Why Vimto sales soar during Ramadan

May 27, 2017 1:37 PM

Vimto, a drink born and commemorated in Manchester sees sales spike during Ramadan as it has become a popular way to break the fast.

Ramadan Mubarak to those who observe it.

posted by threetwentytwo (30 comments total)

Twice as sweet? Yowza!
posted by blue_beetle at 1:49 PM on May 27, 2017

"A version of this article was originally published on Sunday 5 June 2016."
posted by effbot at 1:55 PM on May 27, 2017

I'm not Muslim but I buy it at this Middle Eastern / South Asian market near me in the U.S. It's really good; I wish I'd known about it back when I would travel to the UK frequently because I always seemed to end up with Irn-Bru to drink or one of its similarly bubble-gum-flavored ilk, which aren't to my taste. Between Vimto and a fabulous cup of tea whenever I felt like a hot drink, and fizzy lemonade, I'd have been in beverage heaven.

If you're drinking the "cordial" version, a syrup you mix with water, you can dilute it as much as you like of course and thus lower the sugar content by volume. It's quite nice and distinctive even when very dilute.
posted by XMLicious at 2:01 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

I was just looking at a can of this in the pita and hummus shop up the street, having never seen it before, and just a few hours later a whole article on the Blue. I'm going to run up there and get a can and make my 14-year-old nephew drink it. For SCIENCE.
posted by MOWOG at 2:03 PM on May 27, 2017 [8 favorites]

Full of sugar! Better than Monster though.
posted by parmanparman at 2:13 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Manchester chef Robert Owen Brown does a shawarma kebab in a Yorkshire pudding wrap with Vimto Sriracha sauce. Just in case you were ever foolish enough to question whether this is the greatest city on earth.
posted by sobarel at 2:19 PM on May 27, 2017 [38 favorites]

My grandma used to recommend vimto syrup as an ice cream topping, but it wasn't easy to get in stores where I grew up, so I have yet to try it.
posted by terretu at 2:41 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Update: Tastes like Red Cream Soda (and considering the history is probably an ancestor). Nephew won't drink it, prefers Monster
posted by MOWOG at 2:48 PM on May 27, 2017 [9 favorites]

This is brilliant; I love unexpected stuff like this. Vimto was a big part of my childhood and I still love the taste; in the UK it's one of those really regional things - you really don't tend to see it so much down south (or it's not so much a part of the cultural landscape, at least) - so it's fascinating to see how it's found another, entirely different niche.

Also, from my student days, a Cheeky Vimto is a bottle of Blue WKD and shot of Port. Probably not quite so suitable for breaking fast though.
posted by parm at 2:57 PM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

Slightly warm Vimto was what you got if you were too late to the the drink line of sunday school picnics of my youth. It was vile, but there was always some left. An anagram of vomit indeed.
posted by scruss at 3:08 PM on May 27, 2017 [4 favorites]

This is definitely a regional thing because I've never had any association with Vimto growing up. I only learned of it once Middle Eastern restaurants became a more regular thing around here in my country. In fact, in these parts, it's actually Ribena, if we're talking British blackcurrant cordials. That's one of our Ramadan drinks, I reckon.
posted by cendawanita at 5:06 PM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Oh, lord, I remember this. Mancunians drank it over ice, or bubbly, or even as a hot drink. It tasted vaguely medicinal to me and I couldn't stand it. But they did. All the time, except for a wee Scot who drank Irn Bru.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:24 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Also, from my student days, a Cheeky Vimto is a bottle of Blue WKD and shot of Port. Probably not quite so suitable for breaking fast though.

I dunno, I knew a bunch of people in Beirut who seemed to spend most of Ramadan sleeping all day and drinking all night. It certainly disabused me of any belief in universal Muslim temperance.

I really like Vimto, to the extent that, when Sainsbury's periodically have it knocked down to £1 for a two litre bottle, I worry about the risk of developing chronic vimtosis.
posted by howfar at 5:24 PM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

a wee Scot who drank Irn Bru

You could swap a few of the words in this clause around and it would amount to pretty much the same thing as far as appearance and general fitness to be imbibed go.
posted by howfar at 5:28 PM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

The aforementioned Cheeky Vimto is actually pretty delicious and will make a family wedding go very entertainingly if one's 20 year younger niece introduces one to it as something she's been drinking at Uni. Allegedly.

Like a snakebite&black, only more fighty
posted by DangerIsMyMiddleName at 6:47 PM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

A Bru wee Irn who Scot drank?
A drank Scot who Irn wee Bru?
Scot Bru wee a Irn drank who?
posted by eykal at 7:10 PM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

Manchester chef Robert Owen Brown does a shawarma kebab in a Yorkshire pudding wrap with Vimto Sriracha sauce.

THIS IS THE PLACE
posted by adept256 at 7:25 PM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

In 1981, when I was 9 years old, my family moved to the suburbs of Manchester from rural Minnesota(!) It was a miserable trip to get there... it was during the air traffic controllers' strike, my sister had just turned 2 and was an awful child, it took a full 24 hours after our departure for us to finally arrive at our new home.

As we exhaustedly began to unpack and settle into the unfamiliar place, I complained that I was thirsty. My mom looked in the cupboard and found a bottle of Vimto... "Mixed Fruit Juice Cordial"! Jackpot! She poured me an entire pint glass, undiluted.

"Mom," I said. "This stuff is terrible."

Fire shot from her eyes: "WE ARE IN A DIFFERENT COUNTRY NOW!! You will finish that entire glass and I will not hear another sound from you!!"

I did choke down that glass, and many days later, when they learned it should be diluted ~5:1 with water, I received a full apology.
posted by rodeoclown at 8:06 PM on May 27, 2017 [29 favorites]

It was a terrible thing when they started marketing it as a fruit drink, destroying my childhood belief that it was made out of vimts.
posted by Segundus at 8:36 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Carbonated Vimto is a crime.

There is a statue of the original Vimto bottle near Manchester University.
posted by davemee at 11:28 PM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

It's definitely a regional thing, down south we had Ribena or Robinson's, and my first experience with it was as a cheeky Vimto as a student. In France we have sirop which I find way too sugary, and it is surprisingly harder to find the sugar free versions.

Ramadan Mubarak to everyone celebrating!
posted by ellieBOA at 11:52 PM on May 27, 2017

Google informs:
"cheeky v..."
... vape,
... vindaloo,
... Victoria's Secret,
... Vimto
- sounds like a memorable night. Perhaps not till Eid al Fitr.
posted by rongorongo at 3:21 AM on May 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

My parents used to serve me diluted black current cordial when I was a kid, and I still like that (though I have a hard time finding it). I ought to try this stuff.
posted by Songdog at 5:28 AM on May 28, 2017

though I have a hard time finding it

If not else, you can look for "svartvinbärssaft" in your nearest Swedish or Scandinavian store (or online).
posted by effbot at 6:11 AM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

Ramadan Mubarak!
Came to link this:
Solid Vimto
I couldn't for the life of me figure out why Vimto sounded so familiar.
posted by evilDoug at 6:40 AM on May 28, 2017

I'm in Riyadh now and can assure you Vimto is wildly popular, there are Everest like displays in every grocery store now. I see it year round, just not in this volume. I've never tried it.
When people ask me what Saudi Arabia is like, I tell them they really love snacks here, sweet, sweet snacks
posted by PHINC at 7:13 AM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

This Spouse of An English appreciates those who have provided a cultural Rosetta Stone to the perpetual bottle of Ribena that arrives from Santa and lurks in the back of the fridge most of the year. My wife's people of the Midlands had a surprising array of cordials which all were eyebrow raising for this young man from a land where the only thing to be added to water is frozen water and possibly a lemon slice on special occasions. I mean, elderflower presse?!?

Rodeoclown, that's a great tale about your mom. She resonates.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 8:39 PM on May 28, 2017

History of the Black Currant ban in the United States.
posted by sebastienbailard at 5:02 AM on May 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

First time I tried Vimto, my immediate response was "why on earth did they think a carbonated version of Dimetapp DM would taste good?" followed by "and it doesn't even get you high like the cough syrup?!? is this like a punishment drink or something?"
posted by some loser at 6:58 AM on May 30, 2017

So this inspired me last weekend to go looking for Vimto in the South West, unfortunately just after I'd walked through a part of Bristol with lots of Somali shops. I could find nothing but pomegranate San Pellegrino, passion fruit Rubicon and rhubarb Cawston Vale as far as fizzy fruit drinks are concerned, within Bristol and Bath city centres.

And now I'm in the station at Taunton, and while the woman serving me was trying to find miso soup on the cash register (the cafe is called Dashi, but it's the first time she's sold a miso soup, and she didn't seem new), I saw Vimto in the fridge.

So I've bought a can. And now my breakfast of champions is miso soup, soya flat white and a can of Vimto.
posted by ambrosen at 2:33 AM on June 2, 2017 [1 favorite]