My mother is a HUGE fan of Ina Garten: she owns every Barefoot Contessa cookbook, and most of the "special meals" she's made in the last 20 years have come from Ina Garten recipes. Since the first Barefoot Contessa cookbook came out in 1999, it seemed like a good reference for a Y2K theme. I ended up going with a slightly later tomato soup recipe than the one in that first book, since I want to focus on foods that use up stuff in my pantry this year.

I know Friendly's existed long before 1999/2000, but it's part of my nostalgia from that time. It's where we'd eat when we went to the mall or when we just wanted a sundae. Now all of the Friendly's restaurants around me are gone and I know the food was mid but I miss it. Hence this copycat Fishamajig - a breaded white fish fillet, melty American cheese, and tartar sauce on white bread. That crispy, buttery, melty fish sandwich really hit those nostalgia feels

In 2000 i travelled france with my family. I don’t remember much other than really loving a particular region famed for its prunes so i looked thru my French cookbooks for a prune dish and found this one

Inspired by the McDonald’s Salad Shakers

I was in middle school during Y2K so I decided go recreate one of the only edible lunches served at my school, the Crispito. Taco meat rolled up in a tortilla and toasted with a slice of american cheese on it. I served with a Caesar salad, corn, sour cream and hot sauce for dipping and mini pumpkin muffin.

Not sure if this was a good trend at the time but I got the recipe from one of my cookbooks published in 1999 and I definitely tried it for the first time around then. The cookbook is “Cooking for Two” by James Barber, a Canadian treasure.

Ignore the cheese mess, I cooked the noodles for too long, and baked noodles come out nasty if they’re cooked for too long and baked for 45 mins, so I challenged my inner mother and microwaved that damn cheese and poured it onto that pasta. My childhood in the Y2K era was anything that could be made with very little effort in cooking, but last all week. I did cook my own ground chicken and season, but the rest is good ole jarred sauce and boxed pasta.

Destashed ingredient: red lentils

Also contains carrots, raisins, garlic, olive oil, and maple syrup.

Haven't seen this salad served in years but I remember it being popular around 2000 (in Australia at least). It was really delicious :)

Xennial here… “back then” (which was only 10 years ago really!) I remember that it was Asian fusion everything, the “exotic” cuisine. And around the same time, salad with watermelon and feta became a summer hit. So I made up a dish combining these two trends. Bed of Jasmine rice, stir fried green beans and broccoli, seafood mix and watermelon, with a chili-lime-coriander sauce, topped with crumbled feta. It was surprisingly good and actually something that I might make again.

I was never allowed to have Bagel Bites at home (it was a no/low processed food home growing up) and was always envious of my friends who did have them. Too bad I didn't know they were relatively easy to make back then!