What Food Product Came Out the Year You Were Born?

1941: Cheerios

The cereal got its start as CheeriOats, and was the first ready-to-eat oat cereal made by puffing and shaping the grains. A few years later, after a copyright dispute with Quaker Oats, General Mills changed the name to Cheerios. It's been a favorite breakfast cereal ever since!

1946: Nutella

Wartime rations in the '40s meant that cocoa was scarce, so baker and confectioner Pietro Ferrero got creative. Hazelnuts were grown abundantly where he lived in the Piedmont region of Italy, so Ferrero blended cocoa with hazelnut paste. The delectable spread began as a sliceable loaf called Giandujot, and was renamed Nutella in 1964.

1948: Reddi-wip Whipped Cream

Many thanks to entrepreneur Aaron "Bunny" Lapin, who created the whipped cream we love to spray on sundaes, slices of pie and straight into our mouths! He was the first to use real cream in a pre-packaged whipped cream product, and he also patented his fluted spray nozzle design.

1950: Frozen Pizza

Though we know that the first frozen pizzas were created in 1950, who came up with the idea first is a little fuzzier.  Neighborhood pizzerias in both Boston and New York City began selling frozen pies for customers to take home. The earliest brands to appear in stores were De Luca, Celentano Brothers and Pizza-Fro.

1952: Diet Soda

The first sugar-free soda to appear on the scene was No-Cal, which was initially created as a drink for diabetics and later marketed to diet-conscious consumers. Other soft drink companies followed suit, with drinks like Tab, Diet Rite and Diet Pepsi. (Diet Coke wouldn't appear until a few decades later.)

1953: Eggo Waffles

How did three brothers famous for their mayonnaise business create an iconic frozen waffle? Through a lot of innovation, and a keen understanding of food trends—particularly, consumers' desire for frozen convenience foods. The original name was "Froffles" (frozen + waffles), but later changed to Eggo for the eggy flavor. The famous catchphrase "L'eggo My Eggo" was coined in the '70s.

1954: Marshmallow Peeps

Bob Born already had a candy empire in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania when he bought out a small confectionery and its signature marshmallow chicks. The original candies were made by hand, but in 1954 Born invented a machine to mass produce his Peeps. Now the company, Just Born, makes about 4 million Peeps every day!

1955: Green Bean Casserole

Can you believe there used to be Thanksgivings without green bean casseroles? We have home economist Dorcas Reilly, who worked for the Campbell Soup test kitchen, to thank for this recipe. To create an easy dish with ingredients most cooks would have on hand, she chose canned cream of mushroom soup, canned or frozen green beans and fried onions. Her original recipe card now resides in the National Inventor's Hall of Fame.

1956: Cocoa Puffs

What's not to love about a sweet cereal that turns the milk chocolaty? General Mills had already given kids tasty cereals like Trix, Chex and Cheerios before introducing these chocolate corn puffs to the breakfast table. The mascot, Sonny the Cuckoo Bird, debuted in the early '60s.

1958: Rice-A-Roni

"The San Francisco treat!" The DeDomenico family founded Golden Grain Pasta Co. in the early 1900s. One of the founders learned a savory rice pilaf recipe from his Armenian landlord: rice and vermicelli sauteed in butter, then simmered in chicken broth. He cleverly turned it into a boxed side dish, and Rice-A-Roni quickly became a household name.

1959: Little Caesar's Pizza

Mike and Marian Ilitch spent their life savings to open "Little Caesar's Pizza Treat" in Garden City, Michigan, with a focus on inexpensive pizza made with quality ingredients. By 1969, they had a thriving string of franchises in the U.S. and Canada, and have continued to grow ever since. Here's a fun fact: "Little Caesar" was Marian's nickname for her husband!

1961: Sprite

The origin of lemon-lime Sprite soda is straightforward: Coca-Cola created it to compete with 7-Up. But did you know the name came from an old Coke character named "Sprite Boy"? The company stopped using this elfin mascot in 1958, but thought the name Sprite was perfect for their new soda.

1963: Chips Ahoy!

From the beginning, Nabisco promised that every Chips Ahoy! cookie would have 16 chocolate chips. In the '80s, that number doubled to 32. There have even been nationwide chip challenges to confirm that every bag has at least 1,000 chips.

1964: Pop-Tarts

This is every kid's favorite breakfast! Post and Kellogg's were racing to be the first to introduce this morning treat to the market, and Kellogg's won. Pop-Tarts were a big hit with busy kids—and parents. The name was inspired by Andy Warhol's pop art movement of the 1960s.

1965: Kraft Singles

Canadian brothers James and Norman Kraft had already spent 50 years perfecting their processed, pasteurized, shelf-stable cheese. In 1950, they invented a method to sell presliced loaves of cheese product, and 15 years later added the convenience we now take for granted: individually wrapped slices.

1967: Slurpees

Slurpees appeared in a few 7-Eleven stores in 1966, but by 1967 were available in every location. They became wildly popular thanks to novelty flavor names like Sticky Icky and Pink Fink, plus promotions that included comic book characters and prizes in every cup.

1969: Tic Tacs

Did you know that Ferrero, the company behind Nutella, also brought Tic Tacs to the world? They were originally sold under the less-than-exciting name of "Refreshing Mints." Within a year they were renamed for the sound the mints make when they rattle inside the box.

1973: Cup Noodles

Japanese entrepreneur Momofuku Ando created ramen noodles in 1958 by flash-frying noodles to make them shelf-stable and easy to rehydrate with boiling water. Fifteen years later, he created Cup Noodles: those same ramen noodles with dehydrated vegetables in a convenient cup. Hungry, cash-strapped college students will forever be grateful.

1977: Bubblicious Bubble Gum

There was a lot of bubble blowing in the late '70s. With big, soft pieces of bubble gum, Bubblicious promised blowers "the ultimate bubble." And kids loved the wild flavors, like Lightning Lemonade, Gonzo Grape and Savage Sour Apple.

1979: Ring Pops

"A ring of flavor you can lick!" A product engineer at the Topps Company created Ring Pops for a surprising reason: to help his young daughter kick her thumb-sucking habit. Not the healthiest incentive, but effective! Ring Pops are one of the most nostalgic candy brands for kids of the '80s and '90s.

1981: Lean Cuisine Meals

These frozen microwave dinners were introduced by Nestle as low-calorie alternatives to the popular Stouffer's entrees. They were an instant hit with a public obsessed with both convenience foods and weight watching—stores across the country quickly sold out.

1982: Diet Coke

Thirty years after the first low-calorie soda came on the scene, 1982 year saw the debut of what is, arguably, the most popular diet soft drink to date. Coca-Cola executives took a big gamble giving the Coke name to a new product, but it worked. It was quickly endorsed by actors, athletes and even U.S. presidents.

1985: Sour Patch Kids

The devastatingly sour gummies got their start in Canada—as Martians! When confectioner Frank Galatolie was eyeing the U.S. market, he rebranded his candies to capitalize on the hottest toy of the year: the Cabbage Patch Kids. The gummies were hugely popular and remain so today. Fun fact: The mascot for Sour Patch Kids was modeled after Galatolie's own son!

1987: Snapple Iced Tea

"The Best Stuff on Earth." Snapple stood apart from other bottled drinks with its casual and fun messaging, not to mention being the best-tasting iced tea available at the time. And remember the "Snapple lady" ads? The company turned office employee Wendy Kaufman into an unlikely but popular spokesperson for the tea.

1989: Lunchables

This was the coolest possible lunch a kid could have at school. The prepackaged Lunchables let kids "make fun of lunch" by assembling their own bologna, cheese and crackers or mini pizzas. It also helped that every Lunchable had a sweet drink and a mini candy bar.

1990: Campbell's Cream of Broccoli Soup

Fifty-five years after introducing canned cream of mushroom soup, Campbell's introduced a new variety to households with the same goal: to help home cooks create tasty meals. To that end, Campbell's offered a free-with-purchase cookbook with broccoli soup recipe ideas.

1993: Snackwell's Cookies

These cookies appeared just as Americans were getting hooked on low-fat diets. Snackwell's indulgent devil's food and creme-filled cookies were on shelves and in TV ads well before the rest of the competition, and netted Nabisco $57 million in sales in the first five months.

1994: Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs Cereal

Sugary kids cereals have been inspired by almost everything: cookies, doughnuts, cinnamon toast, even cartoons. But Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs cereal was the first one based on a candy bar. Don't worry—it's still "part of this complete breakfast."

1995: Blue M&M's

Before this year, M&M's colors were green, orange, red, yellow, dark brown... and tan. In 1995, a contest was held for folks to vote for a new color: pink, purple or blue. Over 10 million people voted and blue won. The fanfare included a new blue M&M's character and a blue-lit Empire State Building.

1996: Olestra Fat Substitute

The Food and Drug Administration approved olestra as a food additive, to be marketed as Olean. The additive decreased the calories and fat in food, and was used to create many brands of fat-free potato chips. But brands soon faced a backlash over olestra's unfortunate side effects: very, er, unpleasant gastrointestinal issues.