It’s revealed that Angel Delight is one of the most searched for nostalgic food items in the UK in 2022, seeing an increase in searches of 108% it averages 18,100 searches per month! Middletons has researched and analysed the most iconic trends from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s and tracked the search rates over the last five years to uncover the re-emerging trends of the past 50 years.
Would you travel to the past or the future if you had a time machine? A study showed 55% of Brits would prefer to travel to the past if given a chance, versus the 28% who would opt to travel to the future. Great Britain is known for its iconic contributions to fashion, music, and trends over the last century. It’s no wonder that we’re a nostalgic nation, with 90% of all Brits sharing they think fondly about the way things used to be.
Great Britain may not be globally recognised for its culinary contributions, but Brits can’t get enough of some of these retro treats.
Do you remember the cupcake fad of the 2000s? Cupcakes top the list of retros food, and receive about 90,500 searches per month! However, as a general trend, it seems they may be going out of style with search data having declined by 10% over the last 5 years but still top the list for most searched for retro foods!
Next up is Angel Delight, the guilty pleasure that hit supermarkets in the late 1960s. Regular searches for this desert have been fairly steady, with a 108% spike in April 2020, it’s been interesting to see how much Covid-19 altered our nostalgia.
Going out for fondue on a Saturday night, what could be more romantic? The 1970s fondue trend over the last 5 years has continued to trend upwards in popularity with a 31% increase in interest and 12,100 searches by Brits each month.
Bright, garish and sweet – the Battenburg Cakes of the 1980s appear to be a relative staple to the kitchen cupboards. Searches are steady aside from the 317% peak of interest in September 2020.
There is one food from the 90s that particularly stands out to nostalgic minds, the Dairylea Lunchables! This pocket-sized lunch made its way back into the fridges of the British public, with searches increasing by 252% in the last five years.
| Most Nostalgic Food Items | Average Searches Per Month |
| Cupcakes | 90,500 |
| Vegetarian Food | 33,100 |
| Angel Delight | 18,100 |
| Battenburg Cake | 12,100 |
| Fondue | 12,100 |
| Lunchables | 8,100 |
Averaging searches across each decade they found that the most nostalgic era is the 1980s! With fashion treasures like neon spandex, leg warmers, and high-waisted jeans and bands like Abba and Wham! it’s no wonder the 80s came out on top.