Childhood Treats

[Paul Whybrow]

I enjoy various hot beverages, including Earl Grey tea, green tea, various herbal teas, coffee and hot chocolate. Looking for something different in my local supermarket, I bought a jar of Ovaltine.

This was a regular drink in my childhood, a nighttime treat rivalled by Horlicks. Both are sweetened malted drinks, though Horlicks is usually made with milk, as can Ovaltine be, but the modern formulation suggests using water.

Horlicks - Wikipedia

Ovaltine - Wikipedia

Ovaltine was heavily promoted in the 1950s and 1960s, innocent times when children joined the Ovaltineys Club.

I think that I must have been a member. Back then, there was much competition among drink manufacturers aimed at those in need of comfort in a mug. I recall owning a sculpted melamine Bournville drinking chocolate mug which showed a contented sleeping face topped by a nightcap lid to keep the drink warm.

I hadn’t tasted Ovaltine for forty years, so I made myself a mug of it when I got home. I was pleasantly surprised at its tastiness!

We’ve previously discussed food treats and cravings in various threads

https://colony.litopia.com/threads/little-treats.6581/

https://colony.litopia.com/threads/curb-your-cravings.982/

But, are there any childhood favourite drinks and food that you still enjoy?

Uh-oh, I could be regressing….I’m getting a hankering for some rusks mashed in milk!

 

[Cadiz]

We used have Ovaltine in Philippines when I was young but I haven't seen it in years. I think it must have been forced out by the huge number of other lower cost alternatives from other parts of the world. I will look for it the next time I am in the market to see if they have it. For now I ho with lemon tea, green tea and Earl Grey.

 

[Steve C]

Ovaltine is popular here in Thailand. I make it with hot milk and add a dash of whisky for a delicious bedtime drink.
Almost 9pm here so maybe I'll have an early one

 

[Barbara]

Water, siphoned into a flask straight from a little steam, high up in a Swiss mountain while on a remote hike. All you had to worry about was that no cow could climb higher than you, as that could potentially have contaminated it.

Rivella!! A Swiss drink made from milk serum. I buy a load when I visit then bring it back to the UK.

Rivella - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Same goes for chocolate, by the way.

 

[E G Logan]

The thing I would crave would be the kind of white rolls you can only get in Scotland, but I can't see a way to get them.

Other than that, I have two friends who never come to visit, in Italy, without loading themselves down with tins of Heinz beans and Heinz tomato soup for me.
I can remember a family member, a lecturer at Tunis University, telling me that the 'hot ticket' of the raffle at the expat club had been one tin of Heinz beans. Back then I thought that was amazing.