Originally Posted by clarence5ybr

Yes, I'm old enough to remember pink pistachios in the US!

The average US level of food sophistication was thought (probably correctly) to be too low to eat a green nut. It's the same reason hot dogs are dyed to a 'pleasing' color instead of being left in their natural brown/grey state.

Back when pistachios were dyed pink, you certainly could not have found fish sauce, lemongrass, sriracha, etc. in my local supermarket, but they're there today, along with vacuum-packed pre-cooked Indian meals, etc., etc. Fifteen years ago, most Americans had no idea what a Chipotle chile was, but today there's a major food chain named 'Chipotle.' At some point in our culinary awakening, the powers that be decided we could deal with green nuts, so they stopped coloring them pink.