Snacks – Ben remembers…

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.

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..

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.

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.

Category: Snacks

Ice Cream Vans

Wotsits

Golden Wonder Crisps

Smiths Chipsticks