To have never heard of these chocolates before?!

[whatitisitisnt]

I had my lovely friend over for lunch today, we organised it as it'll probably be the last time we see each other now in between the craziness of children and Christmas coming up!

We exchanged some small, token gifts and she had bought me the most beautiful looking box of chocolates! I hadn't actually ever seen them before or heard of the brand.. and am not even sure how exactly to pronounce it

'The Signature collection' truffles by a brand called Booja-Booja. I then had to have a little Google, and I love everything they stand for!

I'm not a vegan / dairy free, but am actively trying to reduce how much meat and animal derived products I'm consuming so I'm absolutely DELIGHTED to find these chocolate truffles are dairy free! They taste incredible 🤩

I text my friend to thank her, and she was absolutely shocked to find out that I had never heard of them before!

During my Google I noticed how pricey they are.. I must admit they aren't something I'd have the spare cash to buy myself on a whim, but they do look as though they'd make lovely gifts!

So (light hearted of course!!)

AIBU to have never heard of them before.. let alone tried them?!

booja booja must be struggling and haven’t got a good advertising budget. I’d never buy after reading this thread. Just fyi. I’d now think cheap and desperate. People don’t like to feel they are seen as idiots.

I hadn't realised that they'd started being sold in Waitrose - as I don't shop there - but for many years they deliberately avoided supermarkets and focussed on being sold via independent wholefoods shops. I'm actually feeling a bit disappointed to hear that they've changed who they're supplying to.

IME this isn't an ethical decision by companies it's because it's quite hard to get newer/smaller products into the supermarket sector without getting shafted. Whereas building a name and demand in the independent sector is a tried and tested way to build brand awareness.

We've run an independent wholefoods retail store for nearly 30 years and the number of companies that have done this over the years it's shocking. Some of them (mentioning no names Vogel's you fucking bandits) who after selling them for 15 years turned round to us and said they couldn't supply us anymore because they were at capacity selling to supermarkets.

Soda Folk, who sold only through independents for years and years then started doing exclusive releases with a chain deliveroo restaurant and only releasing them to it's faithful customers once the hype has died.

I am Montezuma's all the way.

This feels like advertising :-(

I bought some for somebody. She offered me one as she opened them straight away. They were vile and cheap tasting. I was mortified.

They have been delicious when I've been given them in the past, but should you buy them from a shop that keeps them in too warm a place, you'll think you've made a peat bog person discovery. DH pointed out the resemblance to Elling Woman. Burial in the bin.

The name makes me cringe too much to ever buy any.

Makes my bumhole quiver, and not in a good way.

They are grim. Aggressively bland.

We've bought booja booja for years. Love their chocs. And used to eat their ice cream which is also lush when I was dairy free for a bit.

We've bought three boxes for Christmas. Their midnight espresso are the best ones.

What do you prefer?

Don’t apologise. Some people just get very annoyed about all things vegan. 😂

I’ve heard of them and tried them but I’m vegan so often people by me these and other brands of vegan chocolates as gifts. They’re nice, as is their ice cream.

They’re really nice OP. Enjoy.

Are they full of palm or coconut oil? I prefer not to eat either.

Maybe you should increase your fruit & vegetables for that tummy pain...

Wasn't overly impressed with them tbh. They were alright but nothing special.

I'm working my way through (it's hard but someone has to do it I suspose) Russell and Attwell chocs at the mo. I like the texture but the flavour isn't quite doing it for me.

I've had Pump Street chocolate and one pack was really, really delicious but I can't remember which one! I've tried a couple since but didn't like them and they are too expensive to keep buying them in the hope I find the right one!

I think I need to accept that I'm not such a huge chocolate fan anymore.

Their ice cream is good - and it’s all soy free as well. I’ve bought their stuff for a dairy/soy free friend as it’s hard to find that combination normally!

I used to eat their champagne truffles fairly frequently but haven't had any for years amd haven't tried any other flavours.

They're OK, quite rich and very cocoa-y. I wouldn't let the vegan slant put you off - many dark truffles are vegan by accident. They aren't like awful vegan chocolate that tastes like candle wax, they just happen to not contain dairy.

I was purchased some as a gift by a vegan, although not vegan myself - they are gross!

It would be helpful if instead of just saying 'they're gross!' people explained why they didn't enjoy them. Do you not like dark chocolate generally, or are you comparing these with non-vegan dark chocolate?

I find it very odd to say the label 'vegan' puts you off food. Baked beans, all kinds of other beans, lentils and chickpeas, many dishes made from them, all vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains, seeds, muesli, hummus, most bread, olives, all forms of oil, sugar, tea, coffee, cocoa powder - all naturally vegan.

That would only be helpful if you were the owner of the company or engaged in this unsubtle marketing

I've been vegetarian for almost 35 years so I do eat a lot of fruit and vegetables every day. Well a lot of veggies but less fruit now it's winter. I must have made this username eons ago. My son- well into his twenties now- had a mystery tummy problems for a long time. We never found out what it was. It just went away when he was 14 or so. Magic. When I hear anyone who has tummy pains now, it makes me prick up my ears and log all their symptoms. So many awful memories of blood tests, tubes going in his throat, up elsewhere, it was an awful time. Thankfully all in the past now. Perhaps I'll change my username but I don't know how to! I'd like to find out.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g OT but I was reading the other day about a vegan brand (Wicked Kitchen maybe?) that purposely don't advertise that they are vegan. None of the packaging shows they are vegan because they found that when it did, it damaged sales.

Also Higgedy have decided that being known as a vegetarian brand isn't doing them any favours so they've branched out and now sell sausage rolls. This is a pain though. If I was in a rush, I knew I could just grab a Higgedy product without reading it but now I have to look carefully because the packaging is all very similar.

Shows how prejudiced people are though about an idea.

Next year treat yourself to their Advent calendar, it's fab.

I used to work in a vegan/vegetarian food warehouse at uni. We were allowed to take food home that was close to its best before date. This meant a LOT of Booja Booja chocolates (they weren't exactly a best seller!).

I thought they were...OK. Too much cocoa for my liking (I love dark chocolate but these just tasted of sweetened cocoa to me) and too rich. I mean I was happy to eat them when given for free but no way are they worth the prices IMO!

Interesting! I thought vegan food was a big growth market. Maybe not now the novelty has worn off and the cost of living crisis is making people re-assess their spending. A lot of the food advertised as plant-based is actually ultra high processed, which is not healthy.

I'm an omnivore so will eat almost anything, but I do try to avoid palm oil. Not easy nowadays.

I like Booja Booja. I find many truffles a bit sickly and fatty; many cheaper ones use vegetable oil or fat. They are really good quality. Doesn't really even cross my mind that they're vegan, although I'm an omnivore; I'd just buy them because I think they're the best.