Blimey, Sweet Popcorn! Hidden Secrets Behind Britain’s Cinema Concessions
In England, one man's treat is another man's damp squib
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Happy Friday, Epicures + Cinephiles!
Today, my mate Adam Cecil — a right jolly bloke and author of the rib-tickling, late-night pop culture newsletter Night Water — has offered to share his perspective on popcorn from across the pond.
As in most other countries, British cinemas serve popcorn at their concession stands.
Curiously, the Brits popcorn topping of choice is sugar — yes, bloody sugar — with salt taking a backseat.
Below, Adam has been kind enough to share his experience with this potentially dodgy concessions blunder and his hunt for a proper good cinema popcorn nosh.
Grab a cuppa, and let’s crack on!
What’s Up With England’s Sweet Popcorn? The Cold, Pre-Popped Truth
By Adam Cecil of Night Water
After I moved to London last fall, friends and family wanted to know: What’s the biggest difference between the US and the UK? I think they expect me to be shocked by something huge, though I’m not sure what. Everyone just seems disappointed when I take the opportunity to complain about the popcorn.
The movie theater popcorn situation in the UK is bleak. Let me walk through a typical concessions stand experience here to illustrate why.
You walk in. You queue politely. When it’s your turn, you ask for a large popcorn. The snack slinger asks you: salt or sweet? Your heart rate rises and your ears start ringing.
Salt or sweet?, you think.
“Salt,” you respond, barely suppressing an adjoining obviously. They collect your popcorn — which, by the way, is most likely not freshly popped and is instead shipped to the theater in large, clear plastic bags and left in the back room to get progressively staler over the course of the week.
Popcorn in hand, you make your way to your seat and start munching. The popcorn is dry — no butter-flavored topping to coat your kernels and your fingers here — and salty enough, but you notice that every once in a while, you get a little burst of sweetness, too. Because that’s the thing about getting salted popcorn in the UK: you’re going to get some sweets, too.
My British wife actually prefers this contrast — she always orders a “mixed” popcorn, kind of the “secret third thing” of UK concession stands — even though all of our American friends have reacted to that predilection with a disturbed confusion.
On the flip side, Brits seem lightly bemused by my popcorn-based complaints. Such a prototypical American quibble — “Oh, is your salty little corn treat not covered in enough dairy-flavored sauce for you?”
Meanwhile, you go to any crisps aisle and find flavors like “Prawn Cocktail” and “Tomato and Chili Chutney,” so I can’t help but feel like they’re throwing popcorn-sized rocks in a glass house.
Besides the popcorn, the theater-going experience here has been largely positive. Smaller chains like Picturehouse show a good mix of blockbuster and indie releases locally, and I’ll travel into central London for the unhinged curation at Prince Charles Cinema, a repertory theater that shows everything from Superbad to the films of Wong Kar-wai. I just have to figure out how to efficiently smuggle in a fully popped bag of imported Act II popcorn into the theater.
Blimey! Innit gobsmacking?
The cultural differences between the USA and the rest of the English-speaking world can be striking. Per the latest polls, a good-sized majority of England’s cinema-goers prefer sweet popcorn over salty.
My sincerest apologies to Adam for mucking up his ace article with my poorly equipped British slang. Please forgive me, it’s not that often a gal gets a good gab in.
If you enjoyed today’s post, don’t forget to check out Night Water, Adam’s delightful newsletter for night owls.
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Leave a Comment and let me know: Do you prefer sweet, salty, or mixed popcorn?
Cherrio, until next time!
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p.s. If you can share insights into cinema concessions in other parts of the globe, I’d love to hear from you and potentially feature your thoughts in another edition of Film Flavor.
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My dad is an avid cinema-goer and often travels for work, so takes himself to see films in the evenings and weekends. This reminded me of him telling me he ordered a buttered popcorn in the US and he couldn't believe how much butter they put on 🤣 I love buttered popcorn and I always order salted, so maybe I'm made for American cinemas!
The best movie theater popcorn I've ever had (salty variety) is at the American Cinematheque theaters in Los Angeles, CA. Ambrosia. I am NOT a popcorn eater at the movies normally, and I ALWAYS get popcorn when I go to their venues.