Vol au Vent translates to “flight of wind”
(Picture: Gert Olesen from Pixabay)Vol au vents appear to be making a comeback this Christmas – with supermarkets saying the snack is flying off the shelves.
Waitrose said sales of the puff pastry had soared by 25 per cent year on year and its website had run out of 12-packs.
Vol au Vent, which translates to “flight of wind”, was a staple part of 1970s British cuisine but has fallen out of favour in recent years.
The treat was first popularised in Paris in the early 1800s and was usually filled with chicken or fish-based sauce.
It is also commonly topped with prawn, smoke salmon or coronation chicken.
Experts said the surge in popularity in the vol au vents – made famous in the 1977 play Abigail’s Party - could be linked to a nostalgia for Christmases gone by.
Martyn Lee of Waitrose said: “Nostalgia has played an important role within food over the past couple of years and the return of the vol au vent is a great example of this.”
Professor Ratula Chakraborty, from the University of East Anglia, said: “When things are constantly changing, like during the pandemic, we crave comfort food and the memories of our childhoods and youth.
“Vol au vents may have gone out of fashion after the 1970s but their comeback helps customers recreate nostalgic Christmases of years gone by — which is especially important when we’re all trying to have the best Christmas possible in a time of crisis.”
Marks and Spencer is currently selling a 12-pack of vol au vents with salmon and crème fraiche, goat’s cheese and onion or ham hock and cheese for £5.50.
A four-pack of large mushroom and spinach vol au vents is available in Tesco for £10.
