Food we miss that is now MIA in Taiwan

I have been here a while and I have learned to cope with things coming and going. Restaurants, stores, friends and even food. Probably the most common thing to go MIA here is food. Things can be here one day and gone the next month never to be seen again.

So here is a list of the foods I miss that were once available in Taiwan, but are now, sadly, MIA.
(Yes, a lot of it is junk food, but missed nonetheless)

Snickers Ice Cream Bars
Sold in 7-11
MIA since 2008

Kraft Mac and Cheese
Sold in Carrefour
MIA since 2016

Haagen Daz Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Sold in almost every grocery store
MIA since 2016

Strawberry IMEI Ice Cream Pancake Sandwiches
Sold in IMEI and every grocery store
MIA since 2014

Progresso Bread Crumbs (Italian and Plain)
Sold in Jason’s and City Super
MIA since 2012

Sliced French Bologna
Sold in City Super
MIA since 2014

Sliced Smoked Turkey Breast
Sold in City Super
MIA since 2010

Mountain Dew
Sold at Costco
MIA since 2017

KFC Biscuits
MIA since 2015

KFC Mashed Potatoes
MIA since 2006

McDonald’s Milkshakes
MIA since 2016

Burger King and KFC Curly Fries
MIA since 2008

Chili’s Chocolate Shake
MIA since 2009

Disclaimer: These dates are based on when I personally last sighted these things in Taiwan. They could very well have been here a bit longer.

Feel free to add to the list. Would love to hear what you miss that used to be here and if any of the above has been sighted recently. Who knows when and if any of these things will ever be back, even for just a blip on the radar screen, before vanishing again.

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Canned tomatillos - I can’t remember if I got these only in the Tianmu import stores, or also in a Jason’s or City Super, but it’s been a long, long time.

Fresh jalapeños. Appeared briefly in Wellcome and Jason’s a year or two ago. I haven’t seen them since.

Portobello mushrooms. Used to get them in Costco and I believe once even in Jason’s. Haven’t seen them in a couple of years.

Costco Kirkland bacon. I still dream.

Canned crushed tomatoes. Yeah, I can and do throw diced tomatoes in a blender, but still…

Pretzel Pete spicy pretzel nuggets. Tasty junk food.

Boxes of baby spinach. And baby arugula. For a year or two there they were fairly easy to find, but now they’ve mostly disappeared again. (And between whatever their storage process was, and I guess Taiwan’s humidity, they usually went bad within a couple of days of opening, so eating them was always a rush.)

Various iterations of snack mix (pretzels + shreddies/cheerios + whatever else) come and go. Admittedly a rather dull variation has lately been available at some Carrefours.

Original-flavor KFC is long gone too, right?

(I’ve seen Kraft Dinner at Carrefour in the past year - it comes and goes.)

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Those Snickers Ice Cream Bars were dangerous. Sometimes it might be for the best when these things disappear.

Guy

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This makes me sad. That sh8t is gross. It was gross when you were a kid and it’s gross now. Nostalgia cannot save or redeem it even with add-ons like sausage, paprika or “better” cheese. :nauseated_face:

I mean to each his own, but no…just no.

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Still available at the Zhongli store. Saw it Thursday.

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Spoke with a Costco manager about why food constantly seems to disappear here. He said Taiwanese restrictions on food safety are much higher than US, with many chemicals having a “0 tolerance” policy (which is practically impossible to obtain as there will always be minute traces of some chemical or another).

For imports, they are apparently much more strict with enforcement than for local food.

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Hahaha!
Tell him to take a long walk in any night market.
What a joke.

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Yes, he actually did say based on what we all know from being here, it is an absolute joke.

I’m glad Costco plays above board and doesn’t try to bribe customs officials or something - they almost certainly could.

This is why things like Quaker Oatmeal Squares disappeared a couple of years back. (Oh yeah, add that to the MIA list.)

Hat tip: 2017 Costco Thread - #102 by Dragonbones

I miss Bacchus. Korean energy drink that tastes much better than Red Bull or Monster.
image

Not sure why they would name it after a Roman God of Wine though ?

Who knows why Koreans do anything.

I know, right? Velveeta cheese shells is where it’s at!

Oh, I thought of another item that just recently vanished from CostCo… Kirkland’s Greek Yogurt. It was pretty much the only authentic Greek yogurt in Taiwan. The Chinese and Taiwanese brand “Greek Yogurts” that I find at Jason’s and Carrefour’s all suck.

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It’s a local version that removes a chemical product banned in Taiwan. It’s not as good as the real thing.

the baby leaf spinach is probably the biggest bummer for me. it makes salad so easy. i don’t really bother with salad here. the lettuce is always half manky so half of it usually gets thrown out. taiwanese don’t really get the idea of a healthy salad.

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Costco usually sells a mixed-leaf box of salad greens - it works pretty well. If I put it in a salad spinner in the fridge as soon as I get home, I can usually get 4-5 days of side salads out of it. I still almost always have to throw some away, but so be it.

Calling that stuff food is quite a stretch.

I used to get Boxes of Cheerios for the kids since they could chew solid food. It was the best snack and mobile breakfast you can get. Costco Management told me they discontinued it because of a pesticide issue. Funny, Carrefour in Kaohsiung still sells it. Or at least did as of five months ago.

MIA Plain Ordinary Pretzels, twist or rods. We get all the major brand here but they are IMHO, stuffed, buttered sugared or loaded with fat. I want my regular Pretzels.
I almost forgot. Costco once had frozen soft pretzels. I’d like that too to come back.