Vintage Dishes That Are Suddenly Cool Again

Vintage stuff is always pretty cool, but when it comes to food, retro can be a slightly harder sell. Food culture tends to look forward instead of back, and focus on innovation as opposed to revisiting the old classics. Well, that was the case until recently, at least. In the last few years we've seen an increased push toward retro food ideas, with restaurants and home cooks alike embracing the meals we used to eat.

There are a couple of reasons why we might all be in love with vintage meals again. The types of dishes our grandparents used to make were generally affordable and made with easy-to-obtain ingredients, and dishes like meatloaf, chicken à la King, and sloppy Joes can all be rustled up on a budget and still taste delicious. Furthermore, vintage meals evoke a sense of coziness and calm that seems to be increasingly important in our ever-changing world. Retro dishes also have a kitschy visual appeal that modern dishes can sometimes lack, which makes winning posts on social media — and we all know how much we like to post about our food, right? Whatever the reason, these meals are back in fashion, and we've got the must-eat items of the year right here.

There was a time when, if you ordered shrimp cocktail, you'd be laughed out of the restaurant. That time wasn't that long ago either, folks. This old-school seafood appetizer started appearing in restaurants across the country in the 1960s after its first high-profile menu feature in Las Vegas, and soon it was a standard starter. It remained popular for a couple of decades before it started to be seen as either insufferably old-fashioned or a gaudy starter you'd only order in a casino.

The shrimp cocktail ended up dying a slow death in the '90s and 2000s, and while it wasn't entirely forgotten, people definitely moved on to other dishes. However, in the last couple of years, it seems like it's back in fashion. Its return is part of a larger embrace of retro cuisine, and the love that prominent chefs have shown it recently seems to have catapulted it back into the mainstream. None other than Alison Roman, one of the coolest chefs around, features a recipe for it prominently on her website, and points out how versatile the dish is — and also how sociable it can be.

If you haven't tried pimento cheese recently, it's time to crack open a jar. Pimento cheese spread is a serious throwback that had its big break in the 1920s. It became a go-to item in countless recipes in cookbooks of the time, and what began as a Southern staple quickly spread to the rest of the country. Recipe authors loved that it could work as a dish on its own, served with some crackers or crudités, and as an ingredient in loads of different meals.

However, over time pimento cheese started to feel a little bit passé. People started to associate it with those old-timey cookbooks a little too much, and they also began to benefit from a wider availability of ingredients (particularly cheeses), leading to a decline in the spread's popularity. Just when you thought it was gone, though, pimento cheese came back swinging. The cheese spread has seen a revival lately, thanks to various chefs realizing that people are craving spins on comfort food that bring them up to date while honoring their cozy, old-fashioned nature. Social media has also played a big part in its comeback, with people contributing their own posts and recipes to the pimento cheese trend, further fuelling its rise.

Banana pudding never truly left, but there's no denying that it went through a dip in its appeal. Arguably the most quintessential of Southern desserts (although it was actually invented and first appeared in Massachusetts and Illinois), there are few dishes more nostalgic than this mass of bananas, pudding, wafers, and cream. Banana pudding first hit the big time back in the 1940s when the National Biscuit Company began printing recipes for it on its boxes, and it became a must-make dessert for potlucks, picnics, and barbecues.

Over time, though, it came to feel and taste just a little bit too retro. People began to realize that there might be slightly more exciting ways to end a meal, and banana pudding, in all its beigeness, started to take a back seat. However, the recent embrace of retro foods has brought it back into the spotlight, and people have realized that this is an easy-to-make dessert that offers loads of comfort. Its profile has also been boosted by folks bringing it up to date with their own takes on the pudding, like using Nutter Butters instead of Nilla wafers, which has breathed new life into it. You should expect to see this pudding a lot more in the next few years.

It feels kinda wild that sloppy Joes fell out of favor, considering how darn delicious they are. Although the actual starting point of sloppy Joes is unclear, this '90s lunchroom classic actually started to get big in the 1940s and 1950s, with the latter decade being defined by the end of wartime austerity and newfound excess. Sloppy Joes definitely fit into that category: Piled high with meat and barbecue sauce, these sandwiches felt big, bold, and exciting, and they were marketed especially heavily to a teenage audience who were looking for the next cool thing to eat.

They were also incredibly comforting, which helped them thrive for as long as they did — but eventually they became a little unfashionable. People began to prefer a slightly more elegant sandwich and grew tired of having to wipe sauce off their fingers with every bite. That sense of sloppy Joes being cozy and calming never quite left, though, and more recently there's been an increased interest in the sandwich as a meal that evokes a sense of nostalgia for childhood. Hey, we get it: We live in a chaotic time. 2025 has seen a boom in sloppy Joe recipes across the internet, which we're sure has been aided by fast food restaurants bringing them back to the mainstream. Over the last few years, White Castle has offered sloppy Joes in limited-time offers, further boosting their profile.

We don't know about you, but we love pineapple upside-down cake — and we just don't eat it enough. That might all be about to change, thanks to its return to the spotlight. Pineapple upside-down cake was the epitome of '50s and '60s cooking: A dish that was easy to make, relied heavily on boxed and canned ingredients, and looked unbelievably gaudy. While it became the very symbol of those decades and their food culture, it actually rose to popularity a few decades before, when the Hawaiian Pineapple Company (which became Dole) ran a competition for recipes including pineapple. It was flooded with takes on pineapple upside-down cake, and the dish was suddenly thrown into the spotlight.

As the years went on, pineapple upside-down cake began to feel just a bit too retro. People wanted to use fresh ingredients instead of canned ones in their desserts, and the glitter of the maraschino cherries on top began to feel a bit gauche. That was the case until a few years ago, though, when it started to creep back into people's lives. Folks started to appreciate how easy this cake was to throw together with just a few canned and dried staples, and its thrifty nature (as well as its adaptability) brought it back to the limelight. This was no doubt helped by the dessert having celebrities like Reba McEntire coming out to bat for it, making it feel trendy again.

Can you get any more vintage than cheese soufflé? This dish just screams the '70s, and although it was first pioneered in the mid-1800s in France, it took a while to find a mainstream audience in the United States. When it did, though, it became the pinnacle of fine dining and was often associated with white linen, bowtied waiters, and impeccable table service.

Over time, though, cheese soufflé lost its appeal. It was no longer seen as stylish, but rather lacking in substance. Changes in taste saw it being removed from various menus around the country, and soon it became a little bit of a running joke. However, the love of retro dining that has brought back so many other dishes has swept cheese soufflé back into the spotlight. Restaurants that have been brave enough to put it back on their menus have seen their sales of the dish skyrocket, and contemporary twists on it have helped it feel up-to-date instead of boring. Soufflé's back, and this time, it might be for good.

Can you name a better comeback story than the baked Alaska? It's cool, we'll wait. Few dishes have seen such a turnaround in their stock as this one, which has a longer history than you probably think. This dessert, which turns heads by utterly defying physics and logic, was first pioneered in the mid-1860s at Delmonico's, New York. Its combination of a meringue casing and a frosty ice cream interior turned heads, and soon restaurants were serving it nationwide. It wasn't until the mid-20th century, though, that baked Alaska was at its coolest — before it largely became a bit of a punchline, inextricably associated with cruise ship dining.

In the 2020s, though, things are changing for good. The baked Alaska is seriously back in fashion, as more and more people have come to appreciate how truly mind-boggling the dessert is. An ice-cold inside baked in an oven, without any melting? How is it possible? This show-stopping nature, combined with modern chefs looking for new spins on the classic flavors of a baked Alaska and an understanding of people's need for comfort and nostalgia, have led to it being placed on menus everywhere. It may be slightly complicated to make, but the craft is part of the fun of it.

Food culture these days feels like it's all about evoking the simple pleasures. People don't want fussy stuff — they want dishes they can sink into, that make them feel all warm and fuzzy. Well, folks who want that should look no further than chicken à la King, which is having a real comeback. This chicken dish used to be one of the fanciest things you could order in a restaurant, but that was back in the 1950s and '60s when it was at its peak popularity, before people realized that it's a fairly straightforward combo of chicken, mushrooms, sherry, and cream.

As food trends changed, chicken à la King started to feel a little uncool. Nonetheless, the 21st century has brought renewed energy to the dish. Over the last few years, chicken à la King has been featured prominently on food websites, with food professionals celebrating its comforting aspects and instructing folks how to make the perfect version of the bygone dish. There's also no denying that chicken à la King has a thriftiness to it that appeals to diners today, who want something that feels special without spending money on expensive ingredients.

Ah, meatloaf. You've never left our hearts, even though people really hated you there for a minute. There's no denying that meatloaf is an American classic, but there's also no getting around the fact that in the last few decades it's been seen as a dish that's stuck firmly in the 20th century. For too long, we've associated it with weeknight meals, Betty Crocker cookbooks, and a certain stodginess that feels just a little depressing. It's a shame that this dish, which has a history stretching back to the 1870s, started to feel so boring and bland.

Well, until recently, that is. In the last couple of years, people have begun to remember how truly heartening meatloaf is. It's been heralded as the ultimate comfort food, one that remains constant and unchanging in the winds of culinary trends. It's always there for you, and it can be made with affordable ingredients, using plenty of stuff you likely have in your cupboards already.

Dishes don't get more retro than tuna noodle casserole. Arguably the most famous casserole dish out there, the meal was invented by the Campbell's Soup Company way back in the 1940s, no doubt to plug the use of its Cream of Mushroom soup. It very quickly took off, and the '50s saw an unstoppable march of tuna noodle casseroles out of people's kitchens. Home cooks loved that you could make this meal in mere minutes, using just a few things, and have it come out of the oven perfect every time — until they started to feel that it was uncool, and it gradually declined in popularity.

So, why have people started to get excited by tuna noodle casserole again? For exactly the same reason as they did in the '50s: because it's easy. Making a tuna noodle casserole requires little more than throwing a few ingredients together and putting your dish in the oven, and those ingredients don't cost much, either. Cooks have also embraced the versatility of this dish, and how you can combine it with other classics to boost its flavor. Instead of using mushroom soup, some folks opt for boxed mac and cheese. It may not sound much like cooking, but think about it: You get your carbs, protein, and fats in one go, it's filling, and it only takes a few minutes to prepare. We're not gonna argue with that.