From Taz bars to hedgehog crisps, the iconic snacks Alex James wants to revive alongside Lilt - but

September 06, 2024

THE totally tropical taste of Lilt is no more.

After 50 years on our shelves, the soft drink, which has been bought by Coca-Cola, will now be known as the rather less catchy Fanta Grapefruit & Pineapple.

The new maker swears the ingredients won’t change, yet the move already has fans yearning for a Lilt – including Sun foodie Alex James.

And its not the only childhood fave to find itself left behind.

From Texan bars to Football Crazy crisps, Alex recalls the retro snacks and drinks he would love to see return.

Lilt

WHEN I was a kid in the Seventies, pineapples were genuinely exotic.

Texan

TEXAS held so much glamour when I was young – home to sophisticated American oil barons and cowboys.

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The Texan bar was a crazy mix of nougat and toffee that was heavily advertised on TV, particularly in the break during Happy Days on Saturday mornings.

I still have the strapline ringing in my ears: “It takes a long time to chew a Texan bar.”

Perhaps that was what killed the mighty chew – kids just don’t have the patience these days.

It went the way of the Banjo and the Aztec and disappeared in the 80s.

Hedgehog flavour crisps

THESE caused a huge stir when they came out.

Hit TV comedy show Not The Nine O’Clock News had recently released seminal album ‘Hedgehog Sandwich’.

The story goes Hedgehog foods decided to produce hedgehog flavoured crisps as a joke but to everyone’s surprise they were a huge success.

They never contained real hedgehog – any more than a Pringle contains actual sour cream – but they grabbed your attention.

Eventually, the novelty wore off and the crisps, actually flavoured with pork fat, disappeared.

Burton’s Potato Puffs

PERHAPS these were ahead of their time. In a world where exotic creations such as Space Raiders and Big Hula Hoops hold sway, the simple honesty of a puffed potato couldn’t compete.

Now we can get crisps made from baked chickpeas – but where is the fun in that?

These were spooky flavoured Wotsits, as far as I remember that come in cute little bags, unlike today’s shocking Santa sacks.

Available in a variety of flavours including tomato sauce they were discontinued in 2009.

There is still a lot of enthusiasm for these crisps online with many demanding their return.

Cadbury’s Taz Bars

THESE little caramel filled chocolate bars used to feature the Looney Tunes character Taz, (a Tasmanian devil, since you ask).

But we don’t hear much from Taz these days.

The old favourite was removed from shelves and the bar reintroduced as the Freddo bar in the mid-90s.

Freddo is a frog – presumably the licence was cheaper, although I’m not sure I see the appeal of eating something that looks like a frog.

Bring back Taz!

Rowntree’s Cabana bar

HOW could this possibly have failed?

Many of our favourite chocolate bars were invented in the 1930’s but this one looked a dead cert to freshen things up when it hit sweet shop shelves in the 1980’s.

It took elements of Bounty and Mars, threw in a few chunks of store cupboard staple the glace cherry and dunked it all in chocolate.

There was a successful campaign to bring the Cabana back but its return was short-lived.

Football Crazy

THE food of our childhoods never fails to enchant us in later life.

This is the one that I pine for the most. I discovered these on a family holiday in Scotland.

Frazzle bombs basically – a football shape dusted with bacon flavour goodness. They came in tiny packets that cost 5p.

Cheese flavour seems to hold a monopoly on all spherical snacks these days, but it was not always the case.

We were in a VW camper with a top speed of about 45 miles per hour.

Cars have got better but I swear crisps aren’t as good as they were back then.

Flyte

THE marketing department at Mars must have thought they were on to a winner when they imagineered these back in the mid-nineties.

They seemed to promise so much – twin bars of whipped nougat covered in chocolate and with less fat, too.

It was basically a two pack of Flake-shaped Milky Ways with a new wrapper.

Still, it wasn’t exactly diet food. Maybe that was its undoring.

The fact it shared its name with the tragic hero of Evelyn Waugh’s classic novel Brideshead Revisited meant it was probably doomed to failure.

Fruitang

WHAT a great name.

These chewy treats – along the same lines as Starburst, Chewits or Fruitella – seemed to have what it takes.

They certainly did what they promised on the packet, pushing the tried and tested combination of tutti-fruity, sour and sweet to new heights according to fans.

But despite bringing in Nineties children’s TV favourites Trevor and Simon for the advertising campaign, it seems they were chewed up and spat out by consumers and were soon history.

Panda Pops

PANDAS were never exactly Top of the Pops – there was always something a little bit second rate about them.

The Cola was not great – very sticky and sweet.

They were discontinued as competition stiffened – who wants a second rate cola when healthier soft drinks, exotic bubble teas and crazy energy drinks are readily available?

I have to confess a soft spot for the brand, though.

At least they made drinks that were a sensible size – a 330ml can is too much for a little kid.

Spangles

THESE were a personal favourite of mine.

A pocket sized tube of individually wrapped squares with satisfying indentation which meant they’d stick to the roof of your mouth so that you could eat them undetected in class.

Not quite as bad as a candy cigarette but basically, pure sugar.