Food that sounds great in books but is disappointing in real life

[BlowDryRat]

As a child I was very into reading the Famous Five and begged my mum to buy me ginger beer. It was a disappointing experience. It tasted horrible!

Ditto cakes made with chestnut flour (The Wolves of Willoughby Chase) and the butterbeer at the Harry Potter studio tour.

While we're at it Angel Delight

Butterscotch flavour

It's as good as you remember it.

Food in books that sounds kind of OK and I'd like to try -

Graham crackers (American books)
Kippers (what people used to have for breakfast in England)

Food in books that sounds disgusting -

Tripe (in Orwell's Road to Wigan Pier - he says it is disgusting)
Calf's jelly and beef tea (what Victorians seemed to eat and drink when then were ill).

Teen dd loves root beer! Dh buys it online for her.

Also, ‘bread and dripping’ from the literary classic Milly Molly Mandy 🤮

Fun fact: I used to eat sardines on toast almost every week at our local John Lewis cafeteria before starting my part-time job as a shop assistant for late night opening. Then they went all posh and sardines were taken off the menu!

Kippers (what people used to have for breakfast in England)

Some of us still do!

@gnatgnu

Also, ‘bread and dripping’ from the literary classic Milly Molly Mandy 🤮

Yes! I remember my grandparents (Australian) telling us that people used to eat it back in the day. One of them had English parents though so they probably brought him up all wrong .

I love a kipper or an Arbroath Smokey and always bring a cold box full of them babk from the UK in the summer along with scotch mince pies and white puddings.

Yes to pp for mentioning Dahl's pie. It really did resonate. I bought Tesco's two slices of gala pie the other day and thought of Danny straight away. Dear reader, the Tesco pie did not live up to expectations...

''I began to unwrap the waxed paper from around the doctor’s present, and when I had finished, I saw before me the most enormous and beautiful pie in the world. It was covered all over, top, sides, and bottom, with rich golden pastry. I took a knife from beside the sink and cut out a wedge. I started to eat it in my fingers, standing up. It was a cold meat pie. The meat was pink and tender with no fat or gristle in it, and there were hard-boiled eggs buried like treasures in several different places. The taste was absolutely fabulous. When I had finished the first slide I cut another and ate that, too. God bless Doctor Spencer, I thought.”

I assumed the OP meant food in recipe books,
in which case I'd nominate anything by Delia Smith involving beans or pulses.

I remember when the first McDonalds opened in Dublin and they served root beer which was a very exotic American thing ... that tasted vile.

On the other hand I have read about peach cobbler in books for years with no clear idea of what it was, I was imagining it to be like fruit crumble. A couple of summers ago there was a peach glut and I was able to buy 5 peaches for €1. So I found a recipe online and tried it, and OMG it's heaven.

@Wildswim

Food in books that sounds kind of OK and I'd like to try -

Graham crackers (American books)
Kippers (what people used to have for breakfast in England)

Food in books that sounds disgusting -

Tripe (in Orwell's Road to Wigan Pier - he says it is disgusting)
Calf's jelly and beef tea (what Victorians seemed to eat and drink when then were ill).

Beef tea is Bovril I think. You can get it in most supermarkets.

@gnatgnu

Cabbage water soup as eaten in Charlie and the chocolate factory - I BEGGED my mum for this until she eventually gave me a cup of water from boiling the cabbage - I don’t know what I thought it was going to be but was distinctly underwhelmed!

If you're going to read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and beg for a food stuff described therein, I'd say your particular request can only be described as contrary.

@trappedsincesundaymorn Fairy bread is sugary rubbish for children's parties, I don't know any Australian adults who like the stuff! You outgrow it fairly early like you do coco pops.

Not from a book but DH and I were at a fete in the USA a couple of years back and he ordered a cider - he got apple juice!!! No idea what they call actual cider!

@Gerla

Kippers (what people used to have for breakfast in England)

Some of us still do!

Oh maybe not consigned to literary history then! How do you cook them and what do you have them with? @Gerla

@Carriemac

Pretzels

Oh god yes, biggest New York disappointment ever, thought they would be wonderful, they were dire.

"English" tea - too strong, drown in milk, disgusting. That's not "tea"!

Porridge, very meh.

Spotted dick, any pudding and sponge drown in custard to give them some flavour.

Christmas pudding or wedding cakes - might be useful on a ship at sea for months, but to celebrate something? It's rank.

Cucumber sandwich - not hideous, but something you'd have on a fancy occasion? just why

I know England is not famous for his gastronomy, but the reality was a very strong disappointment.

@ImperfectTents crumpets are amazing and I won't hear a word against them! You need to have them properly hot with a slightly crisp top so that the butter (dairy-free margarine for me which I know is MN sacrilege) melts all the way through. Food of the gods!!

@imyournextdoorneighbour they call proper cider 'hard cider'. I remember reading a teen book and being confused by a girl who turned down a beer because she didn't want to drink alcohol and having a cider instead, until I found out they meant hot apple juice

Try your avocado with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. It's heavenly.

@Gerla

Also kedgeree - the breakfast staple for toffs in many a book. Never fancy it for breakfast myself though.

I had it in a hotel once and it was really nice!

Yes to kippers @Wildswim - poach them lightly and serve with poached egg on top. Delicious.

@ImperfectTents

All of the food in mid century English children's books, yes crumpets I am looking at you, you circles of disappointment (I am not English)

Apparently when M and S first opened in Paris they had a huge problem with people bringing crumpets back saying they were inedible. Bless. Those chic Parisians didn’t realise they needed to be toasted (and covered in butter and jam)

I had a spell of eating pistachios after reading The Pistachio Prescription aged about 10. I loved the author and her teen angst books.

@imyournextdoorneighbour

Not from a book but DH and I were at a fete in the USA a couple of years back and he ordered a cider - he got apple juice!!! No idea what they call actual cider!

I think the alcoholic stuff is 'hard cider'.

In one the 'What Katy did' books she is very excited to try an English Muffin as she has read about them in but is very disappointed with it
and prefers the American muffins. (Presumably because the American ones are cake).

I was very disappointed with Ginger Beer too, I wanted to have 'lashings' of it but only managed a couple of sips.