The quintessentially British junk food you have to try (according to the H&G team)

A pile of British junk food – or a fairly accurate representation of what it's like to work in the House & Garden office.

While we'd hesitate to say that Britain is the best country in the world for packaged snack foods – it's a bold claim, after all – we must be pretty near the top in terms of sheer variety and inventiveness. If the passion with which the House & Garden editorial team discusses their favourite junk food is anything to go by, the biscuits, crisps and sweets you generally find at the wrong end of the supermarket are a core part of the national experience. For those of us who grew up here, they carry strong associations with childhood, most of us having grown up in a more permissive age for eating absolute trash (candy cigarettes, anyone?). For newcomers or visitors to the UK, the vast array of British junk food is a delightful (or baffling) discovery to be made. A quick canvass of the H&G office (it wasn't that quick, people could talk about this all day) have revealed the essential British junk foods that we think everyone should know about – tick them off your list if you haven't already.

Biscuits and sweet treats

Custard creams will forever have a place in my heart, and I suspect in the hearts of 1990s children everywhere in the UK. They were the ubiquitous after school snack and you were unlikely to find a household without them. How you eat them says a lot about you: all in one is for the impatient among us, while those who sit at the other end of the spectrum benefit from the delayed gratification that comes with carefully prying apart the two biscuits, eating off the custard filling and then nibbling away at the biscuits after. And then there are the people who slurp tea through them, but we won't even start on them. - Christabel Chubb

It's almost impossible for me to choose a favourite biscuit so I'm dodging the question and going for a Jaffa Cake. Except that whenever you go for one Jaffa Cake, you end up eating ten. They embody so much of what the British love about snacks – the enjoyable fuss over whether it's a biscuit or a cake and the debate about the correct way to eat it. I like to nibble around the edges, peel off the chocolate, peel off the weirdly perfect circle of orange in the middle (this is the best bit), and then eat the cakey base. – Virginia Clark

There’s just something about the unmistakably – and indescribably – 'pink' taste of pink wafer biscuits that takes me straight back to childhood. They are supposedly vanilla flavoured, but personally I feel they have a flavour all of their own, like a lot of things us Nineties kids enjoyed at birthday parties or as a treat after school (see also: party rings, iced gems and BN biscuits). I have a very vivid memory of a friend who had a pink-themed birthday party with a buffet of entirely pink foods, which saw pink wafers served alongside prawns, salmon and shrimp sweets. Bon appétit! - Rose Washbourn

Every time I go to Germany to see my sister I have to bring Hobnobs. They are able to hold themselves together dunked in tea while soaking up the required amount of liquid and flavour. She has not yet found a German biscuit that works as well. - Eva Farrington

Tunnocks Tea Cakes are the apotheosis of all chocolate-covered marshmallow-filled treats, I once depleted my corner shop's supply of the things. They are the perfect size, quintessentially British, and the crack of the chocolate when you bite in is quite satisfying. - Aida Amoako

As someone who has never grown out of a juvenile love of gummy sweets (don't tell my dentist), I have to put in a word for the Wham chew and its cousins the Refresher and the Drumstick. Whams have amazing sour crystals in them which form a pleasing contrast to the chewy texture of the bar, and I sometimes walk over to my local Co-op just to get one. - Virginia Clark

Crisps and savoury snacks

Other cultures can beat us in most food categories, but we have the upper hand on maize-based snacks! No one else comes close. Frazzles, Monster Munch, Space Raiders, Wotsits, Wheat Crunchies, Chipsticks, Nik Naks... I can not get enough of any of these, they are my guilty pleasure. Not just because they make me feel nostalgic but because I genuinely find them delicious. Of them all (and though I am a vegetarian), beef Monster Munch are my prefered choice. - Jennifer Lister

I am not embarrassed to admit that I think one of the tastiest things in the whole world is the Barbecue Beef Hula Hoop (though I wouldn't send you away if you only offered me Ready Salted). Unless you are actually the one eating them, the smell is rather repulsive and certainly a bit artificial, but once you've tried one, the rich, salty umami-ness of them is too much to resist and you must consume the whole lot. I eat them when I really feel I've earned an indulgence (or if I had several indulgences the evening before). Like most junk food, they are best consumed in total privacy and in front of the TV. Don't mess around with the standard size bag. If you are doing it you might as well go all in, so get a maxi bag and enjoy. - Christabel Chubb

As an adult, I had left Wotsits behind, associating their mild flavour, melty texture and puffed shape with the innocence of childhood and balking at the prawn cocktail variety. And then I discovered the Giant Wotsits in the sweet & spicy and flaming hot flavours which are not only worthy of becoming a future classic but also made me revisit the originals in all their comforting, cheesy, finger-staining goodness. - Aida Amoako

My favourite snack is Scampi Fries (showing my age here). They taste nothing like scampi and the packets are far too tiny, but they're still worth seeking out in pubs (pretty much the only place you can find them these days). I love them because they remind me of going to the pub with my parents in the 80s and 90s, when they were a good, cheap substitute for the ultimate pub food - scampi in a basket. - Julia Faiers

Jacob's Tuc biscuits are one of the unsung heroes of snack foods. Deliciously salty on their own, they are a great base for plain cream cheese (full fat, of course) and complement a mature cheddar beautifully. Add a stick of celery and a good condiment like red onion chutney and you almost have a complete meal. I was recently introduced to the Tuc Cheese Sandwich in snack-pack form (thank you NHS Blood Donation service). The supermarket shelves might be stuffed with fancy savoury biscuits, but sometimes you can't beat nostalgically no-nonsense crunchiness. - Caroline Bullough

I was recently reacquainted with Mini Cheddars on a KLM flight because the Dutch airline has, very wisely (but somewhat confusingly), chosen them as its free in-flight snack. If you’re craving something really savoury, nothing hits the spot like these baked cheesy delights, and I can confirm they are still as addictive as they used to be. I was once particularly fond of the crinkle-cut versions – now known as Crinklys, but Google tells me they were Crinklins pre 2003. And let's not forget that delightful artificial cheese smell that will stay with you all day long. - Rose Washbourn

From the fridge/freezer aisle

Cheese Strings were my gateway drug to the world of cheese. They must be eaten by the classic peeling method - it is culturally disrespectful to bite into them. - Tilly Wheeler

The Peperami truly has a smell that can never be forgotten once you've experienced it. Pro tip - finely slice one up and chuck it in a potato salad. - TW

The extent to which shrinkflation has affected many of our favourite snacks is outrageous but with the Solero, it really has been a travesty. Nevertheless, the ice-cream, particularly the "exotic" one which purports to be a mix of tropical fruits but is overwhelmingly (and deliciously) mango-flavoured, is still a must have when the heatwaves hit. With the fruity ice lolly covering the ice cream you can delude yourself quite easily that it's somewhat better for you than other treats. - Aida Amoako

Meal-adjacent things

While we agreed that ‘British junk food’ should probably stop short of full meals, I must mention the Greggs vegan sausage roll, a salty, pastry-wrapped mush that is completely ideal when you're feeling a bit the worse for wear. I especially love to get one just as I'm about to get on a train, with a cup of tea in the morning or a tin of gin & tonic from M&S in the evening. I couldn't enjoy any Michelin-starred meal more. - Virginia Clark

I bloody love a supermarket all day breakfast sandwich, but specifically with a hangover- which I feel is a pretty British combo in itself? I don't usually care for a fridge cold sandwich but with an all day breakfast, the deeper in the back of the shop fridge the better. As we all know, there is something restorative and quintessentially British about a full english- sticking it in between two paper white slices of cheap bread is a tonic for a groggy gal on the go. Waitrose or M&S do it best. - Rémy Mishon

A crisp sandwich - ideally made using the cheapest white bread possible, the cheapest margarine possible and cheese and onion crisps, preferably Walker's. - Tilly Wheeler