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The thread devoted entirely to jaffa cakes and "jaffa cakes"

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    I never understood the fascination with Greggs. At least before I left Britain it was a poor-to-average bakery that sold edible but not great pies along with OK bread and some terrible weird sweet bready dessert bun things.

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      That's exactly what it is, sb. But lots of the shops don't sell bread these days.

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        Originally posted by treibeis View Post
        Toytown. Never seen Star Wars, never been to a Gregg's, never been to a McDonald's, never bought anything at a Burger King, was never allowed to go to a Wimpy Bar.
        There is clearly some story about Burger King here. Probably involving the former Mrs Treibeis making him eat there every week during their marriage and his stoic refusal to pay for any of that muck.

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          Anyway, back on topic, I tried the new McVities blackcurrant flavour and like a lot of blackcurrant flavour things it was reminiscent of throat sweets rather than anything else.

          They're OK in every other respect (cake, chocolate etc) but the taste isn't as good as the pineapple or passion fruit ones.

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            Ooh, I like throat sweets*. I might try those if I see them.

            * - If anyone's interested, Cherry flavour Halls Soothers are the best for hiding the smell of alcohol on your breath.

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              Originally posted by Nocturnal Submission View Post
              You weren't "allowed" to go to a Wimpey Bar. What did your parents think went on there?
              Wimpy, NS. Wimpey are the house-builders, so pebble legitimately could take out a mortgage on their products.


              My childhood was the converse re Wimpy, meanwhile – my parents used to take us to Wimpy bars occasionally, presumably because they served their burgers on plates with a knife and fork. Burger King was frowned upon, McDonalds was strictly verboten. I only ever visited a branch of the latter on two occasions, growing up – once when I was about 11 or 12 and for some reason the Little Chefs we usually patronised on cross-country car journeys weren't an option so we were forced to stop off instead at a McD's near Peterborough, where I was blindsided by a gherkin in my burger; then once rather bizarrely in Scheveningen (I think) on my mum's birthday when we were on a family holiday in the Netherlands and Belgium for a week when I was 15.


              Meanwhile, colour me intrigued by the blackcurrant Jaffa Cakes. I was rather pleased by the passion fruit ones recently, not so much the pineapple ones previously and the cranberry and orange ones were merely 'quite good'. PT always seems to have them arrive in the shops near him a week or three ahead of the ones local to me, even though I'm barely a few miles away I think, so I'll look forward to seeing them pop up here soonish. There's still cherry ones in my local Tesco right now, but that's a flavour I'm never keen on – to pick up on the 'throat sweets' analogy, it always tastes too much like cough medicine to me – so I haven't deigned to give a pack of those a try.

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                Little Chefs are car journeys? I share your pain. Although the breakfast that came with fried potato slices was good. My mum and dad used to get directions off the AA which came with all the Little Chefs marked on the route. After my Dad died we threw away reams of AA directions dating back years.

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                  Meanwhile, these look amazing:
                  Originally posted by Sits View Post
                  Australian readers, I bring important news: these items, to which I was introduced today, are very much in the Spirit of Jaffa Cake:
                  When I lived in NZ I used to buy up packs of all the different varieties of TimTams, and due to the unfortunate fact that – unlike Penguins – they don't come individually wrapped I invariably found the sight of all the 'naked' biscuits far too appealing and hence used to end up popping them like Smarties, often alternating between simultaneously open packs of, say, dark chocolate ones and cappuccino-flavoured ones. These dark choc and orange ones look spectacular and I would've struggled to make an open pack last half an hour I suspect.

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                    Originally posted by Various Artist View Post
                    I only ever visited a branch of the latter on two occasions, growing up – once when I was about 11 or 12 and for some reason the Little Chefs we usually patronised on cross-country car journeys weren't an option so we were forced to stop off instead at a McD's near Peterborough, where I was blindsided by a gherkin in my burger...
                    The anti-gherkin (or dill pickle) thing is baffling to me.

                    As with sprouts, it seems as though somebody made some kind of executive decision about them, and they've since been catalogued forever as a nemesis-food for the entire Western world.

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                      Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
                      The anti-gherkin (or dill pickle) thing is baffling to me.

                      As with sprouts, it seems as though somebody made some kind of executive decision about them, and they've since been catalogued forever as a nemesis-food for the entire Western world.
                      Well, speaking personally I was a child of very conservative tastes, and to suddenly find this slimy, sharp-sour green vinegary thing violating my tongue when I thought I was just biting into a nice hamburger was a bit of a shock I can tell you. Though to be fair I'd already heard my dad at least say they were horrid things previously, so I'd still have picked it out for sure if I'd spotted it first. I might well still do now, actually, though I could stomach it a fair bit better these days. I can't imagine I'll ever actually desire the stuff though.

                      Brussels sprouts is a slightly different kettle of fish: they just contain a bitter-tasting chemical compound that, as with coriander/cilantro's unpleasant 'soapy' notes, some people genetically lack the ability to taste. So the people who broadcast the 'decision' about them being this nemesis-food are the ones who can taste it – but of course they by no means represent everyone.
                      For what it's worth, I quite like sprouts, but can't stand coriander.
                      Last edited by Various Artist; 13-05-2021, 17:10.

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                        Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                        Little Chefs are car journeys? I share your pain. Although the breakfast that came with fried potato slices was good. My mum and dad used to get directions off the AA which came with all the Little Chefs marked on the route. After my Dad died we threw away reams of AA directions dating back years.
                        Sorry PT, I'd missed before that you quickly sneaked this comment in between my pair above.

                        Nooo, I really liked stopping at Little Chef, though alas we never did the Olympic Breakfast or anything like that. They used to do really satisfying burgers (the 'Big 7 Burger' range, which were 7 ounces each, which by my calculations is nearly twice a quarter-pounder), which I tended to get when we stopped for a proper meal – though our most common thing was to do a quick stop for just a drink and a toasted teacake. The latter would arrive hot, golden-brown and slathered in melting butter, which I always adored. In more recent years of course they (well, I guess the few remaining Little Chefs now) are no longer allowed to just pre-emptively slap butter on a customer's teacake, and hence it'll come unadorned and with a mini wrapped butter-pat separately on the side – which naturally will be almost impossible to melt properly before the teacake goes cold and hence is an infinitely less pleasurable experience.

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                          My family were always too snobby - and cheap - for Little Chef. It was only relatively late in life, in my 20s, that I visited one. The only thing I remember is the plain white toast absolutely dripping with butter and how incredibly delicious that was.

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                            The only time I remember our family eating from a franchise was a KFC in London in the very early seventies. We used to stop very occasionally at the original Harry Ramsden's on the way to the Lakes, way before it became a franchise.

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                              Oh, and we were never allowed to eat at motorway services. My life long regret isn't going up to the restaurant in that mushroom on the north bound carriage on the M6 between Preston and Lancaster...

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                                I spent this morning doing a search about Little Chef and Happy Eater. A result of this thread and the caravan one.

                                I couldn't remember Happy Eater, only that there was a place I preferred to Little Chef. I can't remember what foods I liked beyond Little Chef gammon with pineapple.

                                McDonalds were a rare treat before I was in my teens. After that it was an occasional thing, never regular. Burger King was a regular car food driving home after seeing Orient and my mum's family.

                                I can remember going to to Wimpy. They did a bean burger which was both good and a rare veggie option which my parents liked.

                                ​​​​​could you be snobby about Little Chef? We had packed lunches but would stop off there or Happy Eater on very long days. We never had holidays abroad, just day trips across the country. I think the longest was up to Hadrian's wall from Birmingham.

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                                  I really want to revisit the ok diner on the northbound A1 in Lincolnshire. My Dad and I would stop off when he drove me up to Uni.

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                                    Happy Eater! We used to stop at them too occasionally in my childhood, though they seemed to disappear long enough ago (around the turn of the '90s?) that I don't really have any distinct memories of them – except for the fact that they (or, at least, some of them) used to have outdoor play areas, something Little Chefs never did to my knowledge. Specifically I seem to recall fibreglass/resin/plastic/something structures along the lines of a slide made to look like a 'tree', possibly a smiling anthropomorphic one? I can't remember though if this is because I have a photo of me on one somewhere, or if it was outside the one at Apex Corner on the North Circular/Watford Way(?) near Mill Hill, which was the last Happy Eater I remember seeing as we used to pass it every time we were approaching my grandparents' in north London.

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                                      Well, what do you know. Apparently there's a wiki-esque website called Motorway Services Online full of the history of this sort of thing... which looks like it could easily become a real rabbit hole to go down:
                                      https://motorwayservicesonline.co.uk/Happy_Eater

                                      Happy Eater was a family restaurant chain which became a common sight in the 1980s, especially in southern England. It was known for its distinctive yellow branding, animal-shaped outdoor play areas and its slightly unwell-looking red mascot.

                                      Forte considered Happy Eater to be the most upmarket roadside brand they owned. The Happy Eaters were more spacious than their siblings at Little Chef, they had better play areas and they had separate kitchens. Each restaurant had a yellow theme, with yellow light shades hanging from the roof and yellow Formica tables, with bright red plastic edging and steel legs.
                                      "Animal-shaped outdoor play areas" is ringing a more specific bell now – I seem to have memories of a giant plastic/resin/fibreglass/etc. squirrel now, for example.


                                      I like this bit:
                                      In 1991, the brand came to be associated with then-Prime Minister John Major, who was seen dining at one while on his way to a speech and reportedly visited regularly.
                                      Though this puzzles me:
                                      Much has been said about Happy Eater's unfortunate logo. It was actually redrawn in 1993 to remove the hand (example), but by then most branches had already closed.
                                      Presumably the finger pointing into the open mouth looked too much like someone trying to make themselves throw up?

                                      I'd forgotten the chain was bought in the '80s by Trusthouse Forte who already owned Little Chef. Clues to both brands' fates here:
                                      Forte developed Happy Eater as their more upmarket brand, introducing a new styling in May 1989 which was much less formal, offering customers a variety of seating including stools and sofas. This was trialled at Peterborough and Colsterworth. By contrast, Little Chef was a more 'common man's' brand, and one that Forte appeared to prioritise.

                                      Trusthouse Forte were bought by Granada in 1995, who said both Happy Eater and Little Chef were "tired". Granada believed in the power of a strong brand and economies of scale, and decided that there should be one roadside restaurant chain that they would promote relentlessly. They decided this would be Little Chef, and all the Happy Eaters were immediately converted to Little Chefs.

                                      This meant there was now an over-saturation of Little Chef restaurants, including some branches that had been originally intended to compete with each other. This eventually led to a mass-closure of restaurants.
                                      I see the Apex Corner restaurant closed "circa 1994", so I'd have been circa 15 (and also circa experiencing a rare-as-hen's-teeth visit to that McDonalds in the Netherlands) when it vanished.
                                      Heh, there's at least one photo of the place from the mid-'80s online: https://www.flickr.com/photos/satguru/4216206302 – though I can't see if there's any play area in it.

                                      Oh bloody hell, it looks like there's a KFC there now, so I bet it's on the very same spot.
                                      Last edited by Various Artist; 13-05-2021, 23:43.

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                                        1. Happy Eater - yes I always thought the character in the logo was trying to induce vomiting;
                                        2. From 1988 to 1990 I had my only job where I drove a lot. I mean a lot. I would tailor my outbound morning drive to reach a Little Chef close enough to my final destination for breakfast. On expenses. For the mid-late afternoon drive home I would buy the largest family bag of M&Ms or Minstrels I could, and empty them into the twin cup holders of the Cavalier for ease of access with my gear lever hand.

                                        The past is another country.

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                                          Sits is Alan Partridge AICMFP.

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                                            I want to know how old the Cavalier was that Sits was driving. Was it the boxy front model that was phased out in 1988 or the redesigned model with the smooth curves that looked like a knock-off Ford?

                                            (The original style Cavalier was my first car. It was a proper tank. I have fond memories of it.)

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                                              Originally posted by Various Artist View Post
                                              Well, speaking personally I was a child of very conservative tastes, and to suddenly find this slimy, sharp-sour green vinegary thing violating my tongue when I thought I was just biting into a nice hamburger was a bit of a shock I can tell you. Though to be fair I'd already heard my dad at least say they were horrid things previously, so I'd still have picked it out for sure if I'd spotted it first. I might well still do now, actually, though I could stomach it a fair bit better these days. I can't imagine I'll ever actually desire the stuff though.

                                              Brussels sprouts is a slightly different kettle of fish: they just contain a bitter-tasting chemical compound that, as with coriander/cilantro's unpleasant 'soapy' notes, some people genetically lack the ability to taste. So the people who broadcast the 'decision' about them being this nemesis-food are the ones who can taste it – but of course they by no means represent everyone.
                                              For what it's worth, I quite like sprouts, but can't stand coriander.
                                              I'll be honest, I didn't know that about sprouts - because I've always liked them I've never understood the (seemingly) arbitrary dislike so many apparently have for them. To me, they are beautiful things, and shall remain so. Guess I'm grateful for that.

                                              My only gripe about gherkins/dill cucumbers is that in Britain they always seem to be sold sliced lengthways. I like a couple of 'wheel' slices on my veggie burgers (which I frequently have for lunch), so the former style isn't exactly practical. (Pickled jalapenos are packaged thus, so sometimes they have to do instead.)

                                              I'm sure I'll live, though.

                                              NB The 'vinegaryness' shouldn't be an issue if one buys the right kind/brand. I'm not wild on other vinegary products: salad cream can get in the damn ocean. Mayo for the unwashed.

                                              Coriander's great.





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                                                Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                                                I want to know how old the Cavalier was that Sits was driving. Was it the boxy front model that was phased out in 1988 or the redesigned model with the smooth curves that looked like a knock-off Ford?

                                                (The original style Cavalier was my first car. It was a proper tank. I have fond memories of it.)


                                                Company car, not my own.

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                                                  Originally posted by Sits View Post



                                                  Company car, not my own.
                                                  Imagine that in red. That's my first car. (not the LXi model though)

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                                                    It's taken a while, but we've finally OTFed this thread good and proper haven't we? By which I mean we've spiralled off to about 6 conversational degrees of separation away from actual Jaffa Cakes in 2 days flat. Tip of the hat, everyone.

                                                    (Jaffa Cakes – Jaffa Jonuts – Greggs – Wimpy – Little Chef – '80s car journeys – Vauxhall Cavalier mk. II... yep, 6 degrees!)

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