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.

'Read about them in BOOKS'. Need an edit button.

Cream soda. Genuinely disgusting.

But, in the Sword in the Stone there's a wonderful description where Wart is turned into a owl and eats a mouse, and loves it.

and I'd forgotten about sasperilla in What Katy Did and my disappointment when I tried it. Also root beer, which tastes of dental mouth wash

@scrivette

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.

You've reminded me - waffles, as described in What Katy Did At School. I've never had American ones - British ones always seem stodgy compared to that description of them as crisp and melt-in-the-mouth.

As a young teen, I went through a stage of eating the foods of the heroines in my favourite books. I loved ‘A tree grows in Brooklyn’ and ‘Joy in the morning’, by Betty Smith, which were coming of age books set in 1920s America, in an impoverished community. I tried all sorts of food because of these books - prunes on brown bread and butter for breakfast, sucking on a sour pickled onion as a snack, egg nog... This is actually making me want to read the books again, they’re both wonderful.

How do you cook them and what do you have them with? @Gerla**

They’re lovely when grilled and served with scrambled eggs and tomato

Wildswim
Kippers - they are good for you. Lots of omega 3. They taste smoky and salty, at the same time.

You cook them gently. It's very quick. Microwave is easiest but others work well. You need to avoid drying them out .
www.manxkippers.com/about-kippers/whats-the-best-way-to-cook-kippers

They go very well with eggs - just like smoked salmon (the cheap offcuts, not the expensive stuff). www.abelandcole.co.uk/recipes/grilled-kipper-with-creamy-scrambled-eggs

They make fabulous pate (once boned) mashed when cooked and cold, then mixed with butter (or mayonnaise) and lots and lots of fresh parsley, lemon juice and black pepper. Boil in the bag kippers - very cheap, from supermarkets - are fine for this.

Kippers are, IMO, best served with very thin wholemeal or seedy bread toast (sourdough if you like but I'm not a fan) , or proper Scottish oatcakes. ( I prefer Patersons - no palm oil.) And tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, celery, lemon wedges....

I like hush puppies, but grits are just too semen x frogspawn.

@beyondtheshoe
I didn't 'get' the cucumber sandwich thing until I had one at a posh restaurant as part of afternoon tea. The cucumber had a flavour! And it was delicious. Then DH grew some and they were the same - turns out that cucumbers, like tomatoes, are ruined by supermarkets and they taste infinitely better when home grown. Tricky bastards to grow though.

In defence of fruitcake, my mum's family recipe is delicious, moist and not too heavy, but boozy, fruity and nutty- but that recipe came via foreign countries. All other fruitcake from weddings etc in the UK has been a disappointment!

Is it the Magic Faraway Tree that had Honey cakes? Maybe it was the version we concocted but they weren't a success!

@LockdownCheeseToastie they are selling Root beer at my local Aldi .

I haven't tried them, but pickled limes, a la Little Women, were always a dubious treat it seemed to me.

My uncle begged for spinach after watching Popeye. My grandma bought him a tin. It was predictably vile but she made him eat it all in true 1970s mother fashion!

DinosApple

my very first cucumber sandwich came from Fortnum! Not the poshest but it was supposed to be decent.

I was extremely disappointed.

@MamaWeasel

I haven't tried them, but pickled limes, a la Little Women, were always a dubious treat it seemed to me.

I wondered if they were the same as the lime pickle you get in an Indian restaurant with your poppadums. I love that.

Ice cream soda. Can't remember which book I read it in. I was about 10 and traipsed to the other end of town because there was a coffee shop that served it. Basically Coke with a scoop of nasty ice ridden ice cream.

Completely wrong and ruined both ingredients.

I also imagine kedgeree will be disgusting - with apologies to Jilly Cooper.

@Veterinari I actually like Turkish Delight! But I'd probably not sell out my siblings for anything less than some cocoa dusted almonds

Kippers......Delicious, but all those tiny bones!!

Sorry folks, your crumpets are shite.

I love turkish delight...

I did not love lemonade made per Enid Blyton stories... water, sugar, lemon juice (whoever posted it being made with just sugar and water, I think you need to re-read!)...

Result.. incredibly sweet yet strong cloying lemony syrup that is not remotely refreshing to drink and of course, not fizzy!

@SorrelForbes

Slightly going in the opposite directions (sorry OP) but ]] book is fantastic. All the recipes are based on food and drink mentioned in children's literature.

I have just ordered that book from abebooks. Thank you so much .

@AintOverUntilTheCatLadySings

I expected this thread to be 30 people saying 'Turkish Delight' after the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

No such thing as 'disappointing' Turkish Delight surely?!

Link might help . ( it disappeared )

Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer

and the butterbeer at the Harry Potter studio tour

I agree. It was unspeakably vile. The wet waste barrel was well used when we were there

One that was absolutely lovely, when I finally tried it was a “posset” which features in Box of Delights and I had fancied trying for about two decades. Make that every Christmas now.

Agree the Butterbeer at HP studios was horrid, though.

Root beer.