Recipes for your Halloween party. We used to eat this for real.
29.10.2018
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
When it comes to Halloween parties, the more creative your buffet, the better. Food and nibbles in the shape of ghosts, mummies or skeletons are all-time favourites. However, if you want to create a truly horrific buffet, I suggest making dishes from the 70s.
The 70s seem to have been a decade of unlimited possibilities. Something that is mirrored in the recipes of that era. The first excesses of globalisation included an around-the-clock availability of exotic fruit. This soon became apparent in the recipes of the time. Bananas, pineapples and avocados were used in sophisticated, never-before-imagined combinations that would give you nightmares by today’s standards. To add to the horror, creative shapes were à la mode. With a little help of some gelatine, any type of food was made to look «appealing» manner. Welcome to the house of horrors.
1. Spinach soup from the blender
I’ll start off gentle: Let’s call this one our parents’ green smoothie. It probably tastes similarly repulsive as today’s version.
2. Aubergine mould with tomato sauce
Panacotta is today; this recipe was yesterday. The shrivelled aubergines are hiding the mystery filling of this delicacy. We can only guess what it might be. There’s a good chance mince or sausage meat (or both) are one of the main ingredients.
3. Lime flan ring filled with tuna
On paper, a lime flan doesn’t sound too bad. As a dessert, mind you. As a hearty meal, however, I’m happy to decline. Especially if it’s filled with tinned tuna.
4. The sandwich cake
From a purely visual perspective, I would already shun this dish if it were a dessert. But to make matters worse, this is not a dessert but a sandwich cake. With cream cheese icing. Everybody knows that cream cheese is totally boring, so this recipe adds an exciting twist by adding a few drops of blue food colouring. Yuk.
5. Fish fingers Hawaiian style
«Both kids and adults love fish fingers! So why not serve them up with equally popular canned pineapple on a bed of rice?», thought nobody back in 1973.
6. Frankfurter crown
Here, the filling is cream of chicken soup (from a can), jazzed up with potatoes, onions and bacon. The true star of this masterpiece is the crown of cleverly draped frankfurters. If the rumours are to be believed, this was Prince Charles’ favourite dish at the time.
7. Shrimps in a mould of an undefinable something
Fortunately, I have no other information on this «beautiful summer dish» (as quoted on the card) other than that it contains Tabasco. What a pity. I would love to have made it. And then binned it.
8. The «perfect» salad
We’re all striving for perfection on a daily basis. Our relentless quest for perfection in salads ends here. Preserved for generations to come in a block of aspic.
9. Gazpacho pudding
How about improving a traditional recipe? Make a Gazpacho, add gelatine, pour in a mould and enjoy this refreshing summer dish from hell.
10. Oriental beef ring
The microwave oven experienced a real boom back in the 70s. This seemed to trigger a wave of ambition to cook everything in the microwave. It would explain why this oriental ring-shaped beef dish needs to be turned out onto a plate before it can be evenly micro-cooked.
11. Seafood mousse
As the contents of this grey mass are not self-explanatory, a fish shaped dish was used cleverly used to clear things up: Just remember to give this seafood mousse a pair of cute olive eyes and a smiley ketchup mouth and the kids are bound to devour it. Awwww!
12. Fish in aspic
Why? Why would you cover fresh, perfect fish with a layer of gloop? The depicted fishies seem to be asking themselves the same question. I wouldn’t be surprised if they rose from the dead later on.
13. Pineapple meatloaf
Behold the showstopper of any dinner party! Cleverly adorned with real pineapple leaves, the inside reveals – SURPRISE – a meatloaf! The dish must have been really popular, as I found two recipe images of it.
Can’t get enough of absurdities from the seventies? Then make sure to follow Anna Pallai on Twitter. She published the «best» photos in a book.
Simon Balissat
Teamleader Editorial
Simon.Balissat@digitecgalaxus.chWhen I flew the family nest over 15 years ago, I suddenly had to cook for myself. But it wasn’t long until this necessity became a virtue. Today, rattling those pots and pans is a fundamental part of my life. I’m a true foodie and devour everything from junk food to star-awarded cuisine. Literally. I eat way too fast.
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