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 ??

@VenusClapTrap it was a treat in our house, didn't have it often and it was rationed 😂. Joys of growing up in the 80s without a pot to piss in I guess

I remember Romantica! It was an occasional treat but never had quite the same panache as Viennetta.

One of my fondest memories as a child in rural Ireland in the summer was the Sunday after mass, after lunch treat of a slice of Neopolitan or banana ice cream in between two wafers. Yum yum.

They showed a spoof GBBO sketch last night on Jo Brand Extra Slice with PH slicing into a Vienetta so maybe it's time for a comeback

I say around the same time spaghetti bolognese became a every day meal.

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

Whaaat? Next you’ll be saying posh people weren’t drinking Nescafé gold either 🤣
( with their After Eight Mints perched cheekily on the side too of course )

@NotTonightJosepheen I adore a Romantica, but I haven't tasted it in years. Actually in my 15 years in this country I've never once found one for sale here (and I have looked!!). My in-laws always had one for us when we went back to visit, before recent years when they got too frail to be doing dinners for us.

You've got me craving one now, though.

The chocolate base! The biscuit! The caramel layer! The crunchy bobbly bits!

It was never properly posh, but it was perceived to be by a lot of ordinary people for a few years. But when Vienetta came out the ready made puddings you could buy were basically, fruit cocktail in a tin, basic ice cream like vanilla and Neapolitan, and sara lees chocolate gateaux. Semolina and a tin of fruit cocktail with tip top were both perfectly acceptable puddings. So vienetta was posh in comparison.

Anyone eating truly nice puddings at this time were either eating home made, or eating home made in a restaurant. My MIL made amazing cakes and puddings, but bought stuff was a different story.

I never liked sara lees chocolate gateaux, I always thought it tasted rubbish even back then.

The first meal I made for a boyfriend was spaghetti bolognaise and vienetta.

“It was never properly posh, but it was perceived to be by a lot of ordinary people for a few years”

What a wanker thing to say

I remember mid 80's my mum took me out for a meal after an unpleasant hospital appointment. The food was slice of melon with a glacé cherry on a cocktail stick, veggie lasagne containing exotic stuff like courgettes (served with chips though 😂) and arctic roll. With SPARKLING water to drink! As an 8 year old in a northern town you'd think I'd been to dinner with the queen. Just a couple of years later everything seemed so much more cosmopolitan, people were experimenting beyond pie and peas, and my mum wasn't the weirdo who fed her kids Mediterranean veg any more 😬. How times have changed.

OMG dr coconut you’ve reminded me when balsamic vinegar HAPPENED. Overnight these little dishes of balsamic and olive oil to dip your bread in like you did in Italy and Spain were everywhere

Anyone eating truly nice puddings at this time were either eating home made, or eating home made in a restaurant.

Duh. But the point is everyone ate homemade, it certainly wasn't posh. Even school dinners were all homemade and they could be gopping.

“Ordinary people” FFS.

That was a really twattish comment

Dh remembers the adverts that made them look all complicated. Also it had a foreign-sounding name, so you know, more exotic than ice cream.

I remember those horrible tubs with chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. The strawberry was always left to languish.

It was never posh.
We only had it at Easter and Christmas due to the cost at that time.
It`s cheaper now by more than a £1 so readily available.

YogaOljaz I think you've just made me realise I'm a snob. I've never had chicken served in a basket, boiled eggs are breakfasts (for the dog) not starters and vienetta have always been opposite of posh.

I think it's around the time that Haagen Dazs took that spot in the very early 90s.

I don't think it was a twattish comment. I thought it was posh. But I am under no illusions that the kind of people who ate at the ritz would have thought it was posh.

And IME home made puddings were always okay back then, even school dinners. Because they were made with proper ingredients instead of lots of artificial stuff. So sure sponge pudding with raisins - fly cemetery - was not haute cuisine, but it was better than a lot of cheap processed puddings.

But I am under no illusions that the kind of people who ate at the ritz would have thought it was posh.

You're taking the word 'posh' a bit too literally. I don't think anyone is under any illusions that Viennetta has ever been eaten at the Ritz.

Well as I said it was thought posh by ordinary people.
No judgement there, I am ordinary people who has risen from poverty class.

Yes, as I said earlier, we’re not talking about princess Margaret posh 😭 only tourists eat at the ritz anyway

So posh by everyone then? What’s your point?

About 1978

Do only tourists eat at the ritz? I have always fancied eating there.

It’ll be you and 200 Chinese tourists then! Or you might get lucky have have a few people who took the train up rom Worthing to spend their red letter day vouchers with you

My gran always had one in the freezer.