This Popular '90s Dessert Is Making A Comeback

It's official — the 2020s are the new '90s. Everything old is new again, and that includes not only hairstyles, fashion, and TV shows, but also many beloved snack foods once thought to be long-vanished from the store shelves. Well, ok, not each and every snack with a cult following has been revived — if you're missing 90s faves like Orbitz and Yogos, you'll still have to order them from eBay and pay a premium price for something that's been moldering in a basement for over a decade. Still, Dunkaroos came back, as did Surge and Doritos 3D, and now it's time for something that's not only delicious, but so pretty that, as Unilever's press release (via PR Newswire) tells us, it "can make any day a celebration."

Yes, Viennetta! That oh-so-sophisticated ice cream whose baroque swirls made it almost too beautiful to eat. The most amazing part of the whole Viennetta experience, however, is that all you needed was one of these babies in the freezer and you had the most dinner party-worthy of desserts on hand. No need for high-level kitchen skills and hours to spare, and no need to spend big bucks on something from La Pâtisserie Français Snooty. Just a plate and a knife and you had something elegant enough to serve any royalty who might be dropping by. No wonder it was the favorite childhood birthday cake of so many millennials.

Viennetta 2021, it seems, will be brought to us courtesy of Good Humor. Yes, the 90s version was Breyers-branded, but Unilever owns both labels, so there's no reason why it couldn't be made with the same formula we knew and loved way back when. At least...we hope not. Bite the Best, after all, reminds us that a "frozen dairy dessert" version of Viennetta made with numerous non-ice cream-like chemicals made a brief return to the market in 2008, only to die a well-deserved death a few months later.

So where did the original Viennetta go during its nearly 30-year hiatus? Evidently it's been sold overseas all this time, and is even available in different flavors there: the UK has a mint version, Austria has chocolate (and yes, they do call it Viennetta in Vienna, in case you were wondering), and Germany has not only chocolate but cappuccino. We're only getting vanilla, but still, it's a start. Get out the good china, dessert just got fancy again!