Food porn? I don't think so...

I have a plan to catalogue my cookbooks one of these days. I?ve been collecting them for more than 40 years, so I have a fair few.



It?s a task I?ve attempted before. When I first got a Mac there was an application called Hypercard and I learned enough of the programming language to start my cookbook database. However, along the way I changed computers, floppy disks became museum items and my database probably ended up at the tip.



I had a shot at labelling and sorting the books via the Dewey decimal system. Unfortunately cookbooks come in a wide range of shapes and sizes so that wasn?t very successful. Now that my books have a permanent home and have all come out of their cartons, I will give it another go ? once I?ve worked out a logical filing system that means I will no longer have to stand scanning many shelves for a single volume. Yes, my current system is based on size alone and has NO logic. Anyone with a brilliant system ? please let me know!





During the uncartoning I came across Quick & Easy Cook Cards ? the Continental Favourites edition. These sets of cards were put out by Paul Hamlyn during the late 60s. I remember making the Duckling a l?orange but clearly the rest can?t have spurred me on because they are pristine.



The pictures serve to emphasise how food styling and photography have changed over the years. While the ubiquitous Chiani battle has appeared, the photos aren?t crowded with as much impedimenta as later ones where the main dish often played second fiddle to a lavish arrangement of scattered fruit, vegetables, Grandma?s silver, flowers, nuts, cane baskets, candles, table napkins. Nevertheless there?s nothing of today?s ?food porn? and the dishes don?t shout ?Cook me!?









Four forelorn sausages lie stranded on a mound of sauerkraut interspersed with fatty wodges  of streaky bacon. A piped border of instant potato holds the rolled up fish fillets and their sea of creamy spinach sauce in place. Confrontational flat poached eggs settle in on a bed of frozen spinach underpinned by a lot of spaghetti in Eggs Florentine. All a bit depressing, really.



On the back of the Andalusian Chicken card, the quick tip suggest adding a few drops of yellow food colouring to deepen the colour of the saffron rice. ?Do not omit the powdered saffron altogether or the rice will not have the characteristic delicate flavour.?



The card sets sold for 5/- in the UK when they were first released. I paid $NZ2.50 for mine. They often appear on eBay but they don?t appear to be top sellers.