There is something quietly devastating about watching a meal vanish. Not dramatically, not all at once, but slowly – the way a family recipe stops being made, then stops being remembered, then stops existing altogether. America’s culinary history is vast, stretching from indigenous traditions and colonial-era survival cooking to Depression-era ingenuity and postwar convenience. Somewhere inside all of that, dozens of dishes have faded almost completely from view.
The disappearance of these foodways isn’t merely about losing recipes; it represents a significant erosion of cultural identity and a decline in dietary diversity. Some of these dishes tell stories of hardship and resourcefulness. Others carry the fingerprints of entire communities. All of them deserve more than a footnote. Let’s dive in.
1. Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast
Chipped beef on toast, endearingly known as “SOS,” was a staple for soldiers and families alike. Thinly sliced beef in a creamy sauce, served over toast, offered real comfort. Its simple ingredients made it accessible, while its rich flavor provided satisfaction. This dish became synonymous with military dining, a go-to for hearty meals.
Depression-era families embraced it for stretching small amounts of dried beef into a filling meal. The white sauce made from butter, flour, and milk turned dried beef into something substantial when poured over toast. Honestly, the dish never had a glamorous name – soldiers called it something far less printable – but it fed a nation through its darkest decades.
Defense food researchers highlight that high sodium levels and heavily processed beef contributed to its decline after the 1970s. Civilian diners moved away from the dish as healthier breakfast options emerged. The dish fell victim to changing perceptions about what constituted appetizing food, its institutional associations eventually overshadowing its genuine comfort-food qualities. Modern diners largely view it as a relic of harder times, though a few nostalgic establishments still offer their versions.
2. Chicken à la King
Chicken à la King became a mainstay of upscale hotels and had its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, and during those years the dish was a regular fixture at wedding receptions, in banquet halls, and at other fancy events. Think of it as the mid-century version of a power lunch – luxurious cream sauce, tender chicken, a few pops of color from pimento peppers, all piled elegantly over toast points.
The cream sauce with chicken, mushrooms, and peppers served over toast points represented mid-century elegance. By the later 20th century, chicken à la king had gone from a fancier restaurant dish with a brandy cream sauce to a cheap meal often using canned mushroom soup that was trotted out at buffets. That downgrade in status was probably fatal.
As dietary preferences shifted toward lighter, less cream-heavy foods, this indulgent classic lost its appeal. You might still find it at old-fashioned diners, but it’s rare nowadays compared to its golden age. It’s a shame, really. When done right, it’s genuinely spectacular.
3. Tomato Aspic
Popular from the 1930s to the 1960s, this chilled mold of tomato juice, celery, and seasonings was considered a “salad” side dish. It showed up at picnics, church dinners, and homes alike. Over time, fresh green salads, raw vegetables, and lighter sides became the norm.
This dish perfectly captured mid-century America’s obsession with gelatin as a vehicle for showcasing modern refrigeration. Home cooks would carefully unmold these shimmering red towers, garnishing them with mayonnaise or cottage cheese. The slightly salty, tomato-flavored gelatin was somehow both refreshing and unsettling.
Tomato aspic, a savory gelatin mold flavored with tomato juice and vinegar, fell out of favor as tastes shifted toward fresher salads. Culinary researchers note that gelatin-based savory dishes struggled to survive as refrigeration technology improved and raw vegetables became more accessible nationwide. Restaurants phased it out due to consistently low order rates. Nobody, it seems, mourned its passing.
4. Salisbury Steak
By the time processed foods were becoming a staple of the American diet, Salisbury steak had found its way into TV dinners, an association still made by many diners today. When TV dinners began waning in popularity in the mid-1980s, so did the Salisbury steak found in many brands’ frozen offerings.
Fast forward to 2024, and Salisbury steak has become a relic of TV dinners and school cafeterias. People associate it with bland frozen meals rather than the hearty home-cooked version grandparents once made. The irony is that a good homemade Salisbury steak – ground beef patties in a rich mushroom gravy – is actually delicious. The TV dinner version just killed the reputation.
Though clever culinary crafters have created their own recipes to revive the mushy meat substance, this steak-in-name-only has never regained its place in the world of comfort food. With much better fare available, turning to pulverized meat substance formed into a patty doesn’t exactly scream “soothing dish.” It’s perhaps one of the most misunderstood dishes on this entire list.
5. Tuna Noodle Casserole
Tuna noodle casserole wasn’t actually invented in the 1950s. The recipe first appeared in 1930, in a magazine published in the Pacific Northwest. It was popular in the region well into World War II, where it gained popularity as a cheap, quick dish. By the 1950s, it had spread throughout the Midwest, where it became a mainstay on many dinner tables for decades.
Tuna noodle casserole combined canned tuna, egg noodles, cream of mushroom soup, frozen peas, and a crunchy topping of crushed potato chips or breadcrumbs. It required minimal cooking skills and used mostly pantry staples, making it incredibly economical. The dish represented post-war American optimism about convenience foods and modern homemaking.
As fresh food movements gained momentum and people questioned processed ingredients, this casserole fell from grace. While some families still make it for nostalgia’s sake, it’s rarely seen in contemporary cookbooks or on modern dinner tables across America. It was the weeknight savior of a whole generation. Now it exists mostly in memory.
6. Ambrosia Salad
Dating back to the ancient Greeks, ambrosia salad began appearing in American cookbooks in the 1800s when citrus fruit became easier to access, and soon became a staple across dinner tables nationwide. This sweet creamy salad includes canned pineapple, canned mandarin oranges, miniature marshmallows, and coconut. The dish became a staple across Southern states in the 20th century but isn’t seen as much on dinner tables in the 21st.
This fluffy, sweet concoction walked the line between dessert and side dish. Nobody quite knew where it belonged on the table, yet everyone made room for it. The combination of tropical fruits, marshmallows, and whipped cream created something uniquely American.
Ambrosia salad, a mix of canned fruit, marshmallows and sweetened cream, lost popularity as Americans reduced sugar intake. Dietitians report that a single serving often exceeds recommended daily added sugar limits. With fresh fruit and yogurt becoming preferred alternatives, the dish now appears mostly in regional potlucks rather than mainstream dining. While some Southern families still prepare it for special occasions, most younger generations have never experienced its sugary appeal.
7. Welsh Rarebit
Welsh rarebit is essentially a sophisticated cheese sauce made with sharp cheddar, beer or ale, mustard, and spices, poured generously over toasted bread. It was a popular quick meal in American homes and taverns from the late 1800s through the mid-1900s. The dish offered an economical way to turn simple ingredients into something special and filling.
Here’s the thing about Welsh rarebit: it sounds fussy, but it’s really just elevated cheese on toast. I think that’s exactly why it should have survived – it’s simple, satisfying, and genuinely different from a grilled cheese sandwich in the best possible way.
As grilled cheese sandwiches became the go-to cheese-and-bread comfort food, Welsh rarebit gradually disappeared. Few modern Americans have even heard of it, let alone tasted this once-beloved cheesy creation from their ancestors’ tables. The grilled cheese won the comfort food war. And Welsh rarebit quietly walked off the battlefield.
8. Waldorf Salad
Created at New York’s Waldorf Hotel in the 1890s, this combination of apples, celery, walnuts, and mayonnaise became an American standard for decades. It appeared at ladies’ luncheons, holiday tables, and respectable restaurants throughout the country, representing a certain kind of refined, old-fashioned elegance. The original version contained only apples, celery, and mayonnaise, with walnuts added later.
As American palates evolved toward lighter vinaigrettes and more diverse salad ingredients, the mayonnaise-heavy Waldorf began to feel dated and heavy. It’s a bit like that friend who was perfectly charming in the 1960s but somehow never quite adapted to modern conversation. Nothing wrong with them, just stuck in their era.
While some traditional establishments still serve it, and home cooks occasionally revive it for Thanksgiving, Waldorf salad has largely disappeared from contemporary restaurant menus, remembered more as a historical curiosity than a living dish. With fresh salads and lighter vinaigrettes available today, its mayo-heavy dressing feels outdated to some people. You might still find it at a retro-themed dinner party, but it’s not exactly in high demand.
9. Gullah Geechee Perloo and Okra Soup
This one is different from the others. This isn’t a dish that fell out of fashion because people got bored. It’s a cuisine under genuine cultural threat.
With dishes like Frogmore Stew and Hoppin’ John, a rice and field pea pilaf dish similar to a West African mainstay, the Gullah Geechee cuisine permeated the Southern palate, becoming not just a Lowcountry favorite, but popular throughout the South. Gullah Geechee foodways is one of the oldest practices and traditions still being practiced in America today. At its foundation, slavery and the foodways are deeply rooted in cultural West African ancestral ties, as well as adaptability, creativity, and circumstance. The meals were and still are designed to be hearty and provide necessary sustenance.
Though most Gullah cooking happens in the privacy of family kitchens, there is a small treasure trove of establishments where you can sample these special foods. Restaurants with dedicated Gullah menus are rare, so it’s likely you’ll find Gullah dishes mingled in with Southern or soul food fare. The isolated and insulated nature of the community, along with hindered access to the food due to closures of beloved restaurants, means that it just hasn’t been easy to find authentic Gullah Geechee cuisine.
10. Mock Apple Pie
Mock apple pie, made with crackers instead of apples, became popular during the Great Depression when fresh fruit was expensive. As reliable refrigeration and nationwide produce distribution improved, the dish became unnecessary. Ritz crackers, sugar, cream of tartar, and a few drops of lemon juice somehow produced something that actually tasted like apple pie. I know it sounds crazy, but people swore by it.
From bread bowls filled with soup to whimsical desserts like “worms in dirt” and Ritz cracker apple pie, these dishes reflect creativity born from limitation – and joy found in simplicity. Mock apple pie was the culinary equivalent of a magic trick, born out of desperation and perfected by necessity.
Once affordable apples became universally accessible, there was simply no reason to keep making the imitation. The dish evaporated the moment the problem it solved no longer existed. It’s hard to argue with that logic, even if the pie itself deserves a little more credit for sheer ingenuity.
11. Liver and Onions
Your grandparents probably ate this regularly, but today’s kids would likely refuse to even try it. Liver and onions was a weekly staple in many American households, especially during the Depression and World War II when affordable protein was essential. The dish featured beef or calf liver, sliced thin, pan-fried, and topped with sweet caramelized onions.
Younger generations, in particular, may view traditional foodways as outdated or less desirable than modern, Westernized diets. That attitude cuts hardest when it comes to organ meats. Liver, for all its nutritional density, has become practically radioactive in the minds of modern diners. The smell, the texture, the associations with institutional food – all of it conspired against it.
It’s worth noting that liver is rich in iron, vitamin B12, and other nutrients that are genuinely hard to get elsewhere in such concentrations. It was never just poverty food – it was smart eating. As dining tastes shifted toward leaner meats, global cuisines, and more visually modern plates, dishes like these began to look like “what my parents ate.” That perception, more than anything, sealed their fate.
12. Brunswick Stew
Brunswick stew is a mixture of corn, tomatoes, onions, rice, lima beans, potatoes, and chicken, pork, ground beef, and sometimes squirrel and other small game. The term “Brunswick stew” was not used widely in the Gullah region until the late nineteenth century. Food historians disagree as to the name’s origin, but most Georgians are convinced it originated in Brunswick, on the Georgia coast.
This is a dish with real regional identity and a genuine argument behind it. Virginia and Georgia have been bickering over the true origin of Brunswick stew for well over a century. Both states claim it. Both states make it differently. That kind of culinary rivalry usually means a dish has real soul – and Brunswick stew absolutely does.
These dishes thrived during periods when families maximized leftovers, stretched ingredients, and passed recipes through generations. Their absence from modern menus reflects a broader move away from communal cooking toward individualized consumption. Brunswick stew was always a crowd dish, made in enormous iron pots for gatherings and fundraisers. In a world of single-serving meal kits, that tradition has almost nowhere to live anymore.
13. Wild Rice Dishes of the Ojibwe
Culinary historian Sarah Lohman traveled to the Upper Midwest to harvest wild rice – a deeply significant food tradition tied to Indigenous communities. This is arguably the most endangered entry on this list, because what’s disappearing isn’t just a recipe. It’s a sacred food system.
Agricultural biodiversity and small-scale, family-based food production systems are in danger throughout the world due to industrialization, genetic erosion, changing consumption patterns, climate change, the abandonment of rural areas, migration, and conflict. Wild rice, or manoomin, sits squarely at the intersection of all of these pressures. The Ark of Taste is a living catalog of delicious and distinctive foods facing extinction. By identifying and championing these foods, Slow Food USA works to keep them in production and on our plates.
It all points back to the “eat it to save it” mentality, promoting the regular use of heritage foods in everyday cooking and dining. Wild rice harvested in the traditional way – from canoes, using wooden sticks – produces a grain that tastes completely unlike the processed black variety sold in supermarkets. The Ark of Taste aims to maintain edibles in its purview by actively encouraging their cultivation for consumption, hoping to promote the growing and eating of foods which are sustainable and preserve biodiversity in the human food chain. The fight to save this food is, at its core, a fight for an entire way of life.
