11. Pizza Spins
The challenge of capturing the flavor of a hot, savory meal in a shelf-stable, crunchy snack is one that food companies have tackled for decades. In 1968, General Mills made a valiant attempt with Pizza Spins. These were small, pinwheel-shaped crackers that were meant to taste exactly like a slice of pizza.
The flavor profile was a combination of tomato, cheese, and a blend of Italian herbs. The spinning wheel shape was a clever bit of branding, making them visually distinct from other crackers on the shelf. They were part of a wave of uniquely shaped and flavored snacks coming from General Mills at the time, including Bugles and Whistles. The ads for Pizza Spins featured a catchy jingle and emphasized their “real pizza taste.”
Pizza Spins were reasonably popular for a time but were phased out by the mid-1970s. The market for savory snacks is incredibly competitive, and consumer tastes can be fickle. While pizza-flavored snacks have remained a constant in the grocery aisle (think Pringles or Goldfish), the specific formulation and form of Pizza Spins didn’t have the staying power of its contemporaries. They are now a fond, if faint, memory of a time when the snack aisle was full of bold, geometric experiments.
