Brews & Eats
History of...  Angel Delight

We all love Angel Delight right?

The flavoured, vegetarian friendly mousse that can accompany any dessert is a staple for all parents that need something quick and sweet after dinner to satisfy their child’s sugar cravings.

Anyone who grew up in the 1970s (not me) will remember Angel Delight getting so much marketing attention you would have thought it was critical to human survival, like getting your 5-a-day, breathing and annual Marvel films.

Angel Delight was launched in 1967 by the Bird’s company with a strawberries-and-cream flavour. By the 1970s, Bird’s had doubled the market for instant desserts, as parents were all too busy searching for communist sympathisers under the bed to make a proper dessert in the evenings.

After a lull in popularity during the 1980s, likely caused by the fall of the Soviet Union and parents returning to actually feeding their children, a revival campaign featuring Wallace & Gromit was run in 1999.

Because nothing says “eat our powdered dessert paste” like a plasticine northerner and his highly intelligent yet equally mailable pooch.

In 2006 the brand was the best-selling line in the UK instant cold desserts sector, and to this day is keeping children and parents happy around the land.

Angel Delight contains no gelatin and is therefore suitable for those suffering with vegetarianism.

However, the product does contain milk products (aside from adding your own milk to mix it with) and isn’t suitable for vegans.

But I’m sure vegans will tell you this before you offer them a bowl.

They love telling people about their beliefs. Like the church. And Katie Hopkins.

Angel Delight is currently sold in five flavours: strawberry, butterscotch, chocolate, mint chocolate, and banana. Two no-added-sugar variants in butterscotch and strawberry flavours are also sold, although this does somewhat ruin the reason for buying it to get that ridiculous sugar high.

It’s amazing Angel Delight isn’t at least a Category B substance really.

Discontinued flavours include black cherry, blueberry, peach, lime, lemon, blackcurrant, bubblegum, tangerine, vanilla ice cream, Forest Fruits, popcorn, candy floss, butter mint, and raspberry.

So next time you’re tucking into the nation’s favourite flavoured mousse, remember you may actually be eating one of Wallace and Gromit’s plasticine relatives…

  • History of...  Angel Delight