Ice Cream Vans

While they are still a thing, Ice Cream vans seemed to be everywhere when I was a child. That may have been because in my area there was a well established local Ice Cream firm called Verossi/Verricchhia (it seemed to use both names as I remember).

My nostalgia might simply be because their orange and yellow vans used to stop right outside my house and their chimes playing ‘Oh Sole Mio’ are intrinsically linked to my childhood summers.

But I was speaking to my other half about this just recently. She doesn’t see the fuss about Ice Cream vans but she is a decade younger and by the time she was growing up everyone had freezers to fill with Ice cream at anytime.

I’m sure most people had freezers when I was a child too, we didn’t though. Our house was technologically behind the times with our very old (and small) fridge with Ice Box compartment.

There was something special about getting an Ice Cream on your doorstep. A 99 with a flake was a treat. Or for my Gran it would be an oyster shell with strawberry sauce and nuts.

I think my neighbour often got the screwball which I’m sure most kids got as the cheap and relatively cleaner option but I was never allowed that because it had bubble gum at the bottom. I wad never allowed any sort of gum.

For me though it was the Top Secret lolly – chocolate coated banana ice cream with a hidden lemonade ice layer. In truth I suspect I only really liked the lemonade layer and yet I would never have picked a lemonade lolly.

The Top Secret lolly was probably exclusive to that local ice cream company. I’ve never been able to find much reference about it and nobody else seems to remember that piece of my childhood. Like the orange and yellow vans, it’s long gone now.

Ice cream vans still do exist and one even stops outside my house now regularly during the summer but somehow it just isn’t the same anymore.

30th Jul 2023 0

Wotsits

You only get a woosh with a Wotsit as the advert used to say. Cheesy Wotsits as many people still say. You know these cheesy corn Puff snacks, everyone does but they’re still a memory from my childhood and given that is what this site is all about then that is what I am going to write about.

Don’t judge my childhood food choices as children aren’t known for their culinary prowess at the best of times. Cheesy Wotsits were my go to snack and still remain a guilty pleasure comfort food for me.

Only the cheese flavour would do for me.

As every older person ever always says when reminiscing about snack favourites from the past… they aren’t as big as they used to be. In part this is certainly true – packet sizes of all snacks have been shrinking down, in part because we seem to be more aware of the health disadvantages. Never did me any harm… OK I admit I have reached grumpy old man status.

I’m fairly certain they were bigger puffs of corn when I was younger and much less curly but ever since Walkers bought them from their once dominant rivals Golden Wonder, they have essentially become Cheetos smaller and C shaped.

The recently released Giant variety are much more like the Wotsits I remember from my childhood. There has also been new flavours released recently which is a trend amongst all snacks lately.

But for years the only time you could have a flaming hot Wotsit would be in the lead up to Halloween. I miss those days. Now I’ve reached grumpy old man territory I am going to make a Wotsit sandwich and you can judge me on that all you want..

14th Nov 2021 0

Cereal Freebies

The notion of little gifts in cereal packets predates my existence by decades and by the time I was exiting my childhood such things were becoming a rarity and I’m talking about the little toys and gifts actually in the cereal.

Obviously far from amazing but as a kid finding the freebie in your Coco-Pops livened your breakfast. Although I know there was plenty I don’t remember many of the items I got and there is a good reason for that…

Most of the gifts were just cheap and cheerful plastic tat. Junk that ended up mixed up with all my other little bits of plastic like happy meal toys.

There are a couple I remember. Firstly the Kellogg’s rooster reflectors. I’ll have you know his name is Cornealious. Bike reflectors were a thing in the 1980s apparently.

Nobody ever admitted to liking Rasin Splitz, nobody ever admitted to liking Telly Addicts either.

I didn’t get a bike until the mid nineties so mine just sat with the other tat until I finally got a bike and yes – attached them to the spokes, like the most out of date child there could be.

The other freebie that sticks in my mind was probably not given away inside boxes but rather by collecting tokens which became the main way to get free gifts as putting plastic toys in cereal became seen as either unsanitary or a choking hazard depending who you ask.

Rasin Splitz were giving away Telly Addicts game cards. They were quiz cards about television based on the Noel Edmonds show of the day.

There were four from memory and I think I had them all. I’m not sure why they came into my possession as I was too young to be able to really play them game, they would have been better being stored with the board games.

There was a junior pack (the red one) I could probably just about stumble around the answers but it was a bit above my head.

It was about ten years later when I rediscovered them hidden amongst some old toys – by now gathering far too much info about old TV programmes that I started to be able to answer them. A few decades on I reckon I’d probably know most of the answers, which is really really sad.

16th Sep 2020 0

Pop Tarts

I remember Pop-Tarts being the big new thing. A biscuit style base with a sweet filling, chocolate, jam and im pretty certain apple that go in the toaster.

Naturally through pester power I managed to get them added to the shopping list as a treat. They were different and I’m pretty certain always disappointed me.

Purely from memory the biscuit tasted like hot cardboard while the fillings were too sweet and sickly. Oh and extremely hot! Burn your mouth hot.

I don’t think we often bought them but in my head I always really wanted them all the same. They are still avaliable, tucked away in the corner of the cereal aisle. There is only one or two varieties now.

I’ve not tried them out on my kids and I don’t think I ever will. For me they’re something sugary and burny and while I probably loved the idea of that as a kid I don’t so much now!

9th Sep 2020 0

Golden Wonder Crisps

What would lunch boxes be like without packets of crisps. Ready Salted, Cheese and Onion or Salt and Vinegar whatever your flavour there was only one brand I remember growing up – Golden Wonder.

Long forgotten now as just an also-brand but Golden Wonder were top of the snack food game in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

I remembr the packets, complete with the transparent window so you could actually see how many crisps you were getting and back then you actually got a decent amount per bag.

There was also the distinct colouring of the flavours. Ready Salted (Plain as it was always known to me) was in purple/dark blue and Cheese and Onion was in green. Walkers decision to use green for Salt and Vinegar was wrong, it was even referenced in a Harry Enfield sketch.

Golden Wonder had the bulk of the market, they also owned other market leading products like Wotsits and Wheat Crunchies but eventually these were sold off and Golden Wonder almost entirely disappeared.

26th Aug 2020 0

Smiths Chipsticks

You either loved these or loaved these. These small corny sticks that looked like chips and a packaging design that didn’t change for decades. I was a fan of the ready salted variety, no longer on the market unlike the other variety Salt and Vinegar.

They were somewhat greasy and totally unhealthy and tasted all the better for it. I was always pleased to see them in my lunchbox at school – kids today would definitely not be allowed these in school!

I have one weird memory from the packaging, at some point Walkers took over Smiths and plaster a huge copyright notice on the back but for some reason the date was not updated for years and still said 1995 and I can recall a friend at school trying to convince me they were out of date.

12th Aug 2020 0

Sunny Delight

Sunny Delight was a new drink that launched in the late 1990s. Coming in from America it had an advert which was terribly cheesey but work as a call to action for kids to try this new product.

It also had another clever marketing trick, its tagine was ‘The great stuff kids go for!’ which implied that it was a healthy drink, plus it was orange in colour so basically orange juice.

My mum bought some for me to try. There were too varieties the one with orange lid and the one with the yellow lid. I’m not sure what the flavour were now but in my mind the orange was orange juice and the yellow was a citrus-orange juice. I prefered the latter.

It was everywhere in the supermarket sitting next to the chilled juices. It was a fresh product and came in a weird shaped ‘American’ style bottle. What’s not to love.

I did like the taste but I do remember after having just one glass I would feel a bit queasy if I drank anymore I felt outright sick and that’s no wonder…

Sunny Delight was neither healthy or fresh. It was a mix of sugars, oils and syrups with a bit of natural flavours and it had a thick consistency, in fact although it tasted nice i completely see why it made me feel sick.

Then it started getting bad press as slowly people began to realise they had been dupped into buying it. Personally after the first month of trying it I don’t remember having it again, probably due to the affect it would have on me.

Then came the reports that some children were turning orange due to the amount of the stuff they were consuming, the colouring in the drink having that affect on them. Then it just went away as a huge PR disaster.

29th Jul 2020 0