21 November,2017 06:27 AM IST | Mumbai | The Guide Team
Julian and George tucking into Aunt Fanny's chicken and egg salad, or the delicious ginger beer that the adventurous gang would pack along in their picnic basket for one of their many exploits across the English countryside?
Who can forget Famous Fivers
Julian and George tucking into Aunt Fanny's chicken and egg salad, or the delicious ginger beer that the adventurous gang would pack along in their picnic basket for one of their many exploits across the English countryside?
For nearly seven decades, Enid Blyton has wooed Indian readers with her collection of children's stories that were simple, engaging and timeless. Apart from introducing us to a world far, far away, on the British Isles - dotted with craggy, rock-pecked beaches, abandoned stone castles, impregnable walls that revealed a fascinatingly different school life and of course, lush green meadows - her writing in Secret Seven, Famous Five, Malory Towers and other literary collections opened up a whole new pantry of goodies for readers in the Indian subcontinent.
Allegra McEvedy brings to life all those goodies in a celebration of food that was integral to Enid Blyton's works. The book, titled Jolly Good Food, is a collector's delight and is packed with recipes that cover fare from picnics, kitchens and sumptuous meals that made it into her stories. It's a visual treat, too, with vivid illustrations and pictures of everything from sandwiches, eggs done in curiously different ways, a delish choice of cakes, cookies, tarts and meringues to loaves, and even a creamy pea kedgeree inspired all the way from 'colonial India'.
If you salivated and relished reading about those summer picnic luncheon treats all those years ago, here is a yummy way to relive the wonder years.
Enid Blyton's Jolly Good Food by Allegra McEvedy, illustrations by Mark Beech, Hachette India, Rs 799. Available in e-stores and bookstores
