It’s probably happened to most of you at some point in your eating experience. You go to bite into — or take a sip of — an item you’ve come to really enjoy, only to find there is, say, more salt, or less chocolate, or just some new ingredient. And with that, the relationship is over…
Take, for example, the diners who are upset at Nathan’s world-famous hot dog eatery in Brooklyn’s Coney Island. Its usual potato supply has run dry, meaning it had to look elsewhere for tubers to turn into its signature crinkle-cut fries.
“I don’t like this and refuse to buy those fries again,” writes one former fan of Nathan’s. “They aren’t the fries I’ve been going there for all my life.”
Now, the Nathan’s recipe change is alleged to only be a temporary measure, but the food biz has a long history of tinkering with recipes — whether out of cost-cutting or out of attempts to innovate — with wildly varying degrees of success.
Anyone who lived through the brief New Coke debacle of the ’80s knows what we mean. Of course, some will say that both Coke and Pepsi’s decision to replace sugar with high fructose corn syrup is what drove them away.
So we wanted to know about the recipe changes that had you looking for new options. Maybe your favorite ice cream suddenly had fewer chocolate chips, or your favorite hot dog suddenly had a bizarre tangy flavor, or that pizza place you liked started putting things into the crust that had you raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
Whatever it was, tell us about it in the comments!
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KFC’s Extra Tasty Crispy chicken was the bomb. Then they got rid of Extra Tasty Crispy and, after what seemed like an eternity, replaced it with Extra Crispy, which has MOST of the crunch but none of the taste of the original.
Velveeta Shells and Cheese — I’m not sure what they’ve changed (be it removing trans fats or replacing a cheese component with more chemicals) but it doesn’t taste anything like it used to. To me it has an almost metallic aftertaste and just puts me right off. It’s actually driven me into the arms of store-brand shells and cheese options as their cheese sauce is cheddar-based and tastes more “natural” than Velveeta does.
Not exactly my favorite food, but I grabbed a Walmart take and bake pizza for the first time in months the other day (I don’t go to walmart often anyway) and there was a sticker on the box that said “new and improved crust”. I though “well crap, I bet this sucks now”. I am pretty positive that the old crust was a rising crust style like Digornos. The pizza I had the other day did have a slightly bready crust, but the edges of the crust didn’t rise at all and didn’t have any taste to speak of. It used to be a halfway decent tasting yeasty crust but not anymore.
Right! Decades of experience have convinced me that anything good that comes out in a New Improved form or even with a new packaging is going to be crap.
Regression to the mean, you might say: If something is better than average, then a random change will usually bring it down toward the average. But I swear that in commerce the regression isn’t to the mean but to the bottom.
Thought of one. Anybody else remember back in the day when, at Taco Bell, ‘supreme’ meant more than just tomatoes and sour cream? Black olives and I think scallions too! I keep wondering why the Burrito Supreme tastes less supremey for the past few years… that and the beef slop isn’t as good anymore.
My wife has been arguing with me that the beef didn’t change. Glad to hear someone else thinks it’s worse.
They got rid of scallions after a brief samonella (if memory serves) scare and never brought them back. That was the one fresh thing that made the Nachos bellgrande less greasy/gloppy/salty.
All of the Dairy Queens in my area have started thinning the chocolate used for their dipped cones. This was one of my favorite treats ever. Now it tastes primarily like wax and the thinness removes much of the eating enjoyment for me. Now for the few times I go out for a treat I go elsewhere (BR Baseball Nut, I’m looking at you…).
I too love the hard shell sauce, I always have hot fudge sauce subbed out with the hard shell.
(Mmmmmmm……)
The hard shell sauce is very easy to make at home, I use a mix of melted chocolate and coconut oil. Comes out just how I like it, crunchy at first and then smooth.
I used to love going to wendys, usually got the big bacon classic burger,last year they made the bun and patty much smaller; changed the pickles and onions, I haven’t gone there since.
I used to LOOOOVVVEEE the Quizno’s prime rib and peppercorn sub. That peppercorn sauce was amazingly delicious. I probably went there once a week for years for lunch at work. Then somewhere along the line in like 2009 they decided to take the sliced delicious prime rib that they would dip in au jus and put on your sub to go through the toaster and change it into basically crumbly disgusting steak-ums type meat. I can’t go back in there, it’s just disgusting and I sooooo miss those subs!
I just don’t know, maybe it’s me, but the super-juicy, organic, naturally sweet
orgasmically tasty golf ball sized photo perfect strawberries that I grow in
my garden are just a teensy bit off for some reason……you know I’ve notice
all fresh non-processed food is just not quite right; it all seems to be too perfect,
too delicious, you know, too satisfying and worst of all, too healthy for me…..I’m just
going to have to go back to fast food.
Well aren’t you just precious. Bless your heart.
Kraft French Onion Dip was my favorite Dip and then some “DIP”
at Kraft thought it was a good idea to turn it into thin, runny, disgusting slop that is more like a salad dressing than a dip.
PLEASE Kraft..,. give us back the Original French Opion Dip !
I want to know what happened to the Kraft Green Onion Dip – it was the greatest chip/veggie dip ever created, and now I can’t find it anywhere!
Wendy changed their French Fries…. for the worse as far as I am concerned.
They are now a much different texture and WAY too salty.
But Burger King actually made their fries Better !
That’s good because the last time Burger King started pushing “tastier” fries, they were terrible. Years later, I saw a Consumerist article that said nobody liked those fries, even though several fast food places were using them.
I much prefer Wendys new fries. Burger King fries are NEVER salty enough to suit me, and McDonalds is hit and miss.
Not a recipe change…. but I stopped going to Bertucci’s Pizza when they stopped making/service their Bertucci’s brand of beer.
It made the meal for me.
Hungry Howie’s Pizza used to have a Garlic Salt crust that I loved for years & years and they decided to discontinue it & replace with a Garlic Herb grossness. The Garlic Salt crust was the only reason I was buying two pizzas or more a week from them.
FiberOne Oats & Chocolate bars are delcious & I love them, but their new “improved with bigger chips” seems to have me ending up with less chocolate overall than I got when they were smaller chips, so it’s less enjoyable now.
Ages ago, Meijer used to make fresh donuts in there stores each night (I know for a fact they did because I used to make them) but now it’s just stuff they ship in frozen, thaw & put on the shelves. Not even worth eating.
Oh, I’d almost forgotten this one! Milkshakes. I used to like to get BK & McD chocolate shakes, drink half & put the other half in freezer to eat later, but now if I want a shake, I have to remember so specify I don’t want whipped cream & a cherry on top! I didn’t order a sundae, I ordered a shake! What’s with this extra crap? And even if I remember to tell them not to add these things, I think the shake mix itself has been changed, too.
Wendy’s Singles, now taste awful, don’t go there anymore.
Papa Gino’s Pizza, had a Thick Crust with Parmasean cheese baked in the crust, they don’t make it anymore, so I don’t go there anymore. they always sold out of it, why not have it?
McDonalds hamburgers made me sick everytime I ate one for about 2 years, ok now though.
Miracle Whip, something changed, not as good.
KFC’s chicken not as good.
Hardee’s hand breaded chicken tenders is awful.
Quizno’s bacon anyting is awful, bacon tastes bad.
Recipe changes often involve cost INcreases, not cost-cutting.
I used to use Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup on tons of things. Then they changed the formula to make it “creamier.” Instead, they made it oily and stick-to-your-mouthy. It was disgusting. Luckily, the store brands haven’t seemed to have made the “creamier” change so I just buy those now. I grew up near a Campbell’s soup plant so it made me sad to stop buying their product.
One of my favourite soups was Campbell’s Ox Tail. I loved the stuff. But they don’t make it anymore. Another childhood favourite, one that I chose as my birthday dinner one year, was Franco-American Macaroni and Cheese, the one with the long macaroni. I could eat it straight out of the can! Haven’t been able to find it in Canada in decades and apparently they stopped production in the U.S. in the late 90s. Heinz made a similar product but the sauce just wasn’t the same.
How about when a place has an item that you love and then discontinues it? My wife loves Macaroni Grill for some reason, I think because she has 2 Italian Margaritas before she eats but I digress. I used to love the Italian Nachos then they took them away, never been back since.
Ahh, Bella Napoli! (IIRC)…deep fried lasagna noodle goodness. That was one awesome appetizer. Sorry, it’s my fault that was discontinued. You see, every time I find something I really like, red flags are raised and sirens go off to signal whatever company that makes the item to immediately remove if from their store shelf or menu. Seriously, this happens all the time…it’s gotten to the point where if I find something I like, I keep my mouth shut out of fear of jinxing it. /s
Yes I know what you mean. That happens to me too. We don’t eat out very often but I find things that I like and crave them, so when I go to a place and that item isnt available anymore it makes me bypass that place next time. We both miss the zucotto balls from Magianos’s, even if the food isn’t real Italian it is good.
How about the new Red Baron pizzas? Another “improved recipe!” that is so terrible I won’t be buying ever again.
The new french fries at Wendy’s. I loved the old fries, but can’t stand the new ones.
offhand-Chef Boyardee abc’s and 123′s (yeah, I know, Chef Boyardee, don’t get your hopes up) used to be regular pasta, now it’s whole wheat. Unless you cook the heck out of it, it’s not good. Kraft Mac n’ Cheese-seriously, Kraft? Smart mac n’ cheese made out of cauliflower-nice try but no. Now they do extra fiber and omega-3′s or some such. Oh-and if you want good onion dip, mix a packet of french onion soup with a pint of sour cream or thick plain yogurt. let sit for about an hour, stir again and serve. Also good on baked potatoes…. you’re welcome
John B
Oh…boy where to start
Ice Cream – almost all use GMO’s(MILK) and GUAR GUM in their recipes Haagen Daaz uses sugar but uses GMO’s; you cannot win. Ben JErry’s loves the GUAR GUM. Of course the major betrayal was Breyer’s which destroyed a hundred years of Natural ice-cream by switching to the GUM and claiming they wanted better consistency.
-GUAR GUM allows companies to give less ice-cream, as guar gum is really a filler. Prices go up, they give you less Ice-Cream and they show better profits for it because they word it so they can manipulate you.
- Coke/Pepsi – HFCS destroyed the flavor and left me with a filmy residue on my teeth.
- Store Brought CAKES ie Bakery Cakes and ENtermin’s – I challenge anybody to find products that has more unpronounceable products than cake products.
- American Chocolate. Hershey has no taste. I tried a Hershey’s bar for the first time since, 2003, and it got worse. It was awful before, but now it’s uneatable.
Capitalism, destroyed my food. Why can’t an all natural company compete?
20 years ago, Breyer’s actually ran ads where some guy read competitors’ ingredients lists out loud and specifically mocked them for using carageenan and guar gum.
However, gotta disagree with you about HCFS. I’ve had the Mexican Coke right alongside its American counterpart noticed only a SLIGHT difference. Taste being necessarily subjective, YMMV.
Breyer’s. They make me so mad… they used to have that “Real” seal on their dairy products; now, most of their ice cream flavors aren’t even called “ice cream” — they’re “Frozen Dairy Dessert.” Chocolate and vanilla are just about the only ones left that are real ice cream. I used to love their yogurt, but it went away.
That was the only brand I would buy because they actually used cream and didn’t have all the fillers that other brands have. I haven’t bought any in a long time and didn’t know they changed. Ugh!
This in not necessarily a recipe change but a item discontinuation. It was when KFC discontinued their rotisserie chicken in the mid-90′s. That was some amazing, tasty stuff. I heard it had to do with the coast of making the chicken.
Anything and everything by Kraft. Used to like their cheese and other products…no more.
Yogurt.
At least 90% of the yogurt in regular supermarkets is now low-fat or fat-free. The large, plain tubs and the Stonyfield baby yogurt are just about the only ones left. Even the stupid ones with candy in them are low-fat! There are a couple “hippie” brands like LIberté and Brown Cow still make the full-fat varieties, but the rest are changed.
This is terrible because it’s all fake stuff now. More or less the ENTIRE food of yogurt is all diet food now. Imagine this with other foods: Cheese, ice cream, cakes and cookies. Potato chips — enjoy dripping oil out of your backside! Also, they thicken yogurt with gelatin, and many use artificial sweeteners, natural (ground-up beetles) color, and fake fruit. Yogurt was one of my favorite foods, but I refuse to eat diet food.
I can’t stand that you can only buy the individual yogurts in low-fat or fat free. I buy the large container of whole milk yogurt and add my own fruit rather than the fake stuff.
Hershey’s Chocolate. There used to be a time when a Hershey’s bar with nuts was a slice of heaven, but now ick.
Wendy’s hamburgers. The bun isn’t as good, and there’s waaay too much mayo and ketchup on it now.
Pretzel M&M’s. They changed them to have “more pretzel flavor”. This seems to mean there’s a lot less chocolate. It’s like trying to eat candy coated pretzels. The shell isn’t as crunchy either. Bleh.
Cookie Crisp, hands down. When Ralston-Purina made the cereal it actually tasted like cookies. General MIlls buys the rights to Cookie Crisp and forgot the recipe…damn cereal tastes like Cocoa Puffs, much like any garbage cereal they make that has any sign of chocolate flavoring.
Just bought this year’s birthday cake from Target. The frosting, which used to taste like buttercream, now tastes and feels like sugared Crisco. Very greasy. And heavy. Ugh… Going to a real bakery next year.
General Mills Ruins Liberte yogurt
Dear Jeremy Gold, Leberte Yogurt made in Canada did not need any necessary or minimal changes. It was one of the best foods on the planet. No one opened a container after your manufacturing process to check for looks, taste and consistency? You sent out an inferior Liberte product to all Liberte devotees. This fact speaks loudly that General Mills has no clue or concern for all us that were used to a superior product produced in Canada. As a diabetic, the Liberte yogurt produced in Canada was my only vice. General Mills has taken from me the one food I looked forward to each and every day.