Iconic Food In Fiction
Including a Paddington inspired recipe 🍞
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Hello, I’ve been struggling a bit with what to write about recently, it’s not that I don’t have ideas (I have a list of posts as long as my arm) but I haven’t quite been in the mood to write about them so instead I decided to write about a topic I love, food in books, which quickly turned into books, film and TV!
Perhaps I’ve always been a foodie because the only things I seem to remember from books I read as a child are the bits involving food, there are too many iconic food moments to count, but let’s go through some of my favourites. I’m going to do a quick rundown of my favourite fictional food, mostly focusing on desserts/sweet treats and stuff that I actually want to eat, with some honourable mentions. Plus we’ve got two recipes inspired by fictional foods; a super squishy chocolate cake inspired by Bruce Bogtrotter’s cake in Matilda for paid subscribers (read it here) and we’re turning Paddington Bear’s favourite marmalade sandwiches into something a bit more appealing (find at the bottom of this post).
Matilda - Bruce’s Cake
I feel that we have to start with possibly the most iconic food moment of all time, the chocolate cake in Matilda, nobody does food like Roald Dahl and I don’t think there’s a child in Britain that didn’t long for a slice of Bruce’s chocolate cake, especially after seeing it brought to life in the 1996 film.
“The cook disappeared. Almost at once she was back again staggering under the weight of an enormous round chocolate cake on a china platter. The cake was fully 18 inches in diameter and it was covered with dark brown chocolate icing.”
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Courtesan Au Chocolat
This is a pastry that I’m so obsessed with that I’ve already recreated them, you can find my recipe here. The pastry was designed by German baker Anemone Müller-Grossman who was tasked with creating the iconic courtesan au chocolat. Truly a pastry to be revered, even by hardened criminals.
Harry Potter - Treacle Tart/Literally Everything,
I don’t even know where to get started when it comes to Harry Potter, there are just too many amazing food descriptions to count. Of course we have all of the magical food; butterbeer, chocolate frogs, Bertie Bott’s every flavour beans but what really stood out to me were the descriptions of classic, hearty food served in the great hall and Harry’s obsession with treacle tart.
“a moment later the puddings appeared blocks of ice cream in every flavour you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate eclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly , rice pudding. Harry reached for a treacle tart.”
Charlie & The Chocolate Factory - Everything
Yet another book featuring epic amounts of drool-worthy delights. The food described in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory is unforgettable, there’s the Wonka bars themselves, everlasting gobstoppers, the lickable wallpaper, peppermint grass, edible teacups, the three course dinner gum and of course the chocolate river.
“It’s all chocolate! Every drop of that river is hot melted chocolate of the finest quality. The very finest quality. There’s enough chocolate in there to fill every bathtub in the entire country! And all the swimming pools as well! Isn’t it terrific?”
The Lion The Witch & The Wardrobe - Turkish Delight
I don’t think there’s another sweet treat in existence that captured the hearts of children the way Turkish delight did, after all what food could be so good that it’s worth betraying your entire family for? Sadly the reality of Turkish delight doesn’t live up to the hype for most people, personally I don’t mind it but as an adult, it’s not something that I find myself thinking about too often.
“This was enchanted Turkish Delight and that anyone who had once tasted it would want more and more of it, and would even, if they were allowed, go on eating it till they killed themselves.”
The Magic Faraway Tree - Pop Biscuits
Potentially a more niche reference, The Magic Faraway tree isn’t a book that came up a lot when I did my research for this post but there are a few descriptions of afternoon tea treats that have stuck with me for over 20 years. I actually remember attempting to re-create one of these cakes as a child, at 10 years old I lacked the skills but perhaps it’s something to revisit.
“Pop Biscuits were lovely. Dick put one in his mouth and bit it. It went pop! at once—and he found his mouth full of sweet honey from the middle of the biscuit.”
And while we’re on the subject of Enid Blyton we may as well mention the many picnics enjoyed by the Famous Five, specifically the “lashings of ginger beer”.
Teletubbies - Tubby Custard
This one is not very highbrow, nor is it from a book but the hold that tubby custard had over me as a child is unmatched, and don’t even get me started on Tubby toast. This isn’t a recipe that I feel inclined to re-create, after all there’s nothing especially exciting about pink custard (unless you’re 3 years old) but the thought of a custard dispenser is so magical to me that tubby custard will always have a special place in my heart.
This concludes my personal favourites but I wanted to include a quick fire round of some other honourable mentions!
Inglorious Bastards - Strudel
Hook - Imaginary food fight
Chocolat - everything
Sleeping Beauty - lopsided cake
Spirited Away (and all Ghibli films) - all the food
Wallace & Gromit - moon cheese (another personal favourite)
The Hungry Caterpillar - everything
Marie Antoinette - cake & macaron spread
Mulan - congee
A Little Princess - the surprise breakfast & cinnamon bun
Ratatouille - the soup
James & The Giant Peach - the peach, omg it sounded so juicy!
Jurassic Park - green jelly
Lady & The Tramp - spaghetti
If I’ve missed any please leave me a comment with your favourites, I love this topic, it’s so fun to see which foods stick out to people when reading/watching.
Paddington Bear - Marmalade Sandwiches
And finally onto the food that inspired this week’s bake, Paddington Bear’s marmalade sandwiches. A marmalade sandwich isn’t really a food that you fantasise endlessly about and yet Paddington Bear loves them so much that I felt they deserved a mention. Since the original is somewhat boring (sorry Paddington), we’re turning the humble marmalade sandwich into something with a bit more substance!
“A wise bear always keeps a marmalade sandwich in his hat in case of emergency.”
Marmalade Bostock
Although Paddington loves a plain marmalade sandwich I can’t say that it really appeals to me, at the very least marmalade should be enjoyed with toasted bread and lashings of butter. This recipe goes a step further combining brioche with marmalade and a gooey layer of zesty frangipane.
Bostock has to be one of the most underrated breakfast pastries, it’s incredibly low effort for great pay off. Unlike croissants, pain aux raisins or any laminated pastries bostock can be made within a 15 minutes rather than days and they’re absolutely delicious. If you feel like a project you can make your own bread but for me the joy of bostock is that it’s quick and easy and it’s a great way to use up any stale bread.
Ingredients - Makes 6 small bostock
Frangipane
50g soft butter
50g caster sugar
1/4 tsp almond extract
Zest of 1 orange
1 medium egg (50g)
50g ground almonds
10g plain flour
Pinch of salt
Syrup (you can skip this step if using fresh bread)
20g caster sugar
20g freshly boiled water
10g cointreau/Grand Marnier/orange juice
To Assemble
6 slices of brioche, shokupan or any soft, slightly sweet white bread I used Nicola Lamb’s recipe
Jar of marmalade or mandarin jam
Handful of flaked almonds
Icing sugar
Method - Frangipane
Cream the butter, sugar and orange zest together until pale and fluffy (this is such a small batch that I do this all by hand using a whisk).
Add the egg and almond extract and mix until incorporated.
Add the ground almonds, flour, salt and mix.
Method - Syrup
Pour the freshly boiled water over the sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
Add the cointreau/Grand Marnier/orange juice.
Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the syrup over each slice of bread.
Method - Assembly & Baking
Pre-heat the oven to 170°C(fan)/340°F.
Spread a layer of marmalade over each slice of bread.
Pipe or spread a layer of frangipane on top, you’ll need approximately 30g per slice for 6 slices.
Sprinkle with flaked almonds and bake for 12-15 minutes.
Dust with icing sugar and eat while still warm.
Heidi- melted cheese and bread
Wind in the willlows- the picnic hamper
Thursday murder club-Joyce’s cakes
I think about the allure of food in fiction all the time! Thank you for writing about this! I am 100% with you regarding the Sleeping Beauty lopsided cake, the congee in Mulan (I have never wanted a grain of rice more), and the Turkish delight in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. All these are only rivalled the representation of leaves (a non-food, but still) in The Land Before Time - they looked sooo scrumptious!