An ever-popular dessert which has been a fixture of British households for more than 40 years and can be picked up for just a handful of change left an American man baffled when his wife described it as “posh”. The man posts on social media as yankeedoodleintheuk, where he regularly shares his amusing observations on life in the UK as a foreigner.

He recently shared the surprising story on Instagram, where he asked for other people’s views in a video with the overlay caption: “I didn’t realise this was such a big deal here… I’ve been doing it wrong.” “I didn’t realise this one thing was posh,” he said.

“Last night we had our spaghetti bolognese, and we’re ready for our pudding, so I went into the kitchen, dug into the freezer, and pulled something out. And my wife said: ‘What’s the special occasion?’ I was like: ‘Special occassion? What do you mean?’

“Prior to this I went to Tesco and I found this pudding. It was about £1.50 I believe. I’ve had it before, it’s delicious.

“I never knew it was considered posh. Now I need your opinion if you consider this posh.”

He then revealed the dessert in question – the legendary mint-flavoured Viennetta ice cream. Launched by UK ice cream company Wall’s in 1982, the Viennetta is a rectangular-shaped ice cream cake with a wavy, concertina-like pattern, giving it a sophisticated, fancy appearance despite its cheap price point.

The man continued: “She said: ‘When we grew up we only had this on very special occasions. It was considered a posh pudding, and maybe if we had guests over or something we’d pull out the Viennetta’.

“And I can sort of see where she’s coming from. It does look slightly posh. It’s cool. But at the same time it’s almost like a deconstructed choc ice.”

Concluding, he said: “Just having a Viennetta at your house, right? That’s a good enough special occasion for me.”

People in the comments were unanimous in their views that a Viennetta is the height of sophistication. One said: “You can’t just whip out a Viennetta on a random Wednesday! Party times only!”

Another wrote: “As a child, absolutely posh and amazing treat. As an adult, basic as anything and yet also strangely still feels posh. I’ve not had one in years mind, but I think I’ll get an Easter treat!”

Someone else said: “We used to have it on Christmas Day (and Christmas Day only!)” And another weote: “We only had it when the Queen visited us.”

A different user said: “All you had to mention was ‘freezer’ and ‘posh’ and I guarantee every single 35+ something in the UK knew it was a Viennetta.”

And someone else said: “What’s next? Colin the Caterpillar when it isn’t someone’s birthday?”