Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To say some chocolates are distinctively middle class?

586 replies

lionobserving · 30/12/2021 23:55

MIL asked us if we thought our ferrero rocher tower was "aspirational" and said she knows ferrero rochers to be the aspirational chocolates of the working class.

This baffled me. My family has always sort of transcended class - my mum was upper middle, my day was very working class. But he was a doctor and she a nurse. We were probably lower middle growing up if I had to put a tag on it, but our mixed extended family meant that we weren't aware of what was "posh" or MC / WC. We certainly wouldn't have known which chocs has the markings of which class.

Therefore MNers - lightheartedly - tell me which chocolates you view as typically middle class? We discussed it as a family and we couldn't come up with a single one!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
9
MistyElla · 31/12/2021 09:52

Pierre Marcolini are what we buy when we want to give a nice end of year teacher gift, and for a little token Chriatmas gift we give one of the Leonidas wrapped boxes.

TooMuchPaper · 31/12/2021 09:53

classism is a real issue that needs consciously tackling in lots if situations
So is racism - which also appeared on this thread and was amusing to some people.

RoyalFamilyFan · 31/12/2021 09:55

Yes I reported the racism. It is pervasive on MN.

Alltheprettyseahorses · 31/12/2021 09:55

The nicest chocolate to buy is Aldi's 200g for 89p fruit and nut. One Below sells Monty Bojangles and Home Bargains sells Godiva so that scuppers their poshness.

The best chocolate I've ever eaten was a sample from a little shop in Stockport in the mid 1990s, white with a very strong fresh butter and cream flavour and a slight undertone of coffee. Apart from that one fleeting taste of heaven no independent chocolate shop has ever been anything but meh to me. I do make very nice chocolates myself using cadbury's freddo misshapes, leftover Aldi clotted cream from my special scone recipe (2/3 milk, 1/3 clotted cream in the mix, you're welcome), a tiny bit of butter and some vanilla.

As for class, I definitely rate underclass which is 100% fine and here's where it gets a bit serious given an example used upthread - a working-class doctor is still working-class and to say otherwise is just another incidence of the middle-class terror of the ocean of genius, talent and creativity that runs through working-class people. It's as if they can't be a real working-classer and acknowledged to be as clever (or far more clever) as they because that would undermine the middle-class sense of superiority over the plebs and cause them to question their unjustified status. There's nothing wrong with being working-class and there's nothing aspirational about being middle-class.

HyggeTygge · 31/12/2021 09:58

@TooMuchPaper

classism is a real issue that needs consciously tackling in lots if situations So is racism - which also appeared on this thread and was amusing to some people.
Bloody hell. Didn't see it. Would be nice if there could be, I dunno, one or two threads on MN without racism?
AdaHopper · 31/12/2021 10:00

I'm in Belgium so we have a different take on chocolates.

Here leonidas is lower middle class (though we don't really use language like uc, mc, lc). Upper middle class are the more exclusive brands: Neuhaus, Godiva. Posh are some local artisanal chocolatiers. They are the ones where the chocolate is wafer thin around the gorgeous filling and cost an arm and a legg. Lower class are anything not Belgium (or swiss) that sells in a supermarket.

WeRTheOnesWeHaveBeenWaitingFor · 31/12/2021 10:01

WC - Ferrero Rocher,
LMC - Celebrations, quality street
MC - Lindt, Hotel Chocolat, green and blacks
UMC - Prestat, booja booja
UC - artisan hand made jellies and chocolates

Rubyupbeat · 31/12/2021 10:09

We order in chocs from Belgium, and I still love Milk tray......hmmm.......

MissConductUS · 31/12/2021 10:13

In the US Russel Stover is LC, Godiva is MC and Ghirardelli is posh.

monotonousmum · 31/12/2021 10:14

Are after eights aspirational too?
I love them Grin

BoredZelda · 31/12/2021 10:17

Isn’t being obsessed with class the most distinctly middle class thing to do?

RedPandaWanda · 31/12/2021 10:23

I am a chocoholic. Growing up I had often read how luxurious and decadent Godiva chocolates were and they were quite rare back then. I longed to try them. When I was 20 I went to london, to Harrods, and paid £20 for 4 Godiva chocolates (quite a bit nearly 30 years ago). I held onto them until we got back on the train to go home and when my friends fell asleep I opened the chocolates and devoured them (I had no intention of sharing!). Was I impressed? Absolutely not, I was so disappointed. I went back to my Diary Milk after that, I must have rough working class tastes lol!

RoyalFamilyFan · 31/12/2021 10:27

@RedPandaWanda a lot of so-called posh chocolates are more about branding than substance.

Redact · 31/12/2021 10:27

My favourite chocolates for the past few years have been from cocoa black. A treat every Christmas and birthday. I also like Irish cadburys or the large buttons which taste more like the cadburys from my childhood.

LaBelleSausage · 31/12/2021 10:28

@RedPandaWanda I had similarly disappointing experiences with Godiva and Prestat.

Heartbreaking isn't it. Especially when you're young and really thought you were about to experience something special

RosesAndHellebores · 31/12/2021 10:29

The new Roses wrappers are a pit of the stomach disappointment. A Christmas tradition ruined. Never. Ever. Again.

DrSbaitso · 31/12/2021 10:30

@BoredZelda

Isn’t being obsessed with class the most distinctly middle class thing to do?
So people have a need to show their obsession with class in order to demonstrate that they're middle class?

The snake is truly eating its own tail in self-perpetuation. Next obsession: is the word "ouroboros" upper class or a sign of aspirational affectation?

alwayscrashinginthesamecar1 · 31/12/2021 10:31

I remember being bought some chocs from Harrods when I was a teenager, the fillings were made with fresh cream and were absolutely delicious. Anyone know what they were called? They had to be eaten within a few days IIRC.

Sgtmajormummy · 31/12/2021 10:32

Ferrero Rocher IS Nutella. Just with a fancy shell and a nut plonked inside.
Same company, same genius founder recently deceased. They were invented in the early 80s IIRC but Nutella has been going strong since long before that.

RoyalFamilyFan · 31/12/2021 10:32

Decent chocolates use cocoa butter, not palm oil. This is the case for most expensive chocolates, Hotel Chocolat and a lot of ALDI and LIDL chocolate. Look at ingredients, this tells you if it is decent chocolate or not.

VividImaginationAgain · 31/12/2021 10:33

I have a “wanna be” vairy posh friend. I used to buy her Monty Bojangles but now that they are available in Tesco I’ve had to move to Artisan handmade chocolates. It’s a shame. You get far more chocolate in a fruit and nut.

RoyalFamilyFan · 31/12/2021 10:33

I have bought fresh chocolates from chocolate shops. They are rarely any better than the best ALDI and LDL have to offer.

VividImaginationAgain · 31/12/2021 10:35

And, this thread has reminded me that I bought a jar of Nutella for ds3 for Christmas and I haven’t a clue where I’ve put it!

Cosmos123 · 31/12/2021 10:36

Lint are naice
Tony's
And m and m peanuts Grin

Sgtmajormummy · 31/12/2021 10:37

Where I live the fancy, aspirational chocolatier has taken over the historic monumental cafe and a few prominent pastry shops.
They do a good job of sourcing ethical cocoa and employing qualified staff. Their window displays are always spectacular with specially shaped offerings throughout the year.
BUUUUUUUUT they use goat’s milk in their milk chocolate and I just can’t get over it…