Chocolate fish are goners - Wyn Drabble

The tasty chocolate fish could soon become an endangered species. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Wyn Drabble is a teacher of English, a writer, public speaker and musician. He is based in Hawke’s Bay.

OPINION

Of course suppliers must respond to lack of demand and changing customer preferences but it’s still sad to see the icons disappear. So chocolate fish have not been all fished out; they have just dived in popularity therefore production has been scaled (sorry!) down.

But there is hope which I’ll save until the end.

Chocolate fish are embedded in my memory like blackballs and all-day suckers. And, unfortunately perhaps, home-made confectionery.

At 1950s school bring and buys, you could exchange perfectly good money for a bag of assorted homemade confections – hokey pokey, coconut ice, toffee, fudge, peanut brittle and marshmallows – all contained in a waxy white paper bag.

In this enclosed humid environment and aided by the rays of the direct sun – the events I remember at Timaru South School were held outside on the basketball courts – they fused into an amorphous mass which often had to be chiselled or axed apart.

If you had teeth, the peanut brittle was not recommended as it could break them. All the others were also not recommended but for a different reason – they caused tooth decay which had to be dealt with by a dental nurse (wearing a severe hairstyle and comical headdress) who pumped vigorously with her foot on a treadle to keep the drill going. This was performed in the “murder house”.

So homemade confectionery was certainly not all beer and skittles.

Wyn Drabble

From the 50s I also remember love hearts, little heart-shaped lollies with a message written on them. Licking the message side made the words stand out more clearly (“You’re nice”). These were a 50s version of the modern emoticons but involved a lot more giggling from the recipients.

And I believe wristwatches were made of the same confectionery. Some assembly was required. There was a watchface – again, licking made the time clearer – and little beads which you threaded on to elastic to make a wristband. They weren’t great at keeping time but they were right twice a day.

Moving into the 60s, I remember banana bikes. I never understood the nomenclature but nobody seemed to care. They were small cubes of yellow chewy stuff individually wrapped in waxy paper but there all connection with a bicycle ends. There was no chain, no handlebars, no wheels.

Only my research for this piece revealed a possible explanation; they were first produced by the Beich Candy Factory and Beich is pronounced “bike”. On reflection, I think it was better just not caring.

I also remember milk chocolate toffee bars but in March 2024 Whittakers broke the difficult news that they were ceasing production. You might find one on Trade Me if you’re hankering for a blast from the past. No good for me these days, though, because of what I will refer to as my dental equipment.

Jaffas were also a 60s favourite but more for rolling down the gently sloping floors of cinemas than actually consuming. Well, you still had to guard against tooth decay!

Much later – 2009, in fact – Snifters were axed and what a furore ensued! Angry consumers protested around the country. One bold Kiwi even started a petition but nothing resulted from it.

I believe Tangy Fruits and Sparkles went the same way though in 2016 two packs of vintage orange Sparkles were auctioned on Trade Me.

Time now to return to the sign of hope referred to near the beginning. If you’re a chocolate fish fanatic, you can still get them, albeit in a smaller (tadpole?) size and I think only as part of a packaged selection.

I accept that a tiddler might not grab you hook, line and sinker so you should also keep an eye on Trade Me.

Happy fishing.