Good Food Blog

Retro revival

Posted at 12:55PM, 16 June 2009 by Carol Wilson - Food writer

As the credit crunch bites, it seems we've all developed a yearning for foods from times past. Discontinued foods from years gone by such as Arctic Roll have been resurrected - and sales are booming. Likewise Bird's custard powder and Fray Bentos pies (favourite standbys of every student kitchen) are also enjoying a revival, as are ready-made sandwiches with passé fillings such as coronation chicken, ham salad and salad cream, and strawberry jam.

Open quotationAdverts have cleverly caught the mood of the current nostalgia by taking us back to a more prosperous and happier time in our livesClose quotation

There's some ingenious marketing of these old favourites - long forgotten television adverts from the past 50 years are being revived and have cleverly caught the mood of the current nostalgia by taking us back to a more prosperous and happier time in our lives. The ads are also less costly, as it's more economical to recycle an old advert than to create a new one.

Supermarkets too have been quick to tune into the public sentiment. One enterprising idea late last year was a range of 'forgotten cuts of meat' featuring cheap cuts which need longer cooking than more expensive steaks and chops. My butcher would argue that these cuts had never gone away as far as he's concerned, but to a section of the public who only ever shop in supermarkets, these cheaper cuts were as strange and unfamiliar as exotic mushrooms would have been to our grandparents. The lower-priced cuts sold very well, so consequently this summer more easy-on-the-pocket meats are being promoted for the barbecue market, such as rolled pork shoulder and beef ribs.

If I could choose which foods I'd like to make a comeback, my favourites would include Kunzl cakes (chocolate shells filled with fondant cream, sponge cake and topped with chocolate or small sweets), Ovaltine tablets and chocolate, Tiger Nuts and Camp coffee - anyone else remember these? My grandmother used to buy Camp coffee and although it wouldn't match up to our idea of coffee today, it was very useful for making coffee cakes and icing. She also used to make Blancmange as a treat for her grandchildren. Today's children have probably never even heard of this pale wobbly set milk pudding, which came in a range of flavours from strawberry to chocolate.

There are some foods I'm not sorry to see the back of and wouldn't want them to return- those awful dehydrated curries sold in boxes; an anaemic looking gloop optimistically named Sandwich Spread and dehydrated mashed potato which tasted nothing like the real thing.

Any other foods from the past you loved or hated?

Post a comment

Comments

1-20 of 22 comments

  • Binder photo Declan
    16 June, 3:38PM

    Declan

    Open QuoteWhat about Angel Delight, never gone, often forgotten?

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo suzie albu
    16 June, 4:01PM

    suzie albu

    Open QuoteI am a wedding caterer and have out a 'noughties' version of Coronation Chicken on one of my menus using pomegranates and puy lentils. Quite refreshing I'm told!

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Mickey Menu
    16 June, 4:06PM

    Mickey Menu

    Open QuoteDon't forget the classic British puddings - Jam Roly-Poly, Treacle Tart and Rice Pudding!

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Chris
    16 June, 4:08PM

    Chris

    Open QuoteFindus Crispy Pancakes... but maybe not a good suggestion for a Good Food website!

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Jane
    16 June, 4:15PM

    Jane

    Open QuoteSurprise peas - does anybody remember them? They must have been around in the mid to late 1960s, tiny little peas packed with ultra sweet deliciousness. They were dried and just reconstituted with a couple of minutes in hot water (I think - I was too young to cook then) and I loved them. If they came back I think I woud use them in risottos and past sauces, as an ingredient in their own right rather then a substitute for fresh, in much the same way we do with dried porcini or sundried tomatoes.

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo robert
    16 June, 7:30PM

    robert

    Open QuoteI wouldn't like those awful packaged trifles in a box to make a comeback. My nan used to buy them. They were topped with a horrible cream substitute that was reconstituted with water or milk. YUk!

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Gillian
    16 June, 8:06PM

    Gillian

    Open QuoteI was harking on about school dinners today - pink cake and custard, blamange and the chicken casserole with a dumpling. I was saying if we cooked school dinners they would be cheap as schools had to budget in those days as we got our meals very cheap.

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Aedara
    16 June, 10:53PM

    Aedara

    Open QuoteCamp coffee still exists, we've had some in our student cupboard for a while for some people who occasionally want the coffee taste without feeding their caffeine addiction. My mum also always has used birds custard powder. Angel delight I still make every now and then, at 33p a packet in sainsburys its a ridiculously cheap dessert. The things I'd like to see back are probably things like BN biscuits, pizza balls (they were like a round ball of pizza dough with the pizza topping in the middle, amazing stuff) and what we used to call 'potato balls' but actually had a different name, little balls of potato in a crispy shell. Apparently as a child I loved overly manafactured food, but we all do at that age I think. p.s Findus crispy pancakes are still around too, I had a box only recently, they were on offer.

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Nicola
    17 June, 7:49AM

    Nicola

    Open QuoteMmmm, yeah - Findus crispy pancakes! I used to live them. And also potato waffles with a fried egg, although I suppose you can probably also still get those.

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo smitty
    17 June, 10:13AM

    smitty

    Open QuoteI used to love Horlicks tablets but haven't seen them for ages. I haven't tried Ovaltine tablets or the chocolate but they sound fab. I used to enjoy a fizzy drink made with Creamola Foam crystals in lemon or raspberry flavour. They were sold in little tins.

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Girl Flower
    17 June, 3:21PM

    Girl Flower

    Open QuoteI used to almost live of Yeomans mash as a student- bit like smash but more powdery! Cannot imagine how I survived, can you still get it even? Have blancmange in my cupboard but not made it for a while- you have just inspired me to go home and whip up a raspberry blancmange! Thanks!

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo mad auntie
    17 June, 5:26PM

    mad auntie

    Open QuoteI was only talking to friends about Horlicks tablets a few days ago - I used to love them, but they all thought they were disgusting. But I'd forgotten all about Surprise peas (yummy). And I still make a mock-Baileys for Christmas using Camp coffee (yummy again).

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Dinner Time
    17 June, 6:19PM

    Dinner Time

    Open QuoteI remember having Angel cake as a treat on sundays, jelly with carnation milk, my gran used to insist on sterilised milk, ew!! I also remember, sherbert pips, black jacks, bazooka bubbly gum with the little comic inside! sherbert with liquorice...the list is endless. What a good topic, made me think of my lovely childhood. Happy days.!

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Ellie Reade
    18 June, 1:16PM

    Ellie Reade

    Open QuoteSchool dinners brings back mixed memories for me...chocolate cake and mint custard - yummy, semolina with jam - yuck. I also remember being forced to finish your dinner.....even if the fish fingers were still frozen in the middle!!! As for the return of cheap cuts of meat.......I didn't know they had gone! Belly draft with mash potato, slow roast joints.....heaven Does anyone remember Tunis Cake - Bejam's used to sell them and we always had one for our birthday cake. Maderia cake topped with thick chocolate and marzipan fruit.

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo foodideas
    19 June, 8:12PM

    foodideas

    Open QuoteSandwich spread enaemic gloop! I, and later my kids loved what we all called gleefully "sick sandwiches" - probably more fun than nutrition - but a little bit of what you fancy .......

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo tennisgf
    20 June, 4:26PM

    tennisgf

    Open QuoteHeinz kidney soup was by far and away my favourite. The Crosse & Blackwell equivalent just didn't come close. Talking about Cremola foam, what about Robinade. Bird's custard powder is just too full of artificial sweetner now. Sterilised milk is certainly yuk, but makes a delicious rice pudding. It's not bad in coffee either.

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo fredella
    20 June, 6:33PM

    fredella

    Open QuoteI would love to find flavoured junket that my mum made for me as a child.

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Gerty
    20 June, 6:57PM

    Gerty

    Open Quote About nine years ago I bought Birds Custard powder, made some up, had a little left over, saved it for the following day. Instead of it becoming thicker as it used to many years ago it had tuned to a runny mess. What on earth were they putting in it? Your talk of the sweets you miss made me remember pressing my nose against the sweet shop window but couldn't have any because we had used all ration coupons!!! Perhaps it was a good thing, I don't like sweets now!! Can anyone tell me where I can post a question reference double yolk eggs? Need to make some lemon curd but not sure about egg quantity as all the eggs I have are double yolkers, that was all the farm had when I went to buy eggs.

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Chris Pakett
    22 June, 2:35PM

    Chris Pakett

    Open QuoteI too remember junket, great taste and texture, also the glass phials it was sold in. I seem to remember in circa 1950, the general store near our school occasionally had chocolate on sale that was not labeled, it was sold loose. It was dark, hard, and delicious. Long queues formed at break time. I was led to believe it was made for the armed forces.

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo sue b
    26 June, 1:55PM

    sue b

    Open QuoteI remember making dream topping as a treat for my mum as it was in one of my teen magazines in a feature about how to treat your mum on Mothers' Day. We loved it and often had it after that instead of fresh cream. Wouldn't dream of using it now. We also used to have a lot of Angel Delight. Interesting to read that you can still get it!

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Leave a comment or suggestion

You must sign in or register to leave a comment.

Sign in / Register
Find more recipes at Good Food channel

All about Good Food

Magazine

Good Food Magazine

Subscribe to Good Food magazine - enjoy inspired recipes delivered straight to your door every month.

Order today, receive your first 3 issues for just £3.

Events

BBC Good Food shows

Join us in Birmingham, London or Glasgow in November!

Plan your trip and book tickets online now.

On TV

Foodie TV

Good Food Channel - see your favourite chefs on Sky Channel 249, Virgin TV 260.

See all TV listings at radiotimes.com, see all goodfoodchannel.co.uk

listings.

Websites

Shopping Tried and tested recipes from Good Food and olive magazines. bbcgoodfood.com
Shopping

Recipes from the new TV channel and celebrity chefs. goodfoodchannel.co.uk