Food in Blyton

[Hannah]

Do you mean this recipe for a cherry cake, kirstleecurry?

[Katharine]

I thought the old menu that was discovered was fascinating. I love glimpses of the history of ordinary people.

The cook book looks interesting, although I can't imagine any of Enid Blyton's characters eating dishes such as garlic mushrooms on toast (although they sound delicious).

[Barnard]

Like Kirstleecurry I enjoy eating crisps. Although Enid Blyton’s characters don’t seem to eat them they were available during the 1940s. Probably, in those days, only ready salted were sold but it is much better now with the wide variety of flavours. I liked the salt and vinegar ones when they were called ‘salt and lineker’ and was surprised we didn’t get ‘smoky Beckham’ flavour as well.

[pete9012S]

Barnard, my brother and I used to like 'salt and shake' crisps.
You're probably far too young to remember them!

[Boatbuilder]

Which you can still buy..

https://groceries.morrisons.com/product ... -112863011" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Barnard]

Yes, I remember salt and shake from when I was young. If the bag got a bit damp the salt was in a solid lump.

[pete9012S]

Yes! And sometimes you didn't need all the salt!

[Courtenay]

This may not be the right place for this but as it's to do with food from when Enid (Blyton, not my wife ) was about 15, I thought I would post it here. I came across it on the BBC the other day.

A shilling (1/-) or 5p today, in 1913 would be worth about £5.75 now.

Liverpool café finds menu from 1913 during refurb

That's fascinating, John! I'm not even sure what some of the dishes are, especially the ones with French names. On the other hand, cold tongue and ham sounds very Blytonesque!!

[Stephen]

As a child reader, I loved the expression 'Google buns'. Who would have thought that decades later, Google would be one of the most used proper nouns in the world?

I seem to remember slightly recoiling in horror when I first realised that the food 'Tongue' referenced in Enid Blyton and other books was in fact - well the clue's in the name!

[kirstleecurry]

Stephen... I feel your pain! I actually liked tongue as a child, before I realised that it actually was... you know... TONGUE! I remember seeing it in a butchers once and being totally horrified!

The Cherry Cake recipe is the one I was thinking of, so now have NO excuse not to bake it!!!

And while it's a cheat maybe, considering my Eating With Enid plan...my colleagues wife is a SUPERB baker and she has just made me the most amazing gingerbread loaf, complete with sticky topping and crystallised ginger! It's proper Enid food! (Would love to share a pic, but again... no idea how!) You'll just have to trust that it's simply smashing!!!

As an aside! I have no idea how to respond to individuals here as this is mostly on my mobile!

[GloomyGraham]

I recall that in the Adventurous Four stories one of the boys was a big fan of sausages but they took tinned sausages on their trips.

The only tinned sausages I've ever seen are the Plumrose sausages (either cocktail or hot-dog sized) so I presume the Four were eating frankfurts rather than true sausages.

Some of those menus in the modern Blyton cookbook sound a far cry from the meals mentioned in the books. Not sure how they would have made macaroons on the Secret Island.

As far as the food mentioned in the books, sardines were eaten far too often for my liking lol

[black labrador]

What strikes me about food in Blyton books is the sheer volume. Three or four meals a day, cooked breakfasts, 2 or 3 course lunches, teas and dinners, and plenty of snacks and ice creams.

In the Mystery of the Strange Bundle, Fatty has porridge followed by sausages and toast for breakfast, a 3 course lunch consisting of soup and toast, chicken and vegetables, and stewed apple and rice pudding, a tea of hot chocolate, cakes and macaroons and presumably dinner with his parents. It would be interesting to see this diet analysed in terms of calories, fat and sugar.

The children do seem to do a fair amount of walking and cycling, but little organised sport during the holidays.
It is amazing they weren't all as big as Fatty!

[black labrador]

One other point - several books refer to 'potted meat' sandwiches. Is this tinned ham/corned beef or some form of preserved meat?

[Barnard]

I think Fatty actually refused the pudding of stewed apples and rice. He said to Bets, “what a pudding to give an invalid. I shan’t have any.”

[Hannah]

One other point - several books refer to 'potted meat' sandwiches. Is this tinned ham/corned beef or some form of preserved meat?

Maybe you'd like to look in this thread, there's some information on potted meat.