10 Foods We Lost in 2023

Technically, 2023 was not the year we lost this frozen treat, but it’s the year in which much of the public first realized it was gone. In June, Today reported that Good Humor was publicly letting customers know on social media that its Toasted Almond Dessert Bars—featuring an almond-flavored core, vanilla ice cream, and a crunchy almond coating—had unfortunately been discontinued. Though Good Humor still sells a number of dessert bars in both stores and on ice cream trucks, the Toasted Almond was a variety with a flavor profile we’ll sorely miss. Read the full story here.

When it debuted in 2010, Sir Kensington’s Ketchup was unique in that it contained no corn syrup (unlike Heinz) and featured a slightly more complex flavor profile than the leading ketchups on the market. For 13 years it gradually became a fan favorite, but in a Medium post on February 21 of this year, co-founder Scott Norton announced that the ketchup, once Sir Kensington’s flagship product, was being discontinued. The brand’s top seller is now Sir Kensington’s Mayonnaise, which is good, but we’ll miss the diversity that the ketchup brought to the heavily monopolized condiments aisle. Read the full story here.

It stuck around the menu for nine glorious years, but after three years as an in-app-only purchase, the Taco Bell Quesarito was officially axed entirely in March 2023. Featuring a cheesy quesadilla wrapper around a filling of seasoned rice, chipotle sauce, seasoned beef, and sour cream, the Quesarito was just one example of Taco Bell’s ability to invent genius combinations from the same few core ingredients. It was discontinued to make way for the return of other fan favorites. Read the full story here.

March 2023 was a rough month for fast food menu stalwarts. Dunkin’ confirmed that month that it had discontinued the Dunkaccino, a hot chocolate/hot coffee hybrid made all the more famous by its prominent Al Pacino endorsement in the 2011 film Jack and Jill. Though the Dunkaccino was a casualty of menu streamlining, Dunkin’ confirmed to The Takeout that “There’s always the chance for its return in the future.” Read the full story here.

In late March of 2023, KFC added white meat chicken nuggets to its permanent menu, and their flavor is seriously impressive: The nuggets are hand-breaded on site rather than being shipped frozen to each location, resulting in a fresh, crispy nugget experience. However, the introduction of these nuggets means that KFC’s beloved Popcorn Chicken has been knocked off the menu for good, even in the Famous Bowls (which now feature the larger-format nuggets). Hopefully not too many people are upset by the change, though, since the new product is intended to be an upgrade. Read the full story here. 

Even if you didn’t know these crackers by name, Red Oval Farms Stoned Wheat Thins were a feature on cheese and charcuterie boards nationwide, and their broad appeal made them a feature at parties beside port wine cheese balls throughout the ’70s and ’80s. Nabisco began slow-fading the crackers over the past two years, to the disappointment of those who can’t get enough of their nostalgic flavor. Read the full story here. 

Beloved Florida grocery chain Publix made an arguably good decision to discontinue a beloved item this year. The bakery’s hurricane cakes, decorated to look like satellite footage of natural disasters, had grown popular in recent years in conjunction with impending weather events; customers purchased them as desserts for their “hurricane parties,” a communal way of riding out the storm. Publix decided to no longer create cakes that “make light” of a potentially destructive natural disaster. Read the full story here.

We can’t just focus on one thing that Panera removed from its menu in 2023, because the fact is, the fast casual chain took a hacksaw to its whole list of offerings, testing out a streamlined version of its menu at unspecified test locations by removing several options in every category. The discontinued items include sandwiches, soups, salads, flatbread pizzas, tea, bread, breakfast entrees, the kids menu, bagels, mac and cheese... the list goes on. Sorry if mentioning all of these made you hungry, because you might not be able to satisfy those cravings at your nearest Panera anymore. Read the full story here. 

The Girl Scouts of the USA recently announced that the organization would not include Raspberry Rally, the newest addition, in its lineup of 2024 cookie season offerings. The cookie, which resembles a Thin Mint but includes raspberry flavor rather than peppermint, debuted in 2023 as an online-only feature and saw immediate success; when it quickly sold out, many boxes found their way onto the secondary market at huge markups. All that buzz must have been a lot for the Scouts to juggle, because the organization told Today that “we are taking a pause this season to prioritize supplying our classic varieties.” Read the full story here.

Thankfully the McDonald’s McFlurry isn’t going away, but the sensory experience of eating one is about to change. For more than 25 years, the McFlurry has featured a sturdy, hollow, square-handled spoon, unlike anything else you’d receive at a fast food joint. The reason is that the spoon cleverly functioned as the single-use mixing spindle in the McFlurry machine while the treat was being prepared, after which it would detach and serve as your utensil. Now, McDonald’s is shifting to a washable, reusable spindle in the machine, so the McFlurry will come with a regular, boring plastic spoon instead. It’s an environmentally minded decision, but one that will undeniably make the McFlurry hit different in 2024. Read the full story here.