The Five rarely have sandwiches that I would consider quite common these days - cheese and pickle, or cheese and tomato or just cheese on its own, or even egg sandwiches, as far as I can remember.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
I wonder if cheese was more of a luxury good in those days, or perhaps because it was rationed it wasn't mentioned much. I know sweets and chocolates were also rationed and they appeared in the books, but maybe Enid felt to mention too many unobtainable foods would be cruel. Or maybe she didn't particularly like cheese herself?
I've a feeling that one or two books feature children having a meal of hard cheese and stale bread, so maybe cheese wasn't a luxury, but a poor person's fare?
The Famous Five do have cream cheese a few times though, which for a bunch of kids seems quite exotic! I'd never even had cream cheese until I was in my 20s!
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
I do remember one short story of Enid's that features cheese as an essential part of the plot. It's the one about a yellowhammer who decides to steal cheese from a farm's storehouse but gets locked in there, so he has nothing to eat but cheese for a whole week. When the farmer's wife finds the little bird lying half dead on the floor, all he can say is "Little bit of bread and no cheese"... hence why he still does today!
Welcome to the forum, by the way, Anne's Sandwiches - so glad you found the stories you were looking for and hope we'll hear from you in other discussions as well!
Society Member
It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)