When did Viennetta stop being posh ??

[RubbingHimSourly]

I'd been talking to the DC about the sort of things we had as kids so decided this fridays food night (( always have a theme on a friday, usually Mexican / Chinese whatever )) it's a bit of an event, we set the table and use napkins, candles etc.

Yes. I'm a sad twat.

Anyways, tonight we had orange juice as a pre starter, served in posh glasses from the charity shop.

egg mayonnaise.

Chicken in a basket. (( Baskets stolen acquired from subway ))

And choice of arctic roll or and Viennetta for dessert.

It occurred to me when I brought out my picked up from Heron foods for £1 viennetta that Viennetta is no longer an event. When it used to be. So much so I can remember the first time I had it at a friend's house. And racing home to tell my mum. In a oooooooohhhhhh, we had Viennetta and it's not even a special occasion. I mean they were posh, they had other luxuries such as pop man deliveries and branded crisps but even so.

Anyways, when did Viennetta become just meh. And was it a luxury, almost aspirational dessert when you were a kid ?? Or was I just deprived ??

@Justmuddlingalong ...we had the same family rows about the cherry in the fruit cocktail....I usually got it much to my brother's chagrin,

I also remember being completely mortified about going to the icecream van with a dish, and always made sure to say "my mum wants four scoops in here, it's not for me"

And viennettas is still HauteCuisine at the ILs, nigh on forty years I have been with dh and in al that time pudding has always been Viennetta, Arctic Roll, Bird's Eye trifle or Mandarin cheesecake.

Once we had a fruit crumble....one singel homemade pudding in all those years!

and like a pp we never got them at home as my mother cooked almost everything from scratch, and would tutter abut shop puddings.

It was well sfistica'ed Right up there with Fereo Rocher and After Eights.

I remember one advert having Nat King Cole croning "When I fall in love"

I also remember Romantica. I don't think it was around that long?

My first experience of tubs like Ben & Jerry's was in the mid-90s. Posh dinner parties had passed their peak by then.

They probably were nicer in the 80s. Too many recipes have been scrimped on in recent years.

Romantica only in Ireland nowadays, sad.

Fruit cocktail has been rediscovered with gusto in this house. Unlike fresh fruit, it is guarenteed to taste good, not under-ripe and by-pass to moldy in the blink of an eye!

@MrsElizabethShelby I find it fascinating that I've touched people born in three different centuries in my family.

Yes SouthernComfort!

Below are the ingredients for Vanilla Vienetta and Haagen Daz. I wouldn't eat the first one.

Reconstituted Skimmed Milk, Coconut Oil, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Sugar, Water, Glucose Syrup, Whey Solids (Milk), Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder, Emulsifiers (Mono- and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids, Ammonium Phosphatides), Stabilisers (Locust Bean Gum, Guar Gum, Carrageenan), Flavouring

Fresh Cream (39%), Condensed Skimmed Milk, Sugar, Egg Yolk, Vanilla Extract

Fruit cocktail with Tip Top or carnation milk 😀

1985

Vienettas were made in Gloucester.

That really takes the 'poshness' away from them!

When did it start being posh?

@FatherFintanFay Askeys do a version on Ice Magic called Crakin. Got really excited and was reminiscing with the kids, built it all up and nope - it's shite 🙄

What’s interesting is that so many of us, richer and poorer all had much the same food and experience of food it would appear.Cornettos, maderain cheescakes, fruit salad are ubiquitous.

It’s only in the 90’s that food seems to divide off into class groups.

I can’t imagine anyone remembering a food so universally nowadays. I mean something like avocado is either a daily staple on brown toast,, something to have with spicy food or not on your radar at all.

I remember my first ever vienetta. My granny spent ages trying to carve up the brown plastic tray thinking it was a solid chocolate base!

Viennetta was quite posh when it first appeared (mid 80s?) I also loved M & S frozen chocolate gateau from about the late 70s onwards, which we would have on special occasions. It was basically choc sponge covered and filled with choc mousse, delicious! I also have fond childhood/teen memories of crap foods like strawberry Angel Delight, Heinz steamed jam pud ( v. dangerous to steam and retrieve from the boiling, hissing tin! ) and Ice Magic. Viennetta was usurped by premium ice creams in the 90s.

Love Vienetta, always have one in the freezer, the kids think it’s funny.

@SheSaidNoFuckThat Ice Magic was shite though, wasn’t it? Clever shite, but shite nonetheless. I can remember wanting it but not wanting it, at the same time.

omg so posh. Loved a Viennetta but by golly you knew it must be a special occasion when that bad boy came out.

Egg mayo starter ? Wtf ?

Ooh, I'd forgotten about Gino Ginelli's Tutti Frutti! We sometimes had a tub of that in the freezer, along with a half and half tub of melon and mango ice cream from Bejam. Delicious.

Those who had Ben and Jerry's as children are very young... Haagen Daaz was just starting to be sold in Blockbusters with your Friday night video when I was early twenties... You couldn't buy Ben and Jerry's until about another decade!

It was one of those things I promised myself I would do when I was a grown up, eat a whole Vienetta to myself. No as easy as it looks, let me tell you

That reminded me of Dave Gorman's proclamation:

"If all you're buying from the supermarket is a single ready-meal for one and a family-sized Vienetta, the self-service till will NOT judge you!"

It was never actually posh. It was marketed as such, but the advertisers were lying. Genuinely sophisticated people wouldn't touch the stuff.

About 1991 in Llanelli !

I used to get so excited when we had vienetta or chocolate gateau as dessert but I don't think I liked the actual taste of either! We used to get it in the early 90s, and it was only for special occasions. I think it was posh, at least in our house.

Btw...what is chicken in a basket? I'm so intrigued. Is it literally chicken in a basket? If so would that be one basket of chicken per person, or one central basket that people help themselves to chicken from? I have no idea

Yogobo you poor, deprived soul.

Chicken in a basket was basically a basket. Filled with chips and topped with half a roast chicken / chicken portions Usually garnished with a liberal dose of mayo and a side of corn on the cob. This was staple pub food in the 80s / 90s

Egg mayonnaise for the poster further up was served as a starter. I still see it pop up from time to time. Literally a couple of boiled eggs, halved and covered in mayo. Maybe a sprinkle of paprika for glamour and a wilted, salad garnish.