These 70s food classics are making a comeback – and I can see why
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Loading... - Carol Brown
- 20 Apr 2023
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Celebrating the return to favour of a distinctive cuisine of the past, from trifles to vol-au-vents and quiche
After my Great Aunt Kate died in January, my uncle asked if I might like to have her cookbooks.
Among her collection of reliable 70s tomes was a Delia Smith’s Cookery Course from 1978 and a Good Housekeeping bible from 1972. Between them was a little book of handwritten menus. Every time someone came for lunch, she’d made a note of what she’d served so as not to repeat the meal next time.
Those menus are so wonderfully revealing – a snapshot of a bygone decade (the culinary lane she stuck to, firmly); halcyon days when a black forest gateau was considered the height of sophistication.
Among the dishes we don’t eat so much anymore, probably with good reason (I’m not convinced “trout with cream” needs another airing), there were so many things that are making a resurgence in 2023.
Nostalgic desserts like trifle, which had a moment during the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and all those steamed puddings you can’t move for in the trendiest restaurants in the country. There were hearty dinners like fish pie and roast chicken, and reliably stodgy lunches like jacket potatoes and quiche, which featured highly among her lunches and is now set to make a major comeback due to its starring role in the Coronation.
Some eyes have rolled at the announcement, the feeling being that it’s a rather bland choice for such an occasion. To me, it makes perfect sense – it’s just the kind of nostalgic, reliable comfort food that is having a revival.
Quiche has been on something of a journey in this country. It always used to be thought of as posh-lunch party fare – a bit French, a bit fussy, a bit Margo Leadbetter in The Good Life, a bit Abigail’s Party.
In the 1980s, a book called Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche made waves, solidifying its reputation as something twee and “feminine”. Then came the rebranding: “cheese flan”, a school dinners staple.
At some point along the way while we were becoming a nation of “foodies”, we became snobbish about quiche. The thought of a slab of warm cheesy custard in a pastry case with a healthy mound of coleslaw was deemed beige, boring, distinctly uncool. I suspect we were all eating it in secret because the quiche has stood the test of time. In fact, it’s firmly back on the menu. Read More…
