8 things that were “hippie food” in the ’70s that are now sold at every major grocery chain

Crafting a plant-forward life was not always cool.

If you rewind a few decades, a lot of the foods that fill today’s grocery aisles were tucked away in tiny co-ops, health-food stores that smelled like patchouli, or the back of someone’s VW bus.

Back then, eating certain foods practically came with a personality type. You were not just someone who liked tofu or sprouts. You were a hippie, a health nut, or someone who probably had strong opinions about compost.

Now those same foods are in stores that also sell 24 packs of soda and frozen waffles.

It is fascinating to look at how this happened. How ingredients that were once niche, mocked, or misunderstood became everyday staples. The shift is not just about taste. It is about cultural psychology. People slowly realized that the outliers were not always wrong. Sometimes they were simply early.

So let’s get into it.

Here are eight things that made the leap from fringe to fully normalized.

1) Tofu

I still remember the first time my mom brought home tofu in the early 90s. It came in one of those water filled plastic tubs, and my dad stared at it like it was going to crawl out on its own.

For most families in that era, tofu was firmly in the "other people’s food" category. It was the kind of thing you associated with macrobiotic diets, meditation retreats, and people who wore hemp clothing before it was fashionable.

In the 70s, tofu was basically the mascot of counterculture eating. You had to know someone who knew someone who read a specific cookbook or took a class at a natural foods center just to learn how to cook it.

But now tofu sits next to chicken breasts like it has been there all along.

You can buy soft, firm, extra firm, super firm, pre marinated, pre baked, or tofu designed specifically for stir fries or grilling. That shift did not happen because tofu changed. It happened because consumer openness did.

The more people got comfortable trying unfamiliar foods, the more tofu slid into meal plans, especially as health and sustainability entered mainstream conversations.

And honestly, anyone who still says they do not like tofu usually has not tried it seasoned well or cooked the right way. Crispy tofu is a life changer.

2) Nutritional yeast

If you have been vegan for a while, you know the nostalgia of that first yellow tub of nutritional yeast. It feels like a rite of passage.

But for decades, nutritional yeast was a total mystery ingredient outside of health food circles.

In the 70s, it showed up in homemade granola, brown rice casseroles, and those quirky vegetarian cookbooks filled with black and white illustrations. People made fun of it in sitcoms. It was the hippie cheese, the flaky thing only your friend who did yoga before yoga was cool kept in their pantry.

But now it is on regular supermarket shelves right between the spices and the baking section. Some brands even market it like a gourmet topping.

And for good reason. It is delicious. Put it on popcorn, pasta, roasted veggies, salads. It is an easy win.

It is wild how a once mocked pantry item quietly became a mainstream flavor booster.

3) Tempeh

Tempeh was not invented in the 70s. It has been around for centuries in Indonesia. But that decade was when it first caught the attention of the growing natural foods movement in the United States.

Back then, getting tempeh was a project. You did not pick it up. You sought it out. You went to that one co op with creaky wooden floors. You hoped they were not sold out. And if they were, you shrugged and bought more brown rice.

Now you can find tempeh at Target.

I have mentioned this before, but when I traveled through Southeast Asia in my twenties, tempeh blew my mind. I had only ever seen it in block form. But in Indonesia, I saw it smoked, seasoned, grilled, layered, and served in dishes perfected over generations.

That trip taught me something about food psychology. Most of our discomfort around unfamiliar ingredients has nothing to do with flavor. It is about how attached we are to what we already know.

Tempeh, once the epitome of fringe fermented foods, has officially crossed over.

Today you can buy BBQ flavored tempeh, buffalo style tempeh, and even tempeh bacon. It jumped from a "you need to know someone to find it" food to a supermarket staple.

4) Sprouts

Sprouts were basically a cultural shorthand in the 70s. If someone mentioned alfalfa sprouts, you instantly pictured a very specific type of person. Usually someone who shopped exclusively at co ops and drank herbal tea before it went mainstream.

They were delicious, sure, but they were also deeply hippie coded.

People loved to poke fun at them. Sprouts became a punchline, the ingredient that made a sandwich look like it came straight from a commune kitchen.

But here we are.

Walk into almost any grocery store and you will find sprouts in tidy clamshell containers labeled with words like fresh, crunchy, high protein, and living food.

They are used in bowls, wraps, salads, and sandwiches at mainstream restaurants.

The funny part is they have not changed. They are the same sprouts. We just collectively realized they are tasty and add a great nutritional punch.

Sprouts remind me that food trends do not always create new value. Sometimes they simply highlight the value that was already there.

5) Whole grain bread

In the 70s, white bread ruled grocery stores. Soft, fluffy, perfectly uniform slices were the American default.

Anything else was considered eccentric or unnecessary.

Dense, brown, seeded bread was hippie bread. If you ate it, people assumed you were protesting something or involved in some kind of new age lifestyle class.

But today entire aisles are dedicated to whole grain options. Sprouted, seeded, stone ground, multi grain, ancient grain. The bakery section looks like it was curated by athletes and wellness bloggers.

The cultural shift was not only about taste. It was psychological. As nutritional science gained traction, whole grains became associated with vitality and longevity.

The bread once mocked now signals intention and awareness.

6) Herbal tea

Herbal tea used to be the quirky alternative to coffee. The drink your eccentric aunt made while talking about astrology.

But herbal tea did not just grow in popularity. It exploded. Now there is an entire aisle filled with blends for sleep, digestion, immunity, relaxation, energy, and even creative focus.

And here is something interesting from a behavioral science angle. Rituals matter. Small routines can change how our brains process stress. Herbal tea naturally fits into that category.

I have leaned on it during some of my busiest years. There is something grounding about peppermint or chamomile when you are dealing with back to back deadlines.

Herbal tea went from fringe to universal because people realized it was not just a drink. It was a moment.

7) Granola

Granola had one of the biggest glow ups of any food from the 70s.

The original granola was simple. Oats, honey, sunflower seeds, maybe raisins. It lived in bulk bins with handwritten labels. People teased it as hippie breakfast.

Compare that to now.

Granola sits in beautiful packaging with endless varieties. Protein granola, paleo granola, gluten free granola, grain free granola, chocolate chunk granola. Some brands sell it like it is an artisanal craft food.

Some bags cost the same as a restaurant breakfast.

But granola has always been good. People just needed the wellness movement to rebrand it as a modern, smart breakfast choice.

It taps into everything consumers want. Convenience, crunch, sweetness, and the illusion of making a healthy choice even when you are basically eating dessert.

8) Plant based milks

This one might be the most dramatic transformation.

In the 70s, if you wanted a dairy alternative, your only real option was soy milk. And it was usually shelf stable and tucked away in obscure natural food stores.

Now plant based milk has become a dominant force.

You can choose from oat, almond, cashew, hemp, macadamia, coconut, pea, and blends. And they are not hidden in health food corners. They are in the main refrigerated aisle, often taking up as much space as dairy.

As someone who has been vegan for a long time, this shift still surprises me in the best way.

The rise of plant based milk shows how quickly values can evolve. People want choice. They want sustainability. They want health without losing convenience.

And plant based milks deliver all of that.

It is wild to think that a once fringe option is now poured into cereal bowls everywhere.

The bottom line

It is amazing how much the culture around food has shifted in just a couple generations.

Foods that once signaled fringe lifestyles now sit comfortably in everyday shopping carts.

The real takeaway is this. The ideas we label as weird or extreme often are not wrong. They are simply early.

Give them time and they become the norm.

I am excited to see which former weird foods we will be tossing into our carts next.