes plain - no salt, butter, or pepper - just the vegetable by itself, and that includes celery and lettuce, although I did like vinaigrette salad dressing on my lettuce.

One thing I may have liked that I no longer do is French salad dressing. I liked it as a child because that was one of the few options I had for salad dressings back then, especially in roadside restaurants.

I liked Texas Toast from Dairy Queen back then also, and I don't think I would like that today.

My mother made our lunches for us to take to school pretty much every day. Mine consisted of my very favorites: a salami and cheese sandwich on Wonder Bread, some Fritos, a thermos of milk, and a Hostess Twinkie or Snoball. I can't remember the last time I ate a twinkie or snoball, though. A very, very long time ago (LOL)! You've gotten my interest, and I'm going to buy one soon just to try.

I ate lots of Hostess chocolate cupcakes in my school lunch and liked them. They taste dry, like cardboard now. Even the marshmallow cream center is bad. What I could never stand in my mouth were the animal crackers in the little cardboard box with the string. Now I see them in a sack in stores all dyed pink. My step mother made a dessert with Twinkies that she carried to church gatherings. Everyone raved over it. All I remember about it was she poured some kind of whipped cream/pudding mixture over the twinkies and refrigerated it.

I have always wondered how they got that rubbery stuff on the outside of the snoball. They need to do one of those "How it's made" shows on that.

I did most of the family baking from when I was around nine. I started with cookies and brownies and worked my way up. We had this great brownie recipe, cooked relatively thin and very chewy. I lost the recipe in a fire. My brother sold his at school. He loved sweets but he loved money more. We only had store bought for part of the month. Other than the cupcake homemade was always preferred.

Lily, I have to admit I still occasionally grab a Tastykake when i get something at Wawa. Usually an applepie. I love the crust even though it has a greasy quality to it..

Hostess isn't what it used to be that's for sure. Ding dongs used to be so good.

I like liverwurst sandwiches, on white bread, with Miracle Whip and lots of crunchy lettuce. I don't like canned soups either now. I grew up on Campbell's soup. My favorite as a child was chicken vegetable, the one with the flat, rectangular shaped noodles. 10 to 20 years ago they changed the recipe and ruined it forever for me.

kathsgrdn, try it open face on toasted bread with mayo and a slice of tomato. That's my favorite if not eating it like pate - Euro style with cornichons and pickled onions.

I have not eaten liverwust in a while, used to like it, I should give it a try. I remember loving chopped chicken livers from Zabar's deli as a child and I still like chopped liver.

I can't believe there is a thread on Twinkies and nobody has mentioned Zombieland! I don't like Twinkies either, but i do enjoy Woody Harrelson. Great Bill Murray cameo, too. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1156398/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

"I have not eaten liverwust in a while, used to like it, I should give it a try. I remember loving chopped chicken livers"

I'm not sure I've ever had chicken liver but I think foods made from liver will vary in taste, depending on what animal's liver is used. Certainly duck vs goose foie gras or pate don't taste the same, ditto with pates or sausage items (like braunschweiger) made from poultry or pork or beef liver.

Elmer, will try and remember the open-faced sandwich you mentioned when tomato season is here this summer.

Over the holidays, I bought a tin of Royal Dansk butter cookies. I hadn't had them in decades but remembered them well as butter flavored and light. They were horrible! They had no butter flavor but there was a hint of coconut. Hard as a rock. Inedible. Cheapest cookie I could imagine,

I did keep the tin though.

Elizabeth, yes yes, yes yes, yes to the coconut taste. The butter cookies at Costco, only avaible at Christmas, do not have that horrid taste. They are in fact butter cookies, and you will probably still like them, I do.

My favorite chicken livers were in a style that I haven't had since I was a child. The local Kentucky Fried Chicken used to bread and fry them just like they do with their chicken. Wow, were they good! I've thought about bringing some chicken livers into a KFC and seeing if I can tip my way into having them do that for me.

Growing up we did’t eat any of the Hostess or Hostess-type baked goods. Cookies were purchased for packed lunches, and snacks. From time to time my mother would bake pies or cakes for dessert. At some point, I began baking cookies, but those were for ice cream and cookies, or a stand alone evening dessert. They also disappeared quickly.

Now that I think about it, ice cream was the default evening dessert unless some baking had happened.

Devil Dogs! Loved them as a kid and still do as an old lady!

Don't buy them as there are too many in the box, but once in a while I indulge.

My mother used to make liverwurst sandwiches with mustard on Wonder Bread. Loved it as a kid. My tastes have changed. Haven't had it for many years. Not sure I would enjoy it.

My mother was a great cook and baked the most incredible pies and cakes. Nothing in a box compared to what she made. I was spoiled.

Jane

As a kid, I would have been jealous of all of you with your Wonder bread. I wanted my mother to buy that so bad but my father liked A&Ps Italian bread with poppyseeds and that's what we had.

old twinkies were better than the phoenix twinkies

What are Phoenix twinkies?

We call them chemical cakes. Never eat them.

I looked on line and couldn't find the devil dog song:

Sometimes I just feel like a devil dog

Chocolate cake on the top and the bottom

In the middle is delicious cream

Sometimes I just feel like a devil dog

Which just reminded me of good 'n' plenty. Yuck. Can't believe how many I ate and how many times I tried to discern a difference in flavor between the pink and the white. Never could.

Good 'n' Plenty -- why did we even eat that stuff? the power of advertising, I guess.

they stopped making twinkies, and after a few years began making them again. Hence, phoenix