Mall Food (3) mall, mall food, mall food madness, pretzels, hot dogs, department store, food court, nostalgia, mall nostalgia, malls of the 80s, malls of the 90s, shopping mall, panda express, orange chicken, cinnabon

Where to eat at the most delicious malls across America, from Atlanta’s Plaza Fiesta to Minneapolis’s Mall of America

A retro-style illustration of a mall fountain with customers in colorful clothing walking by.

Ryan Bradley

Contributor

Justine Jones

Contributor

Amy McCarthy

Contributor

Avery Dalal

Contributor

Jamie Loftus

Contributor

Jaya Saxena

Contributor

Bill Esparza

Contributor

Bettina Makalintal

Contributor

Wei Tchou

Contributor

Wenting Gu

Photographer

Molly J. Smith

Photographer

Wonho Frank Lee

Photographer

Louiie Victa

Photographer

Adam Riding

Photographer

Nathaniel Wilder

Photographer

Pablo Espinosa Gutiérrez

Illustrator

Erin DeJesus

Editor

Lauren Saria

Editor

Jesse Sparks

Editor

Designer

Kaitlin Bray

Audience

Avery Dalal

Audience

Frances Dumlao

Audience

Kristen Kornbluth

Audience

Mira Milla

Audience

Lesley Suter

Project Manager

Kelsey Lannin

Fact Checker

Leilah Bernstein

Copy Editor

Nadia Q. Ahmad, Missy Frederick, Brenna Houck, Amanda Kludt, Rachel P. Kreiter, Ellie Krupnick, Jess Mayhugh, Meghan McCarron, Stefania Orrù, Stephen Pelletteri, Jonathan Smith, Stephanie Wu

Special Thanks to

Lesley Suter

Editorial Lead

Nat Belkov

Creative Director

An illustrated large pretzel is being dipped into a cup of yellow cheese, with a mall food court in the background.

When it comes to the ideal mall snack, there’s no beating the humble, buttery, salty, puffy, endlessly portable pretzel

A red cafeteria tray holds plates of food including one dumpling. A man holds chopsticks in a yellow shirt.

The very last restaurant in NYC’s once-bustling East Broadway Mall is hanging on, one tray of dumplings at a time

A vibrant cartoon candy shop with gumball machines, and hands holding a variety of Mexican lollipops and candies.

Before there was Flamin’ Hot everything, there was the chuchería, or candy stand, the champion of every Mexican mall

Jay Simms

Camera Operator

Charlotte Carpenter

Video editor

Murilo Ferreira

Director

Pelin Keskin

Producer

Lille Allen

Ian Stroud

Producer

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Alfredo Villa

animation

Alfredo Villa

Animation