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Off to the Local Deli for a Milkshake.

As a kid growing up in the 50’s and 60’s, do you remember going to the deli or corner shop with a mate after school, or as a teenager with a group of other teenagers, just for a milkshake?

I’m not sure where the milkshake stands today in social culture but back then it was a real treat to go to the local deli and have a lime, chocolate or bubble gum flavoured milkshake with your friends or even that certain someone.

I can’t for the life of me ever remember going to a pub on a Saturday night just to get drunk. We were more likely to ‘hoon’ around in our cars, such as an FJ or Zephyr, have a milkshake at Sigalas in Rundle Street, a hamburger at the Burger King on Anzac Highway then drive up and down Rundle/Hindley Streets until it was time to go home.

Mind you we did drink alcohol, mainly beer, and that was usually outside the dance so we’d get up a bit of ‘dutch courage’ to ask a girl to dance.

Milkshakes were served in coloured anodised cups then and were really cold, and if you drank them too fast you’d get “brain freeze”.

Now, apparently (according to Dr Google) milk shakes came to us via the US. Back in 1930 it seems one Steven Poplawski invented the blender and milkshakes began to take their modern, whipped, aerated, and frothy form. This sweet, cold beverage was referred to as the frosty and in 1937, the newspapers of the day stated, “For a ‘frosted’ shake, add a dash of your favourite ice cream.”

By the 1950s milkshakes were one of the most popular drinks in western culture, embraced(!) by the teenagers of the day and came in many different forms and flavours. Here are some of the flavours that have been mentioned before on the ARW Facebook page; lime, chocolate, vanilla, blue moon, caramel, banana, strawberry and bubble gum, all of the above served with double malt and 2 scoops of ice cream. Delicious!!

Milkshakes are still around of course but not nearly as popular as they once were. Kids nowadays are more likely to order an iced coffee, which now seems to be the more popular milk drink.

‘Old school’ fans will still go for a chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry milkshake, but now this creamy beverage is offered in every sweet flavour under the sun. With the milkshake continuing to evolve we wonder what the future holds for this frosty concoction. Will the original recipe see a return? Or maybe we have only scratched the surface with different flavours and textures.

Either way, there is no denying a cold milkshake is the perfect cure to a hot day.

3 Responses to Off to the Local Deli for a Milkshake.

  1. Hilary February 28, 2015 at 12:30 pm #

    We gather at the Paris Milk bar on Rundle Street on Saturdays for a milkshake with our friends.

  2. Patricia Westover June 14, 2020 at 10:00 pm #

    Yes I met my friends Friday night or Sat morning at the Paris milk bar after work loved it!!

  3. Maralyn nee Turner February 4, 2023 at 10:03 pm #

    Sigalas’ Rundle St. after work: for me a ‘blue moon’ milkshake or a ‘long John’. The latter came in a very long glass filled with layers of icereams, fruit salad, and syrups of choice. The sound of the mixing machines and colour of the anodised ribbed vessels were frosty and very practical. A malted milk an individual choice. A popular meeting place for girlfriends or couples.
    Something to really look forward to during the day.

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