Fashionable Food
Anna Francis takes a trip down memory lane to explore the relationship between baking and vintage
Vintage and baking both appear to have
taken over the world right now, bolstered by
the wonders of television; Dawn O’Porter’s
fantastic This Old Thing introduced retro
fashion to vintage virgins, whilst the latest
series of The Great British Bake-Off has once
again attracted record viewing figures.
oaty biscuits (one of my specialities these
days) were all created in my kitchen and
very much enjoyed by my loved ones. And,
of course, you can’t not make a classic
Victoria sponge. I turned to the trusty Be-Ro
book again for my debut Vicky and wasn’t
disappointed.
As someone who fangirls over gorgeous old
clothes and pretty much any sort of cake, I’m
thrilled by the surge in interest. Turning to
the past for inspiration has done wonders for
our wardrobes and it can do the same in the
kitchen too. I started baking regularly when
I was 19 after my mum unearthed some of
her retro 1970s cookbooks and I was utterly
inspired. Having just been through a difficult
year, these simple and kind of kitsch books
provided a comforting new hobby away from
everyday life. The recipes might have been
old but I felt like I’d found something totally
new, a taste of another era that still rang true
today.
Obviously these old books were aimed at
a different consumer than recipe guides
nowadays. Many target the housewife who
was expected to notch these recipes up at
the drop of a hat to feed her husband and
children. As modern women (and men!) with
much more freedom and choice, I think we
owe it to these ladies - who perhaps didn’t
have as much independence - to refresh the
dishes they toiled over and bring them into
the 21st century, because we want to rather
than have to.
I started with raspberry jam buns from Mum’s
Be-Ro book. I’ll admit they probably weren’t
the height of sophistication when they
emerged from the oven in big &