Wondering what dish to make a loved one for their birthday? Go back in time with something invented or made popular the year you (or they) were born. There’s pretty much an equal chance of it being delicious or bizarre, as this roster of recipes and fast-food creations proves.
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1946: microwave popcorn
Whether or not you consider it a meal, microwave popcorn deserves a mention because of how it was invented: accidentally, and at the same time as the microwave. Dr Percy Spencer held a bag of kernels close to a magnetron, an essential component of today’s microwaves, and found they were able to pop.
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1947: milk smoothies
The electric blender gained popularity in post-Second World War kitchens – as this fascinating 1947 pamphlet, “340 Recipes for the new Waring Blendor”, proves. Milk smoothies were one easy dessert home cooks loved to make in them and there’s a whole chapter dedicated to recipes.
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1948: Spam ‘n’ pancakes
Or Spam ‘n’ anything, to be honest. Though invented in 1937, the wartime staple was taken to new heights when rationing ended, with home cooks adding all kinds of flourishes. Baked Spam, Spam fritters and hot Spam-wiches were popular recipes. As was Spam ‘n’ pancakes, as this 1948 ad shows.
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1949: Betty Crocker’s double-quick cake
This early celebrity chef was actually a fictional character and first gained popularity towards the end of the 1940s. Betty Crocker recipes include this “perfect double-quick cake” with three types of frosting (chocolate, orange and plain), which was published in Good Housekeeping in October 1949.
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1950: pineapple upside-down cake
Upside-down cakes – where the fruit is layered at the bottom and the cake is upturned once baked – have been around a little longer. But this version, made with tinned pineapple rings, became a favorite post-Second World War as sweet treats became more attainable.
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1951: bananas Foster
This sticky, sweet dessert was invented at legendary New Orleans restaurant Brennan’s, and it’s still a staple on the menu today (and in home kitchens around the world). Bananas are added to a sauce of butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, doused with rum, then flambéed.
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1952: Chex Mix
Wheat Chex cereal came along in the 1930s, but it somehow took two decades for this mixed-up snack to follow. The company released ads with recipes for Party Mix (later switching the name to Chex Mix) in the 1950s. The snack is made from different Chex cereals mixed with butter, salt, nuts and Worcestershire sauce, then baked in the oven.
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1953: coronation chicken
This sandwich filler and baked-spud topper is made with chicken and sultanas smothered in creamy, curry-flavored sauce – and for those who like the delicately spicy, herby taste, it’s comfortingly nostalgic. It was created for Queen Elizabeth II for her coronation banquet in 1953.
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1954: TV dinners
Popular US brand Swanson wasn’t the first to produce lap trays with separate compartments for peas, potatoes, meat and so on, but it was the first to use the term TV dinner. It was also the company’s huge advertising campaign that took the convenience meal to sofas in homes all across the country.
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1955: Black Forest gâteau
After appearing on a list of Germany’s best cakes in 1949, in the following decade Black Forest gâteau was in recipe books everywhere. As beautiful as it is delicious, we can see why the chocolate, cherry, kirsch and cream layer cake took off so rapidly.
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1956: Cheez Whiz canapés
What could be a better way to impress party or dinner guests than processed cheese spread on crackers? Processed cheese spread on crackers topped with pickled onions and olives, that’s what. As demonstrated in this 1956 ad, Kraft’s processed cheese in a jar really was a lifesaver.
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1957: Whopper
Burger King’s piled-high fast food creation actually pre-dates the Big Mac by 10 years. With a flame-grilled beef patty, thick slices of tomato and onion, crisp lettuce, pickles and mayo in a sesame seed bun, it has been a go-to order pretty much ever since.
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1958: chop suey
We’re not claiming UK beach resort Butlin’s invented chop suey, the stir-fried combo of meat, egg and vegetables that’s actually believed to originate from New York in 1896. But the dish’s inclusion on the holiday camps’ menus in 1958 cemented it as a British favorite that’s still on many people’s roster of quick, easy suppers today.
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1959: Arctic roll
It simply wasn’t a British birthday party without an Arctic roll, the sliceable ice cream cake of sponge wrapped around vanilla ice cream and jelly. It was invented by Dr Ernest Velden, a Czech who immigrated to the UK. It became the familiar Birds Eye treat after the company purchased Velden’s Eastbourne ice cream factory.
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1960: chicken in a basket
Pubs were a huge part of Britain’s food scene in the 1950s and 1960s, and this classic plateless dish is widely held to have been invented by the then-landlord of the Mill Inn in Withington, Gloucestershire. The Cotswolds-born dish, where chicken legs were battered, deep-fried and served in a wicker or plastic basket with fries, became the iconic pub grub of the decade.
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1961: spaghetti bolognese
We don’t want to start a food fight, but spag bol as we know it – a ragù made with ground beef, simmered with tomatoes and other veg, served over spaghetti – is quite different to Italy’s tagliatelle al ragù, made with flatter pasta noodles and a slow-cooked sauce. The British “twist” took off as pasta swept through the country’s kitchens in the 1960s.
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1962: crown jewel dessert
We reckon this wobbly wonder is worth reviving for the name alone (it’s also known as broken glass cake, which is less appetizing, somehow). It’s made by cutting fruit Jell-O into cubes and folding them into thick, lemon-laced cream – a recipe that featured in the brilliantly niche cookbook, Joys of Jell-O.
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1963: Julia Child’s boeuf bourguignon
The rich, hearty beef stew is believed to be a peasant dish from Burgundy, with the first recipe published in the early 20th century. But it was the fabulously flamboyant Julia Child who introduced the meaty marvel to home kitchens across the US and UK through her seminal cookbooks and TV show, The French Chef, which debuted in 1963.
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1964: Pop Tarts
Breakfast that feels more like dessert? Yes please. Every kid’s favorite morning and afternoon snack, Pop Tarts were sold unfrosted when they were first released. Thankfully the extra layer of sugar was added three years later when it was established it wouldn’t melt off in the toaster. Make ours a blueberry.
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1965: Jell-O Italian salad
Jell-O salads had a surprisingly long tenure in kitchens across the US and UK, with home chefs experimenting with savory creations since the instant gelatin was patented in 1897. However, they reached wobbly new heights in the 1960s, when Jell-O launched a range of flavors such as celery, perfect for this eye-catching dish.
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1966: Tunnel of Fudge cake
This cake launched millions of bundt pan recipes (made in the distinctive ring-shaped molds) when it won the long-running American Pillsbury Bake-Off contest in 1966. The butter, sugar, cocoa and nuts in the mix form a tunnel of oozy fudge through the cake as it bakes.
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1967: Big Mac
Burger King may have been the first to bring big burgers to the table, but the Big Mac is the most famous McDonald’s icon – and perhaps the most well-known fast food item in the world. Yet its inception didn’t come from McDonald’s HQ. It was invented by Jim Delligatti, who ran several branches in Pennsylvania, and rolled out across the US the following year.
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1968: taco salad
Ground beef, chicken, shredded lettuce, grated cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, strips of tortilla… You can pretty much throw anything you might wrap in a tortilla into a taco salad, which is often eaten from an edible bowl. But it certainly isn’t an authentic Mexican dish. The first known recipe was printed in California-based Sunset magazine in 1968.
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1969: Fray Bentos pies
Sometimes it’s easy to imagine this entire decade came in a can (or fast food wrapper). Fray Bentos pies required cooks only to pull back the lid and stick them in the oven. They’re still sold in Britain, enjoyed “fresh” from the tin they’re cooked in.
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1970: chicken tikka masala
Anyone hailing from 1970 can dine out on the fact that Britain’s favorite dish was born the same year (probably). Ali Ahmed Aslam, of Glasgow’s Shish Mahal curry house, emptied a can of tomato soup over a chicken tikka dish after a customer complained it was “too dry”. With yogurt and some extra spices, it was an instant hit.
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1971: frozen yogurt
Fro-yo had a huge boom in the 1970s, proving particularly popular with calorie counters looking for a lower-fat alternative to ice cream. Yogurt itself has a long past stretching back around 5,000 years, but of course there were no freezers back then. It’s believed an employee of HP Hood Dairy, in Lynnfield, Massachusetts invented “frogurt” by passing the unfrozen stuff through a soft-serve ice cream machine.
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1973: party hedgehogs
Whoever came up with the idea of threading chunks of cheese, pineapple, olives and other random foodstuffs onto cocktail sticks and skewering them into a baked potato (or halved pineapple) must have been some kind of genius, because the resulting “hedgehog” is the ultimate throwback party snack. A nostalgic treat for Brits, it’s the best kind of sweet and savory pairing.
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1974: Smash
Powdered mashed potato could have been a hard sell. Why not just mash some potatoes? Then came the Smash Martians, who chuckled at “primitive” humans for peeling spuds, boiling them and “smashing them to bits”. It’s still counted among the best British ads of all time.
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1975: pasta primavera
Our love affair with pasta grew even stronger in the 1970s and it has never really gone away. While similar dishes had long existed in Italy, the recipe for pasta primavera – spaghetti with creamy white sauce and seasonal veg – was credited to legendary New York restaurant Le Cirque.
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1976: cheese fondue
The UK and the USA reached peak fondue in the mid-1970s thanks to the popularity of skiing holidays in France and Switzerland, the 1964 New York World’s Fair and the launch of home fondue sets. Serving a pot of gooey cheese thinned with wine and mustard, with bread cubes and potatoes to dip in, was a sure-fire way to impress dinner guests.
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1977: Pot Noodle
Yep, the favorite of students, office workers and builders has been satisfying savory cravings through four decades after being launched by Golden Wonder in 1977. Momofuku Ando invented instant noodles in 1958 but it was these foil-topped cardboard pots that captured the British imagination. Stick the kettle on!
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1978: stuffed peppers
Stuffing stuff in peppers wasn’t new, but the late 1970s brought increased interest in vegetarian dishes. The red, green and yellow fruits were perfect, piquant vehicles for rice mixed with herbs, chopped up veg and that other veggie staple, goats’ cheese.
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1979: lean-times lasagna
This ad in Canadian Living was one of three “quick and economical” recipes from pasta company Catelli aimed at families looking to save money during the recession. Serrated lasagna strips layered with cooked chicken, ready-made tomato sauce and cottage cheese. Simple.
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1980: tri-color pasta salad
Was it even a barbecue without a pasta salad drenched in a mouth-puckering amount of vinaigrette? Was it even a pasta salad if the pasta was just one color? In 1980, at least, the answer to both of these questions was a firm (or al dente) “no”.
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1981: Lean Cuisine
Nestlé brand Stouffer’s launched Lean Cuisine in the US and Canada in 1981, cleverly tapping into the decade’s slimming obsession. The range, still going strong worldwide, debuted with delights like zucchini lasagna and vegetables with rice.
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1982: veggie burgers
American-born Gregory Sams, who owned London restaurant SEED, was the first to market a meat-free patty. His “VegeBurger” was made with seitan (wheat dough washed with water to make a sticky, elastic mass), spices, aduki beans and oat flakes. It took off, of course, and other restaurants and chains quickly adopted their own versions.
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1983: seven-layer dip
This was a many-layered decade. So much so that even the dips couldn’t be left to themselves. No, they had to be piled one on top of the other. The seven-layer dip, still an essential for sports-viewing parties, was a stripy combo of refried beans, sour cream, salsa, scallions, guacamole, tomatoes or olives, and grated cheese.
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1984: blackened fish
Blackened fish is a staple of many trendy restaurants and it’s generally delicious. But it isn’t as modern as it might seem. Blackening involves frying thickly seasoned fillets of fish or meat at a sizzlingly high heat. It’s long been a staple of Louisiana Cajun cooking and 1984 cookbook Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen introduced it to the masses.
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1985: tiramisù
This Italian restaurant staple probably predates the 1980s, though it was the New York Times’ 1985 recipe that launched dinner party hosts everywhere into a frenzy of cold coffee and soggy sponge fingers. It’s still a hugely popular dessert. Hardly surprising since it contains coffee, chocolate and cream.
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1986: Micro Chips
If you think Micro Chips don’t count as a “dish”, you’ve clearly never experienced the joy of sitting in front of the TV with a slightly soggy box, still warm from the microwave, and tucked into string fries doused in salt, vinegar and ketchup. They’re still available (in the UK at least), renamed as Quick Chips.
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1987: chocolate fondant
Fans of 2014 film Chef might know it as the “molten” chocolate lava cake that helped ruin the career of Jon Favreau’s title character, while MasterChef viewers have likely witnessed many contestants fall with a failed fondant. And it was, appropriately, a mistake that created it. Jean-Georges Vongerichten undercooked a sponge at his New York restaurant JoJo and his error proved so popular he typically serves more than 1,000 every day.
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1988: Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles pizza
Fans of the supersize, sewer-dwelling turtles might remember this one – whether they actually ever got to taste it or just constantly nagged their parents to buy it. The full-size pizzas had your standard pepperoni and extra cheese toppings. But the mini slices had green crusts and were topped with apple.
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1989: McPizza
Few fast food items have caused as much controversy as the McDonald’s foray into cheese-topped dough. After several years in the planning, it was first offered in a handful of US restaurants before rolling out nationwide – much to the chagrin of Pizza Hut. It didn’t last long, mainly because the prep time was at odds with the idea of fast food. But many still remember it wistfully.
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1990: Doritos casserole
Everyone’s favorite triangular snack (unless you’re a Dairylea fan) has been around since 1972, but this cheesy, crunchy number took them to the dinner table. Usually made with canned cream of chicken soup, cooked chicken, salsa, Nacho Cheese Doritos and more cheese on top, it’s the 1990s version of the tuna noodle casserole.
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1991: Linda McCartney’s lasagna
Lovely Linda made being a vegetarian so much easier when she launched her range of frozen, meat-free meals, from cottage pie to sausages. Lasagna’s usual ground beef was replaced with textured vegetable protein layered with béchamel sauce and cheese.
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1992: Chicken Tonight
If you were anywhere in the 1990s, just reading those two words probably set one of the most catchy and annoying advertising jingles playing through your mind in a loop. Sorry about that. The sauces ranged from creamy Country French to Spanish Chicken and were a simple supper staple for everyone from students to families.
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1993: sandwich towers
The 1990s’ answer to nouvelle cuisine, whose teeny-tiny portions left stomachs grumbling through the 1980s, was tall food – piling anything from salads to pies to vertiginous new heights. Sandwiches were the easiest to layer and suddenly three slices of bread just weren’t sufficient.
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1994: Thai green curry
Pioneering British TV chef Keith Floyd helped millions of home cooks add a new recipe to their roster when he included a Thai green curry, made with a shop-bought paste, in his cookbook Guide to Southeast-Asia Cooking.
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1995: stuffed-crust pizza
Food scientist Patty Scheibmeir came up with Pizza Hut’s stuffed-crust number. Despite conflicting claims, she is credited with being the first to find a way to get even more cheese into a pizza – and, perhaps, encourage children to eat their crusts.
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1996: jellied chicken terrine
It’s surprising enough that setting foods in Jell-O and aspic was such a dominant trend of the 1960s and 1970s. That it returned to add a wobble to 1990s dinner tables is surely something no one could have predicted. Shredded chicken set in aspic with vegetables and cilantro (the herb du jour) was a frequent guest at summer weddings.
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1997: foam
This was the year the revered El Bulli, based just outside of Barcelona, Spain, won its third Michelin star. It sadly closed in 2011 but chef Ferran Adrià’s creations remain hugely influential. His use of foams – such as in the espuma de humo, a glass with smoked water foam served with croutons – was an especially controversial and memorable creation on the 1997 menu.
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1999: cantaloupe soup
As the world prepared for millennium celebrations – and everyone wondered whether the world would stop as the clocks struck midnight – there was only one thing to serve. Recipes featuring the orange-fleshed melon were everywhere this year. Want to party like it’s 1999? Try this chilled, sweet soup.
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2000: fish in sea salt
The last 12 months of the millennia was also the year a certain mop-topped cockney chef rose to fame. Jamie Oliver’s TV show, The Naked Chef, debuted in 1999 and a cookbook quickly followed in 2000. It introduced us to the delights of homemade focaccia, pancetta, sun-dried tomatoes and whole fish baked in sea salt, which seals in the steam and results in tender, flaky flesh.
