The Discontinued Pizza Snack That Fans Still Want Back 50 Years Later

It's no secret that pizza is one of America's favorite cuisines, even though it's one of the U.S. foods that are nothing like the original. In fact, cheese pizza was the fourth most popular dish in the country, according to GrubHub, in 2022. Those cravings largely began between 1945 and 1960 when the number of pizzerias and pizza chains in the U.S. exploded. Pizza Hut, Little Caesar's, and Domino's (not to mention countless family-run establishments) were created during this time, serving pizza to the masses at affordable prices. Naturally, pizza-flavored snacks followed suit, including the short-lived Pizza Spins from General Mills. Introduced in 1968, the crunchy, poppable munchies were gone by 1975, much to the dismay of Baby Boomer and young Gen X fans.

By all accounts, Pizza Spins tasted great. Made with parmesan cheese, tomatoes, and "pizza spices," they had a pretty authentic flavor and were even shaped like a pizza pie — or perhaps a wagon wheel — which may be where the "Spins" came from. General Mills released a number of crunchy snacks that mimicked popular foods in the '60s, including Bugles, which tasted like roasted corn, and Onyums, flavored like onion rings. Despite winning a Putman Food award in 1969, Pizza Spins weren't even sold for a decade, but many fans have shared their fondness for them on sites like Reddit and Facebook where a group called "We Miss Pizza Spins!" exists. Whether or not these nostalgic treats will make a reappearance is unclear, but America's taste for pizza certainly isn't going away anytime soon.

I never got a chance to taste Pizza Spins, nor did I ever see them on store shelves. However, I vividly recall two other pizza flavored chips from my childhood, both of which were similarly discontinued. Pizzarias were made by Keebler (maker of snacks that have been shrinking for years), which also produced the famous Fudge Stripes cookies. The triangular-shaped chips were made from pizza dough and coated with a bright red seasoning mix that was supposed to taste like pizza. Introduced in 1991, they, too, didn't last a full decade before they were axed, despite their popularity.

Around the same time, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pizza Crunchabungas (say that five times fast) were released. Round, bite-sized, and shaped like wheels, these crunchy little corn snacks looked very similar to Pizza Spins and had a "radical pizza taste," but were only on shelves for barely a year. Many big snack brands continue to offer chips and crunchy goodies in pizza flavors, like Goldfish, Chex Mix, Combos, and Cheetos. Of course, these brands also have lots of other flavors to fall back on. Pizza Spins didn't have major lasting power — despite featuring flavors that America loves — but maybe that's because there's simply no substitution for a real slice of pizza.