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Summer Megaparty: Micro Magic French Fries!

It's July! We still have a month of Megapartying to go! Let's start with potatoes.

As a kid, any excuse to use that wonderful thing called a "microwave" was a good one, but even without the thrill of cooking my own food like a superstar, I still would've adored "Micro Magic" fries.


There was a whole line of Micro Magic microwaveable foods available in the '80s, but the fries...there was nothing on the planet like those fries. They were kind of like the fries you'd get on the hot lunch line at school, assuming you took them home in a napkin, chilled them, and nuked them back to the appropriate level of hot, oily fun. After opening the boxes, you zapped 'em right inside the package, which served the dual purpose of making the fries taste something like cardboard and making the cardboard smell something like fries. They were crude, disgusting and absolutely delicious.

I went on a little Internet hunt that took me to the poorly translated webpages of Japan, where the Micro Magic line has evidently lived on for all of these years. I've never had much of an interest in world travel, but for these fries, I think I'd do it. From what I could gather, they're pretty common over there.

I really should credit the blog I found the picture above on, but I totally lost it. Had like fifteen tabs open in Firefox, all in Japanese, and I just got overwhelmed. Sorry, mystery blog. I owe you one.

What are some of the foods you wish you could eat one more time? Answer in the comments!

Posted by Matt on 07/01/2007. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 263 comments
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They released the locations where they’re turning 7-11′s into Kwik-E-Marts: New York City; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Burbank, Calif.; Los Angeles; Henderson, Nev.; Orlando, Fla.; Mountain View, Calif.; Seattle; and Bladensburg, Md. Matt, you think you might go check it out? I might head out to one but it’s a bit of a trek so I’m happy to leave it to you ;)

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 07/01/2007 8:14 PM

I don’t know why my previous post says “I also own” at the bottom. Odd.

Chestnuts roasted by iAMYou @ 07/01/2007 8:15 PM

Augh, back in the day ( the day being the mid 1990′s ) Burger king released packets of powdered cheese and I think at one point cinnamon sugar as well, and you put them in a special bag and dumped the fires in the bag and then the powder, shook it up, and ate it. Oh my god, I miss that soooooo much.

Chestnuts roasted by Chloe @ 07/01/2007 8:16 PM

Those green Ninja Turtle cookies! and Crystal Pepsi..

Chestnuts roasted by Toxicity- @ 07/01/2007 8:16 PM

Back in the early 80′s Armour made a line of stuffed hot dogs called Frankenstuff. I would love to get my hands on the chili filled version (I think they also had a cheese filled one). They were so disgustingly tasty, just like a chili dog but with 90% less mess. There’s a few references on the net but no good media. Come on Matt find me a commercial of these :)

Chestnuts roasted by John G. @ 07/01/2007 8:18 PM

Actually Matt, if you could find me an unopened package of these I will eat them and change my son’s name to Matt or any other name you choose. I may die and disgrace my family’s name for selling out for some old hot dogs but it will be worth it.

Chestnuts roasted by John G. @ 07/01/2007 8:32 PM

Wow, I’m sure no one will read this since it’s coming in so late, but I really wish I didn’t read this; there’s so many good food memories here. Frankenstuff and Fruit Bites were awesome and I can’t believe that Australia doesn’t have Dr. Pepper!
I wish I could have Rainbow Punch (seriously I’d pay big bucks for that) or Apple flavored Kool-Aid. Really existed, no joke.
I haven’t read all of these, but I remember Micro Magic made shakes. Ugh, those were ass.
The original EL Fudge cookies were great. A wafer of Ernie, with chocolate smeared on the back. That was it, no sandwich cookie here.

Chestnuts roasted by Myke @ 07/01/2007 8:43 PM

Whoa!!! Did anyone know there is Wildwood soda?
http://products.peapod.com/63996.html

O’boise’s are o’boisterious! I prefer those to Tato Skins.
Maybe I have done some drug I should not have in my youth but I remember pudding roll-ups.
Sunkist Candy- These were only found at my gandmothers house. They were nothing more than pure sugar but I was so attracted to the way they were all individually wrapped.

Chestnuts roasted by Bill @ 07/01/2007 9:36 PM

First, I’ll second Crise with the Burger King Italian Chicken Sandwich. It popped up from time to time into the early 2000s, but not having eaten at a Burger King in at least two years, I don’t know if they have lately. It was always my favorite of their sandwiches. Nothing but melted mozerella, a long Italian-seasoned chicken patty, and tomato sauce. Heavenly.

I had no idea they didn’t make Cini-Minis anymore. It was a favorite sweet snack of mine in the mornings.

For cereal, Strawberry Shortcake. I wasn’t usually a huge fan of fruit-flavored cereals, but for Strawberry and her pink corn bits, I made an exception.

Fond memories of Pizzarias and Potato Skins, two of the only brand of potato chips I ever really liked.

Oreo made it’s own brand of cookies and cream ice cream in the mid-80s, before every other ice cream company on the planet jumped on the band wagon and it became a standard flavor. To this day, I’ve never tasted a cookies-and-cream ice cream quite as rich or filled with genuine cookie pieces.

Oh, and a local favorite, Sealtest. You can still see old Sealtest signs on some places in the South Jersey area. I think they died sometime in the 80s, but their vanilla was the creamiest I ever had.

Matt reviewed Oreo’s “Big Stuff” gigantic cookie awhile back, too. And I’ll add the huge white-chocolate-macadamia-nut cookie cafeterias on my college campus sold. I’m not a huge fan of white chocolate or macadamia nuts, but when put together in a massive, sweet, soft sugar cookie, they just made sense.

Snapple made the world’s most divine cream soda in the 80s. For some reason, the only place that sold Snapple then (as well as Froz-Fruit bars) was the aerobics studio where my mom worked. They were one of my sisters and my favorite treats after a class.

Chestnuts roasted by starwenn @ 07/01/2007 9:51 PM

Wow. Now I’m craving all kinds of things!

I would love to get my hands on these things again. Sadly, I only know the actual names of two of them and I’m hoping someone else actually remembers what the others are called:

*Chef Boyardee Roller Coasters. Yes, I know most Chef stuff tastes the same but not these. They were different and I loved them.

*Keebler’s Opera Cremes. My grandmother always kept these and I loved them. Chocolate cookies with a lemony-flavored cream in the middle? Sounds gross but it was awesome–especially with a cold Sun Drop to drink!

*There was a snack that I think was made by Keebler (could be wrong) but they were potato-based (I think) and were basically two “sticks” twisted together. They came in a plain potato flavor but also other flavors–I think there was a nacho cheese one.

*A pasta sauce company (my memory says it was Ragu and I can almost come up with the actual name of the product but I just can’t spit it out) made these jars of pasta, meat and sauce together that you just heated and ate. I swear they were called Ragu Pasta…something! It’s driving me crazy! Anyway, they made a spaghetti one and there were others but my favorite was one with shell-shaped pasta and the meat in them was shaped exactly like rabbit food pellets! Anyone?

*The final one. I have found other people who remember them but no one seems to remember what they were called. They were granola bars but they were cylindrical-shaped because the centers were sort of a quite chewy, nougat-type substance. They were marketed as chewy granola bars but the granola wasn’t really chewy, only the wonderfully over-sweet chewy center. Please tell me one of you knows what I am talking about!

Chestnuts roasted by evilbeth @ 07/01/2007 10:05 PM

:) i’m glad to see that someone else misses Bar None. BEST CANDYBAR EVER!

Chestnuts roasted by phunqsauce @ 07/01/2007 10:17 PM

Because I have kids,I am discovering that alot of things we miss from our childhood has been reinvented to the lastest trend. I promise everyone that is the same thing with a new name.

PacMan Cereal = Shrek Cereal
SmurfBerries = Spiderman Cereal

I completly freaked out when I discovered the Shrek cereal,informing my hubs that he had to know what I was eating and sur enough he did.Good times. same thing with Spiderman.

I have yet to find Strawberry Shortcake cereal but then again my little hasn’t gotten big enough yet.

Chestnuts roasted by shortcake 79 @ 07/01/2007 10:18 PM

I can’t be the only one who’d kill for a cherry Pine Bros. cough drop.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 07/01/2007 10:25 PM

bonkers candy.

Chestnuts roasted by shannon @ 07/01/2007 10:25 PM

now i know there are still Little Caesar’s Pizza places still around but not in my neck of the woods. Hands down the best cheap pizza made…it came on that long piece of carboard (that fit two pizzas [PIZZA PIZZA!]) and slid into a paper sleeve and usually there was some deal to get two orders of Crazy Bread with it for MONDO cheap. Boy that crazy bread sure was crazy…… :D

Chestnuts roasted by phunqsauce @ 07/01/2007 10:29 PM

cherry Pine Bros. cough drop
I’m damn near sure I’ve got a full pack that’s been in the medicine cabinant for many years. If I find them, do you want them?

Chestnuts roasted by dohopoki @ 07/01/2007 10:32 PM

Jeremy Whatsisface: I too loved Pepsi Blue. The nectar of the gods, it was.

Chestnuts roasted by RageTreb @ 07/01/2007 10:35 PM

Pine Bros. cough drops are great unless you’re sick. Irony

Chestnuts roasted by Bill @ 07/01/2007 10:42 PM

7-Elevens turned into Kwik-E-Marts:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070701/ap_on_bi_ge/7_eleven_kwik_e_mart;_ylt=AjmkvTHOQiaASm8BBpGh4Ris0NUE

It says one of the converted 7-Elevens is in New York City. Perhaps we could get an article/blog entry? :D

As for the above topic, I kinda miss those frozen pizzas Pepperidge Farms used to make. They had this flakey pastry-like crust. Mmmm…delicious.

Chestnuts roasted by Luap @ 07/01/2007 10:49 PM

phunqsauce–We still have Little Caeser’s Pizza restaurants around here. They’ve gone from the two pizzas in one long package to offering either a cheese or pepperoni pizza for only $5 “hot and ready” anytime. (You can get a supreme for $8)

And yes, that Crazy Bread is still awesome. You can ask for your pizza crust to be “Crazy Crusted” and they will cover it in the garlic butter and parmesan the Crazy Bread has. Yum!

Chestnuts roasted by evilbeth @ 07/01/2007 10:55 PM

I’m watching Robot Chicken’s version of Star Wars. Very funny.

Chestnuts roasted by Bill @ 07/01/2007 11:06 PM

i want burples again damnit they arent a food but a sorta like kool aid type drink that came in collaspable bottles i miss them so :( if anyone can help me find any info on them it would help or if matt could do a blog entry during the mega party that would be awesome thanks :)

Chestnuts roasted by joker @ 07/01/2007 11:07 PM

I’m pretty sure they still sell Dunkaroos.

And there was a version of Poppcock that was Rice Krispie Treats! Chunks of them…bite-sized!

I also miss the TMNT Chef Boyardee. Even though it was mostly the same thing, it was basically the only kind I ate. (Hell, Brian Regan even mentions it)

And I hate to theorize this…but Vault seems to becoming harder to find. All of my usual Vault hotspots don’t have it, I haven’t seen the 1.5 liter bottles in months (maybe because that size rightfully got discontinued), and the 12 pack of cans are becoming harder to find. I like that Vanilla Coke is back and all…but not at this cost.

Chestnuts roasted by Invader Norbert @ 07/01/2007 11:10 PM

Oh hey, what happened to the Twinkies with cherry filling mixed in with the cream. I want those back, or directions on how to locate them.

Chestnuts roasted by Knegative @ 07/01/2007 11:18 PM

Something jarred my memory, I want those wax bottles full of sickly sugary sweet colored liquid. But just one.

I don’t know that they are not around anymore, but Velamints, the chocolate kind, were great.

And it’s still around, but Kraft bought the company years back and it hasn’t been the same. I want Jacks Pizza. By far the greatest frozen pizza in the world.

I always ate Ludens Cherry or Lemon coughdrops. Those were great for being the popular kid in class for the day. There’s nothing mediciny in the taste.

Chubby Hubby Ice cream. It’s still around, but the hardest to find of all the Ben and Jerry flavors.
This blog makes me hungry.

Chestnuts roasted by kb @ 07/01/2007 11:20 PM

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