Marks & Spencer (M&S) Food has launched its first-ever summer dessert sandwich.
The limited-edition Red Diamond Strawberry & Creme Sandwich, is made with a British Red Diamond Strawberries, which M&S describes as “the UK’s sweetest and juiciest strawberries”, with light whipped cream cheese on fluffy sweetened bread.
The exclusive Red Diamond strawberries are grown only for M&S by trusted Select Farmers.
M&S said this summer dessert sandwich was inspired by the Japanese sweet sandos, which have been recently spotted popping up in London’s trendiest Japanese patisseries.
The sandwiches have been designed to eat with alfresco lunches, afternoon tea at home, summer picnics, courtside snack breaks or as a sweet afternoon pick me up. It is stocked alongside its regular sandwiches.
M&S said it has also launched its limited-edition Collection Red Diamond Strawberry Lemonade, which is part of its top-tier Collection range.
M&S Food has led the way in sandwich innovation, first selling freshly made sandwiches in the 1920s, and later sparking a food revolution in the UK with the first pre-packed sandwich on the High Street in the 1980s.
To date M&S Food has sold four billion sandwiches.
A social stir: Clean label, cake debates and ‘Punishment Juice’
The sandwich has been causing quite the stir on social media, including a debate around whether this constitutes as a cake.
The debate of what is a cake has been an on-going debate in the food sector due to its VAT relief. Over recent years there’s been many a court case over food items which are eaten like cake (with fingers) and taste and react like cake (i.e. become hard rather soft after their best). The most famous legal dispute is Jaffa Cakes, wherein McVities successfully had the product confirmed as a cake not a biscuit.
M&S is often at the forefront of food innovation and has been finding itself the subject of great debate recently, most notably with its one ingredient cornflakes.
Its recent launch of Punishment Juice has also stirred up reaction online. Nutritionist, Laura Wyness, raised concerns on Linked In:
“With so much food noise and healthy eating messages for people to navigate, this is one message from M&S that we can do without. Suggesting that healthy food like a juice that’s packed with vegetables and fruit is a punishment?!
“I get the slight humour of the product name - it stands out, and so it obviously sparks discussion, but at what cost? It’s fine to have humour, but you also need to be responsible in your marketing.”
