Bad food you miss

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Another vote for Spam Fritters.  One of the few school dinner items I'd eat again, if only for nostalgic reasons.

"You can't take it with you"

Actually, for a short you can, in your tract!

[ToneLa]

I remember having a Vesta curry at uni and don't remember anything else about it

So fooled by curiosity and nostalgia I bought one! As a fan of curry, scratch that, someone who likes FOOD, I made a huuuuuge mistake

[AliasTheCat]

On the crisp front: Southern Fried Chicken flavoured Roysters and Ham and Pickle flavoured Brannigans (which I always preferred to the ubiquitous Beef and Mustard flavour, proving me a rugged individualist)

[Icehaven]

I remember having a Vesta curry at uni and don't remember anything else about it

Bloody hell, I hope Vesta reimbursed your tuition fees.

[JesusAndYourBush]

Bloody hell, I hope Vesta reimbursed your tuition fees.

Now that'd be a University Challenge intro...

"I'm Jeremy Ffortescue-Plonk, and I'm having a vesta curry."

[RedRevolver]

IDK if already mentioned but turkey twizzlers. Best worst things eva!!111

[Gulftastic]

Subway used to do a 'spare rib' sandwich, consisting of two reconstituted slabs of meat (one in a six incher).

Loved them, but they don't do them anymore.

[Clownbaby]

IDK if already mentioned but turkey twizzlers. Best worst things eva!!111

[Sebastian Cobb]

Subway used to do a 'spare rib' sandwich, consisting of two reconstituted slabs of meat (one in a six incher).

Loved them, but they don't do them anymore.

Subway's been dead to me since they stopped doing their club sandwich.

[mippy]

Vanilla flavour Monster Munch. Not actually pleasant, but strangely compelling.

[Icehaven]

I also bought 'fries to go' which are like microchips but every chip is wrapped in some metal stuff that gets hot. They were better than I anticipated.

There's some of these in the freezer at work, only the box is slightly different to that one in that where it says 'Original Crispy Fries' there, on our one it says 'Surprisingly Crispy!!' in big yellow letters, like they've clearly pre-empted people going ''Nah, these are like Microchips and they were were soggy and shit'' by promising those days are over now and you'll be pleasantly surprised, promise. It's always nice when packaging betrays an automatic pessimism about the product. 

[Yussef Dent]

On the crisp front: Southern Fried Chicken flavoured Roysters and Ham and Pickle flavoured Brannigans (which I always preferred to the ubiquitous Beef and Mustard flavour, proving me a rugged individualist)

Last saw Southern Fried Roysters in a Jack Fulton's about three years ago, but Poundstretcher do the Ham and Pickle Brannigans.

[boki]

Outer Spacers. Excellent cheapo crisps like Space Raiders

Now we're effin' jeffin'!  These came in a 'Chutney' flavour (didn't say what kind of chutney) that was BANGING.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Where do I procure these delicious galactic fuckers

They gone are they



Like Days

[Whug Baspin]

Around 2003/2004 Boots did an all day breakfast sandwich which had orange, baked-bean flavored bread.

I remember it being delicious. I'd find myself day dreaming about it some days. Then one day I read an article about how it was the highest caloried sandwich available, I could have cared less about that, but I think it stopped them making it, which I did care about.

[Twed]

I ate a pink Yorkie for girls but it didn't change my sex :-(

[Twed]

Then one day I read an article about how it was the highest caloried sandwich available, I could have cared less about that, but I think it stopped them making it, which I did care about.

Contrarian musings: maybe the high calorie count makes it healthier than the other sandwiches? Stick with me here. It suggests that it has some fat or something in it that your body can at least burn as sustenance over time, as opposed to being a weak carb-fest that your body is done with inside of half an hour, like most sandwiches.

Could also just be loaded to fuck with sugar and trans-fats too, but it's worth thinking about these things. I hate "high calorie = bad" as a rule, because it would consign things like "a buttload of avocado" to the unhealthy bin and legitimise fucking rice cakes.

We still live in a world where people think a sandwich with low-fat spread and empty fillings is better than something full of real butter, real mayo and eggs. Neither are a cornerstone of a sensible diet, but one of them is clearly the superior option in every way.

[Whug Baspin]

Not contrary at all. I could care less if it's healthy, I could care a lot of it's tasty.

[QDRPHNC]

I was just back in Northern Ireland for a week. Living in Canada, I miss:

• Soda bread
• Wheaten bread
• Good sausages
• Battered sausages
• Proper fish and chips
• Chicken "kebabs" (really a box of fried chicken, chips and gravy)
• Bourbon biscuits

So of course I overindulged in all of these things and gained about 10lbs, and regret nothing.

However, I really fucked up with Greggs. I had never been to one, and - thanks to a combination of airline food and the accompanying dehydration - my sodium levels were dangerously high. Needing to find out what all the fuss was about, I went in and had two steak bakes and a sausage roll, all of which were nice and disgusting at the same time (but then I don't need to tell CaB that). Anyway, the Greggs clearly pushed my body beyond some kind of limit, and I spent the next 24 hours absolutely convinced I was in the early stages of a heart attack. Being Northern Irish, I didn't bother my family with this information, just lay in bed with the door unlocked, a pair of clean pyjamas on, and waited for the inevitable.

[non capisco]

Anyway, the Greggs clearly pushed my body beyond some kind of limit, and I spent the next 24 hours absolutely convinced I was in the early stages of a heart attack.

One of those posts where you can really picture it being read by the avatar.

[steve98]

When they changed the Irn Bru recipe due to the sugar tax and folk went mental (stockpiling "full fat" Irn Bru, selling crates on ebay etc), I though what a load of S4C. Because what annoyed me was that all the other Barr products had suffered the same fate years before, replacing sugar with aspartame to save money at the expense of drinkability, to no fanfare whatsoever. Only Irn Bru and Barr Cola were still all-sugar, yet Limeade, Red Kola, American Cream Soda, all the fun ones, were fucked in the ground and no cunt noticed but me. Fuck off, Barrs.

I'm gonna be honest with you mate - No-one went "Mental" when they changed the Irn Bru recipe. No-one cared; it was just one half-wit on Reporting Scotland, "stockpiling" a few bottles in his garage. And no-one made a fuss about the other drinks you mentioned: "Red Kola", "American Cream Soda", cos no adult drinks them. I'm sorry but that's it. Move on.

[Mrs Wogans lemon drizzle]

My mum used to take me to the BHS cafe for chips & gravy back when i was a kid in the 80s.   I remember it having small black gloopy bits in the gravy, which was probably undiluted Bisto granules, although in retrospect it may have been Sir Phillip Green's spunk.   Absolutely delicious.

[Twed]

This has made me reassess my life.

[buzby]

There's some crappy little maize puffs called Happy Snax which I really like and can't seem to get at the usual newsagents that had them. They are at the Jaybees tat shop in Silloth but I'm not going all the way to Silloth every time I fancy Happy Snax

Love these too but so elusive. They've appeared once in the pound shop up here but never again. It's also potluck how many bags of each flavour you'll get (my order of preference for your records: Spicy Tomato, Onion, Cheese, Salt and Vinegar).

Happy Snax are products of the tiny independent United Snacks (based in Widnes, right in the heart of the chemical industry), Started by Dot Fletcher in 1972, it's now run by her son Peter, his wife Sarah and their children. Unlike the big players in the snack market, they don't have their own distribution network direct to the shops, instead relying on sales to wholesalers like Batleys and Bestway. This is presumably why you have issues getting them, as the corner shop owner has to go and get them rather than being delivered to the shop like Walkers etc. do. They do supply some of the larger discount shops directly, but two of their biggest customers (Poundworld and 99p stores) went under in the Poundshop Wars.

I remember Golden Wonder's Cheese and Onion used to be amazing until around the mid-90s when they changed the flavour and ruined them, likely because they were trying to make them taste more like Walkers to compete.

Presumably this coincided with the management buyout (aided by venture capitalists Bridgepoint Capital) of the Golden Wonder crisps business from it's owners Dalgety in 1995, and subsequent sale to The Snack Factory in 2002. Snack Factory went bankrupt in 2006 and the Golden Wonder brand was picked up by Tayto NI.

[Paul Calf]

I used to love Vesta Beef Curry as a kid. I had it a few years ago out of curiosity and noted two things about it:

1. The portion size was HUGE. Properly plate-filling
2. It was incredibly bland. Tasted of almost nothing, with hardly any seasoning. It reminded me of the time I tried dog food.

[Paul Calf]

Happy Snax are products of the tiny independent United Snacks (based in Widnes, right in the heart of the chemical industry), Started by Dot Fletcher in 1972, it's now run by her son Peter, his wife Sarah and their children. Unlike the big players in the snack market, they don't have their own distribution network direct to the shops, instead relying on sales to wholesalers like Batleys and Bestway. This is presumably why you have issues getting them, as the corner shop owner has to go and get them rather than being delivered to the shop like Walkers etc. do. They do supply some of the larger discount shops directly, but two of their biggest customers (Poundworld and 99p stores) went under in the Poundshop Wars. Presumably this coincided with the management buyout (aided by venture capitalists Bridgepoint Capital) of the Golden Wonder crisps business from it's owners Dalgety in 1995, and subsequent sale to The Snack Factory in 2002. Snack Factory went bankrupt in 2006 and the Golden Wonder brand was picked up by Tayto NI.

Buzby, how you you know all this stuff?

[buzby]

Buzby, how you you know all this stuff?

I used to work in Kwik Save and despite Albert Gubay being a notorious tightarse every shop had a subscription to The Grocer, which was left in the  staffroom. I've tried to keep abreast of events (specifically in the crisps sector) over the 20-odd years since I finished university. It's handy for CaB as there's always a constant crisps/snack undercurrent here.

[Pauline Walnuts]

A lot of British food you take for granted til it's gone.  Birdseye fish fingers (the "fish sticks" here do not compare).  Tesco/Sainsbury's mini sausage rolls, heated or cold. Sugar Puffs.  Those weird chicken & mushroom slices from petrol stations that I probably wouldn't even risk eating now.  Flapjacks they used to give us at school.

I've got some bad news for you...

[Paul Calf]

A lot of British food you take for granted til it's gone.  Birdseye fish fingers (the "fish sticks" here do not compare).  Tesco/Sainsbury's mini sausage rolls, heated or cold.  Sugar Puffs.  Those weird chicken & mushroom slices from petrol stations that I probably wouldn't even risk eating now.  Flapjacks they used to give us at school.

My friend's mum used to make this kind of lamb ... thing, a bit like a hotpot I guess.  In hindsight it was probably absolute gash, but I've never been able to replicate it.

No Ginsters in That America. Harsh.

[madhair60]

This has made me reassess my life.

Joyous.