What is the Good Humor Viennetta?
After an absence of almost 30 years, Good Humor has reintroduced the Vanilla Viennetta to American grocery store shelves. Back in the ’90s, you couldn’t watch an episode of Murphy Brown without seeing a commercial featuring a sophisticated dinner party with a Breyers Viennetta served in elegant crystal champagne coupes. It was the classy ice cream dessert for people who knew the difference between a champagne flute and champagne coupe.
How is it?
The rectangular ice cream cake looks exactly as I remember, with layered waves of ice cream interlaced with thin chocolate ribbons. I feel the chocolate crack as I slice into it and then lay a slice onto my plate. I’m impressed the thinness of the chocolate layers allows the portion to retain integrity.
I fondly remember the times my parents decided to get something a little special for dessert and picked up a Viennetta. Nostalgia firmly in place, I take a bite.
It’s ok.
The vanilla ice cream (frozen dairy dessert according to the packaging) is pleasingly light and soft, but has an unremarkable flavor. The thin chocolate layers provide a delicate texture to the dessert, but leaves a waxy residue in my mouth. Overall, this is a disappointment.
Anything else you need to know?
Here’s something I didn’t know until I watched an old Viennetta commercial on YouTube: this product used to be produced by Breyers, and was said to be made with premium ice cream, not the current frozen dairy dessert. Perhaps my memories aren’t at fault, and this version of Viennetta is a poor knockoff? Does this mean that my pair of light up sneakers really were just as cool as I remember?
Conclusion:
If nothing else, Good Humor’s Viennetta is a testament to marketing and design. At its core, the dessert is nothing more than mediocre ice cream laced with waxy chocolate ribbons. But it looks very fancy, and a very effective marketing campaign 30 years ago means there’s a generation of people who will want to try it.
Purchased Price: $5.49
Size: 21.9 fl oz (650 ml)
Purchased at: Pick ‘N Save
Rating: 4 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/6 cake/54 grams) 130 calories, 7 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 15 milligrams of sodium, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 11 grams of sugar (including 9 grams added sugars), and 1 gram of protein.