Hedgehog Crisps: Were they really made from hedgehogs?
Do you remember Hedgehog crisps from the eighties and nineties? Ever wondered what they were actually made of?
Who made Hedgehog flavoured crisps?
Hedgehog crisps were produced back in 1981 by Hedgehog Foods Ltd. They were the creation of Phillip Lewis who was a British pub landlord. Lewis lived for many years in Welshpool, a market town in Wales where he ran his traditional country pub.
In the early nineties, the business was bought by Bensons, a crisp manufacturer later known as Snackhouse.
Were Hedgehog crisps actually made of hedgehogs?
Despite their name, Hedgehog crisps weren’t actually made of hedgehogs. They were actually originally flavoured with pork fat. However, there is a little bit of truth behind the name. Phillip Lewis came up with the name after hearing stories about the gypsy community baking hedgehogs and seasoning them with pork fat and herbs. He shared the stories with his customers in his public house and was encouraged to recreate the taste in flavoured crisps. Legend has it that Lewis interviewed gypsies from the traveller community who actually did eat baked hedgehogs. From this, he was able to get an idea of how hedgehogs taste in order to give his crisps some authenticity. Although I’m not a vegetarian, I for one am pretty relieved to learn that real hedgehogs weren’t used to create the hedgehog crisp flavour!
Hedgehog crisps court case
Hedgehog crisps weren’t around for long to begin with and were initially withdrawn from sale in 1982. This was because the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) alleged that the crisps breached the Trade Descriptions Act 1968. They took Lewis to court where they complained that the product name was misleading as the crisps weren’t actually made from hedgehog and no actual hedgehog was used as part of the ingredients.
Phillip Lewis came to an agreement to use artificial flavouring in the crisps and relaunch them as Hedgehog Flavour Crisps rather than Hedgehog “flavoured” crisps which they claimed had suggested actual hedgehogs had been used to flavour the snack. The crisps came back on the market in 1984.
By 1991, Hedgehog Foods had sales of $3.6million and was making huge contributions to Hedgehog charity Tiggywinkles, it was a great way for them to promote animal welfare and they were a major donor to the charity.
Can you buy Hedgehog Flavour Crisps today?
Although they seemed to be popular for over a decade, Hedgehog flavoured crisps are no longer available to buy in the UK. They were discontinued in 1994.
Many popular sweets and snacks from years gone by have been discontinued. What was your favourite back then?
