30 Vintage Recipes And Dishes Best Left Uncooked (New Pics) (2024)

Food, Funny

Nowadays, the online world is brimming with mouth-watering pictures of delicious food. However, chances are that if we had the internet, let's say, a hundred years ago, the situation would be very different. Anyone with an old recipe book on hand can attest that some of them there are somewhat bizarre; banana salmon salad, for instance, or a “beehive” made from liver.

These are just a couple examples of horrifying old-school dishes shared by the Facebook group, appropriately titled “Disgusting Vintage Recipes”. With nearly 6k members, it is, in their own words, “a group where people look at disgusting vintage recipes”, and their posts surely live up to the description. Scroll down to find some of them below and see for yourself.

Some of the pictures on this list would likely send a food blogger into shock. But that was what “blessed” the covers of some popular recipe books back in the day. In a previous interview with Bored Panda, the founder of the group, historian Samuel Brown, explained that some ingredients used in many recipes back then, such as gelatin, for example, were considered high-end.

“Gelatin was prestigious at one point. It seems like there was a time period where it was still held prestige, but was inexpensively available. There's a history of jello article that is posted at least a dozen times on the page that helps out.”

He added that the industry seemingly had a lot to do with some of these recipes. “I think this is leftover from recipes from the depression and the war. People didn't know how to use the new things available from the grocery store. To solve this, companies put out some cookbooks and recipes that promoted ways to use their products.”

One recipe book that was a hit back in the day and likely featured something similar to pictures on this list was Fannie Farmer’s ‘Boston Cooking-School Cook Book’. Released in the very end of the 19th century, it had recipes for such wonders as Potted Pigeons or Mock Turtle Soup, according to the Smithsonian Magazine. Its popularity was evident based on the number of copies distributed, resulting in roughly 360,000 sold before the author's death in 1915.

The Smithsonian also pointed out that F. Farmer believed in rigorous precision while cooking, which, in her opinion, made the food more delicious. That’s why she encouraged cooks to obtain standardized teaspoons, tablespoons, and cups, and provided very precise measurements in her recipes.

Way before Fannie Farmer’s precise instructions or the rise of cooking books, the recipes were far more basic and typically just a few lines long. BBC Travel covered some of the oldest recipes that were decoded with the help of scholars in the fields of culinary history, food chemistry, and cuneiform—a Babylonian system of writing—studies.

One of them, noted down by a person deceased roughly four millennia ago, provided instructions on how to make lamb stew: “Meat is used. You prepare water. You add fine-grained salt, dried barley cakes, onion, Persian shallot, and milk. You crush and add leek and garlic.”

The recipe was written on one of the tablets from Yale University’s Babylonian Collection, which was deciphered and analyzed by the scholars seeking to learn more about the thousands-year-old recipes (or looking for inspiration for a Sunday dinner).

Nowadays, using hand-written—even if on paper instead of a 1730BC tablet—or printed out recipes might no longer be people’s first choice. The Independent revealed that roughly 70% of them choose digital sources instead and browse social media for cooking inspiration and instructions.

Such a demand for cooking-related online content upholds the popularity of food influencers and bloggers. Some estimates suggest there are more than 50,000 active food blogs worldwide, in addition to a number of food-based influencers.

Stella Rising delved deeper into the importance of food bloggers, pointing out their benefits to businesses, in addition to individuals seeking mouth-watering pictures or recipes. It revealed that nearly 80% of people trust food blogs for recipes and information on certain foods. It also suggested that roughly 40% read the blogs even if they don’t try the recipes out in the kitchen themselves.

Some recipes—no matter how seemingly disgusting—might be somewhat nostalgic, though. If in early childhood your Northern European grandmother made you vegetable milk soup, seeing it bubbling on the stove again might induce an involuntary smile (or involuntary stomach-turning to some).

Research shows that food is a powerful elicitor of nostalgia. Not only that, food-evoked nostalgia is reportedly a predominantly positive emotional experience. That explains why some disgusting dishes are positively viewed by some despite what they consist of (or what they look like, for that matter).

Professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Susan Whitborne, expanded for the Huffington Post on how food-evoked nostalgia works: “Food memories are more sensory than other memories in that they involve really all five senses, so when you’re that thoroughly engaged with the stimulus it has a more powerful effect.”

Other experts pointed out that some food-related memories can be particularly strong due to a phenomenon known as conditioned taste aversion. It refers to the feeling of instant repulsion you get upon seeing/smelling/sampling a food that once made you very very sick, for instance.

Whether pictures shared by the ‘Disgusting Vintage Recipes’ group made you feel sentimental or nauseous, these can be pretty difficult to turn your eyes away from; there seems to be something fascinating about them. If you think so too, make sure to check out our previous collections of the group’s gems here and here.

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