I'm reading a fantastic book titled Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads, by Sylvia Lovegren. It's a really entertaining look back at what we were cooking and eating in the 20s, 30s, 40s, all the way up to the 90s. There's a lot of great history and pictures here, but the best part of the book are the actual recipes you can try. Some still hold up today. Others...ahem.
Take this recipe, for example, for Banana and Popcorn Salad, from the 1920s. Lovegren calls it "The Worst Salad of the Twenties," and after you read the recipe, you'll have to agree.
Banana and Popcorn Salad
1 banana, peeled and cut in half, length-wise
1 lettuce leaf
Popcorn
Mayonnaise
Place banana on lettuce leaf. Scatter popcorn over banana and place dabs of mayonnaise here and there. Makes one serving.
I love how the recipe casually says to "scatter popcorn over banana," as if this would be something anyone would actually do in a salad. And "makes one serving?" Yeah, that's because you won't be able to get anyone else to eat it. Though I bet some of you Slashfoodies will try this, heh. Let us know how it is.
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