Anybody remember when mozzarella sticks became popular? (2 Viewers)

[upNdown]

Google isn’t much help here because it seems like every Google hit is pulling its information from the same article, suggesting that mozzarella sticks had their origins in the ‘70s. But that’s origins, and not popularity.

We were watching a volleyball game of my former college and one of the players said that her favorite food was mozzarella sticks from the campus dining hall. My daughter asked me if I ate the mozzarella sticks when I was there. And I thought about it. And I can’t really remember mozzarella sticks when I was in college (early 90s) or before that.
I certainly can’t tell you when I had my first mozzarella stick, but the first memories that come to mind are that I used to eat them at a bowling alley bar in the mid to late ‘90s.
So I guess my question is, when do you think mozzarella sticks because popular - when did they become an item that you’d regularly see on restaurant menus and in college dining halls?

 

[JMC9389]

Late 90's sounds about right

 

[DZPoker]

I can bump your mid to late ‘90s back probably a decade. I was born in ‘79 and my mom used to make them for us at home when I was little by deep frying breaded string cheese (so let’s call that mid to late ‘80s). My mom was definitely NOT an early adopter of anything popular so they had to already be popular by then!!

 

[FDLmold]

I've been chowing down on them since at least the mid to late 1980s, and that was in Iowa, which adopts new trends years after everybody else.

 

[SteveEH]

Early 90s it was on the menu at a popular restaurant with salsa dip.

 

[NotDunric]

I was born in '82 and can't remember a time when I wasn't familiar with & in love with mozz sticks. One of my earliest jobs in the 90s was in a kitchen and we definitely served them then, and it didn't seem strange or unique or anything.

 

[Hot Nuts]

1393: The first documented practice of breading thin slices of cheese and frying it appears in a Medieval French cookbook, “Le Ménagier de Paris.”

1976: According to some sources, the concept of string cheese came to life in the mid-1970s when Frank Baker, a Wisconsin cheesemaker, dreamed up the idea of snack-size pieces of mozzarella.

1980s: Casual restaurant chains like T.G.I. Fridays, Bennigan’s and Applebee’s explode in popularity along with their large selection of appetizers.

 

[HaRDHouSeiNC]

Early 90s it was on the menu at a popular restaurant with salsa dip.

 

[RowlettTexasChipGuy]

mid 80's here in Texas

 

[cpiaaq]

1992 off campus lunch at papa poochies pizza & subs!!

 

[tabletalker7]

Last weekend in my kitchen. I still love them

 

[12thMan]

I was born in 78' and I can remember having my mind blown at some point in the mid 80s or so. I think it was a red Robin next door to Los arcos mall in Scottsdale where we would get them every time we were there.

 

[ATLarchip]

You: Do you want to eat 5 sticks of string cheese in a row?
Me: No, that’s way too many.
You: I deep fried them and here’s some marinara sauce.
Me: OK, I guess that’s a good start to what I’m actually going to eat.

 

[BGinGA]

Yeah, mid '80s is my recollection (Michigan).

 

[B.C.]

 

[TheRealTeddyKGB]

Best/worst thread ever. I'm dying for some now dipped in some marinara...
(Mid 80's here in California)

 

[RocAFella1]

 

[Josh Kifer]

92-94 was when my fat ass found them. And boy... Such a long journey....

 

[ninedeuce]

I remember it as mid 80s (NYC suburbs). This commercial was in heavy rotation, my siblings and I still quote it!

 

[RansomStoddard]

Checking newspapers . com, in the seventies all references to "mozzarella stick" are the string cheese, non-fried variety.

In 1982 I see an article talking about the new menu item, mozzarella sticks referring to the fried version.

1985 is when the number of restaurant reviews mentioning them and ads from restaurants featuring them really explode across the country.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110398571/star-tribune/

 

[PhilLaFond]

Mid to late 80s is my recollection as well, but that's also when I started frequenting bar/restaurants on my own, so that may have had something to do with it. Don't recall them in my college dining hall per se, but they were definitely an option on take out/delivery menus from various local establishments. But almost always with marinara, not salsa.

 

[Irish]

1980s: Casual restaurant chains like T.G.I. Fridays, Bennigan’s and Applebee’s explode in popularity along with their large selection of appetizers.

^^^ That's what I was going to say. I remember having them growing up as a kid in the 80s, and they really seemed to explode when the pieces of flair restaurants took off in the late 80s - early 90s.

 

[buffalojim]

Late 90's sounds about right

I was gonna say around around 92/93ish. they were very popular at the pool hall I went to everyday.

 

[Moxie Mike]

We were watching a volleyball game

On purpose?

 

[BGinGA]

On purpose?

Absolutely. Women's Beach Volleyball is the nuts. Well, you know what I mean...

 

[ekricket]

I’ve been waiting for beef jerky fried in cheese oils to become popular.

 

[slisk250]

Probably when buffalo wings took off, early 80s for me.

 

[Moxie Mike]

Absolutely. Women's Beach Volleyball is the nuts. Well, you know what I mean...

Well he said 'we'... implying he wasn't ogling the coeds alone in his dark basement with a bag of Cheetos

 

[pltrgyst]

They were definitely served at two Italian pizza restaurants (Mom's and Viels) in Edison, NJ during the early 1960s...\

 

[RansomStoddard]

Going back and searching for fried mozzarella (no stick), the earliest mention I see is a restaurant in Van Nuys, California in 1972.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110415259/valley-news/

In 1955, there was a wave of articles in middle America about Mozzarella being available "almost everywhere" now. In addition to pizza, "new" uses were to slice diagnonal slices in a loaf of french or Italian bread, stuff them with mozzarella and bake it.

Another recipe common was "Mozzarella in Carrozza", or Mozzarella in a Carriage. Cut the crust off of white bread, make a sandwich with mozzarella, roll in flour and then eggs and then pan fry. This recipe appears over and over again in the late 1950s. You can see where someone just said, "Why am I adding the bread?"