20 California Youth Food Crazes From The ’70s That Would Confuse Today’s Teens
The 1970s in California were a delirious picnic of health kicks, mall snacks, and accidental genius. Teens with feathered hair and roller skates munched through trends that now seem like a dare.
Granola was a badge of righteousness. Ranch dressing flowed like rivers. Perrier was haute couture. Some of these fads were born in Berkeley co-ops, others in mall food courts, and still more on porches in jars under the sun.
Here are 20 vintage bites and sips that shaped Golden State youth culture, and would absolutely perplex the energy-drink generation today.
1. Mission-Style Burritos
The wrap was a brick, a log, a handheld sleeping bag of food. Every teen wanted one. You could barely grip it with one hand.
Inside: rice, beans, salsa, meat, guacamole, sour cream, and more, all fused in a foil tomb. La Cumbre and El Faro staked the original claims.
It became a NorCal ritual. Burrito in hand, you were fueled for late-night cruising or hillside loitering. Forget utensils. Forget plates. This was efficiency, warmth, and burrito as worldview.
2. Carob Brownies And Cookies
They looked like chocolate, smelled like chocolate, but then… betrayal. A chewy, vaguely nutty slab that didn’t melt right.
Carob was the anti-candy. Parents praised it. Health food stores pushed it like gold. Brownies, cookies, even frosting got the swap.
You either adapted or silently mourned. Teens packed them in lunches next to apple slices, pretending not to notice the difference. Sugar was the enemy. Carob was the future. Or so they were told.
3. Avocado And Alfalfa-Sprout Sandwiches
The green tangle looked like something from a biology project, but kids ate it proudly. Especially in Venice or Berkeley.
Creamy avocado met bitter sprouts and grainy bread. Sometimes a tomato slice. Sometimes mustard. Always raw, always earthy.
This was rebellion in sandwich form. No bologna. No plastic cheese. You made one of these, you were enlightened. You refused processed meat, and maybe even wore toe shoes.
4. Granola-And-Yogurt Parfaits
Parfaits meant layers. Textures. Glasses that looked like geology cross-sections. Teens lined up at co-ops for the treat.
Plain yogurt. Then granola with raisins. Then maybe a sliced banana. Repeat. Drizzle of honey on top like a golden benediction.
Spoons clinked like wind chimes. It was breakfast, dessert, and declaration. You were earthy. You were cool. You probably composted.
5. Tiger’s Milk Nutrition Bars
They had the texture of chalk compressed by guilt. Still, kids gnawed them like power snacks.
Tiger’s Milk was one of the first “sports bars” before sports bars had their gym-rat sheen. Packed with vitamins, minerals, and ambition.
Moms loved them. Teens tolerated them. You unwrapped one on a hike or after school, chewed for five minutes, and maybe survived till dinner.
6. Hot Dog On A Stick And Lemonade
Uniforms were striped, hats were tall, and the mall was a stage. You lined up at Hot Dog on a Stick like it was Broadway.
Corn dogs were fried to a golden crisp, the lemonade hand-pressed to a tart froth. Theater in every bite and sip.
It wasn’t just food. It was choreography. Teens carried the stick like a baton and sipped lemonade like rebels in braces.
7. Orange Julius Drinks
It came in Styrofoam and foamed like shampoo. One sip and you understood nothing but citrus.
Orange Julius was a drink-slash-mousse, a dairy-sugar-orange storm first whipped up in the 1920s but adopted wildly by mall teens in the ’70s.
Sticky upper lips were the norm. You drank one while trying to look cool in flared corduroys, then burped quietly behind a fern.
8. Perrier In Green Glass Bottles
This wasn’t about thirst, but about sparkle. Teens sipped Perrier like it was an SAT test for your taste.
Green bottle. French label. No sugar. Just bubbles and bragging rights. Sometimes with a slice of lime, sometimes not.
If your parents stocked it, you flaunted it. If not, you “borrowed” one at a party and drank with squinty seriousness.
9. Wheat-Germ Add-Ins
The jar looked like fish food. You sprinkled it with reverence. Or obligation.
Wheat germ went into smoothies, muffins, pancakes, even cereal bowls. One scoop, your mom said, and you’d basically become immortal.
Nobody loved the taste. But you said you did. Especially when older cousins visited from San Francisco and judged your pantry.
10. Brewer’s Yeast On Popcorn
It smelled like a beer spilled on gym socks. And yet it was sacred.
Brewer’s yeast was health royalty. A tablespoon on popcorn and suddenly you were fighting scurvy and teen acne in one fell crunch.
Some kids brought shaker jars in lunch boxes. Others just nodded solemnly while chewing. If it tasted weird, that meant it worked.
11. Cottage Cheese With Pineapple Rings
There’s no graceful way to describe the texture. Lumpy clouds with sweet, slippery halos.
This was a cafeteria classic. A scoop of cottage cheese plopped onto a pineapple ring like an alien egg on Saturn.
Cold, wet, protein-rich. Teens with track meets or dance rehearsals ate it for energy. Or punishment. No one was quite sure.
12. Sun Tea Brewed On Porches
Sun tea, brewed in large jars on porches, was a staple during the ’70s. Harnessing the power of the sun, this method of tea-making was both eco-friendly and a fun afternoon activity.
Teens enjoyed crafting their unique blends, often experimenting with different flavors and ingredients.
Today’s instant teas might offer convenience, but sun tea captures the nostalgic charm of a slower, more deliberate approach to beverage creation, reflecting the era’s embrace of natural, leisurely practices.
13. Ranch Dressing At Salad Bars
Teens poured it like lava. Onto iceberg, onto carrots, onto things that didn’t need dressing.
Ranch was cool, creamy, herby rebellion. It made vegetables tolerable. It made fries dip-worthy. It made pizza less lonely.
Some kids carried travel-size bottles. Salad bars ran dry by mid-shift. If you had ranch, you had power.
14. Trail Mix “Gorp”
t crunched. It stuck in your molars. Trail mix, affectionately known as “gorp” (Good Old Raisins and Peanuts), was a backpack essential for ’70s hikers and skaters.
Packed with nuts, seeds, dried fruits, and sometimes candy, it provided energy for outdoor adventures.
The mix was easy to customize, allowing teens to create their preferred blend of sweet and savory.
15. Bean-Sprout Deli Sandwiches
Bean-sprout-loaded deli sandwiches were a health-forward choice among ’70s Californians.
Sprouts piled high in a sandwich meant you were serious. About health. About chewing. About looking like you read poetry zines.
No one ever said, “Yum.” They just nodded and took another bite. That was the deal.
16. Taco Salads In Crispy Bowls
First it was food. Then it was sculpture. Then it was regret. Taco salads, served in crispy tortilla bowls, became a culinary hit in the ’70s.
Combining the flavors of a taco with the concept of a salad, it offered a playful, flavorful meal option. They were stacked to the sky. Ground beef, shredded cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, sour cream.
All inside a fried tortilla bowl that shattered like hope. You needed two hands and a plastic fork. No sudden movements. Napkins were futile.
17. Sourdough Everything
Known for its tangy taste and chewy texture, sourdough became the preferred bread for picnics and casual gatherings.
California teens in the ’70s made sourdough sacred. Picnic sandwiches were layered with turkey, sprouts, avocado, pickles. Sometimes all at once.
You chewed for hours. But you were stylish while doing it. And you always packed an extra for barter.
18. Frozen Yogurt Cups
It was tangier than expected. Colder than ice cream. Served with conviction.
Frozen yogurt wasn’t sweet. It wasn’t soft-serve. It was identity. Kids spooned it up at health counters with sunflower seeds on top.
If you smiled while eating it, you were doing it wrong. A scowl meant you understood the future.
19. Zucchini Bread And Vegetable Loaves
There were flecks in your dessert. Green ones. But you pressed on.
Zucchini bread became the Trojan horse of the ’70s kitchen. Sweet, dense, spiced with cinnamon. But undeniably… squash.
Moms baked it. Teens shrugged and ate two slices. It was better than carob, and vaguely cake-like. That was enough.
20. Celery Soda And Fountain Sips
It fizzed like static and smelled like garden clippings. Still, some teens loved it.
Cel-Ray and other herbaceous sodas came from old-school delis and Jewish lunch counters. Celery in a bottle. Why not.
You took a sip and pondered your choices. Then maybe took another. Or maybe just went back to water.