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A lot can change in, say, 50 years. Just look at the car or communication industry. How we eat is no exception. And nothing shows it as vividly as the Facebook group Questionable Vintage Recipes.
As the name suggests, its members share funny and weird foods from back in the day: we're talking lamb chops, cranberry "candles", and crown roasts of frankfurters. You know, the good stuff.
Continue scrolling to check out some of the most ridiculous recipes the group has to offer. Just don't show them to Gordon Ramsay. He'd be fuming!
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#1
That Might Explain Some Things About The 70s...
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Amy Foley Clark Amy Foley Clark Community Member Follow
A bottle of wine a day lol
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#2
Questionable Vintage Recipes
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Woltax Woltax Community Member Follow
...to lubricate our arteries and veins. 😂😂😂I‘m laughing way too hard.
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Currently, the group has 38,400 members and a 6-people admin and mod team looking after it. Luckily for us, they agreed to answer a few questions, introducing the online community from the inside. "I started the group as a way to bond with my new mother-in-law," Katiaña, the founder of Questionable Vintage Recipes, told Bored Panda. "We both think wild vintage foods are really funny and I was afraid I wouldn't have anything else in common with her (thankfully I was wrong) so I made what I thought was just going to be the two of us and my roommate Yvonne sharing silly pictures of spamcakes and aspics. It blew up almost overnight."
#3
Who Doesn’t Love A Little Whipped Cream With Their Angel Food?
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Spinz Spinz Community Member
I'm more than certain this was originally intended as a joke, but I'd be lying if I said this didn't look at least a little tempting to try and eat all of
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#4
Questionable Vintage Recipes
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Vicky Z Vicky Z Community Member Follow
Basically everything you have in the fridge along with jelly!!!
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One of the admins, Kelly, said that even though a lot of different monstrosities get submitted, aspic and spam are definite favorites among the members. Indeed, if you look through popular cookbooks of the 1950s and 1960s, you'll encounter a disheartening trend that has since faded into obscurity: dishes that were encased in savory molded gelatin or aspic. ADVERTISEMENT An article in The Daily Meal says this could've been due to the fact that in the early 1950s refrigerators were still quite expensive, and since gelatin needs refrigeration in order to set, preparing a Jell-O mold was something of a status symbol. Eventually, molds became so popular and ended up in so many cookbooks because home chefs (and publishers) simply accepted that they were a desirable thing to make. They also were relatively fun to prepare—cooks used to show off aesthetic skills by creating inventive aspics. Plus, the ingredient list was quite cheap if you were using canned goods and leftovers.
#5
I’d Eat It
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Amy Foley Clark Amy Foley Clark Community Member Follow
It’s good I’ve made this
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#6
Tonight’s Dinner Sorted!
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Vicky Z Vicky Z Community Member Follow
The title should say: Want to feed the people you hate??
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"I think viral cooking channels like [ours] have people excited about cooking again," another member of the team, Jennifer, added. "Being in this group has definitely had me and my mom reaching for my great-grandmother's hand-written cookbooks more often. I know early in the pandemic when supply chains were disrupted and we weren't sure when we'd get to the grocery store again, people were definitely putting together weird combinations from the pantry like our grandparents did." And according to her colleague, Yvonne, that's probably the main reason why Questionable Vintage Recipes got so big. "I feel like what unites our group for a lot of its members is the memories we associate with food, even if it's an odd combination from a time mostly forgotten," she said. ADVERTISEMENT "It's the memory of someone's mother making a ham aspic at a family bbq, or another generation making a dandelion salad when money and resources were tight."
#7
A Personal Favorite, Conceptually. From That 70s Ww Recipe Deck
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Iván Galarraga Iván Galarraga Community Member Follow
Yeah, it's a sausage party...
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#8
Not Quite Sure What To Make Of This
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Vicky Z Vicky Z Community Member Follow
The gelatin was the avocado of the 80's!!! Huge trend! Edit: yes perhaps it's from earlier years i just remember i have cookbooks from the 80's and it was a huge trend! I'm not saying it was not in the previous years I'm in my 30s and I don't know but for sure it was really popular until the 80's
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The admins and mods also put together a list of recipes to look out for if you choose to join the group. They're not necessarily group favorites, but team favorites:
#9
Where A Lot Of 'Salads' Got Their Jell-O From. Special Non Sweet Flavors
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Jo Johannsen Jo Johannsen Community Member Follow
This was the sixties ... I worked at an Alpha Beta for two weeks at 16 and they had this.
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#10
Some Of These Look Good...
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Vicky Z Vicky Z Community Member Follow
I like the lgbqt jelly
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#11
Anyone Have The Recipe For This One?
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N G N G Community Member
Just looks like a sculpted cake. I think my mum made a similar one (didnt have crisps for a beak though)
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#12
Kielbasa Legs! Ahh My Polish Grandmother Would Have Blown Her Cigarette Smoke On This In Absolute Delight
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Cori Cori Community Member Follow
Somewhere there's a really pissed off pig thinking, "I died for THIS!?"
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#13
May I Present To You.... Shrimptree! Seemed To Be A Trend In 1965
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Jo Johannsen Jo Johannsen Community Member Follow
How many fingers have wandered through those shrimp?
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#14
Why Not Slice The Banana?
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Robert T Robert T Community Member Follow
Banana au cockrings.
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#15
Questionable Vintage Recipes
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Iggy Iggy Community Member Follow
That really does look as if it came back up.
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#16
I Don’t Think I’ve Ever Had A Stuffed Party Pickle Slice. Surprised They Didn’t Suggest Putting The Party Pickle Innards On A Saltine!!
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Spinz Spinz Community Member
I would maybe eat this. Maybe
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#17
I’m Going Through My Mom’s Recipe Box Since She Passed Away. I’ve Come Across Some Lovely Recipes (Heh) Including This Gem. I Hope It’s Okay For Me To Share A Few More Later
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Jessica Morin Jessica Morin Community Member Follow
I actually made something similar last week lol. Mom's recipe. My bg liked it! 186481254_...858827.jpg
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#18
Questionable Vintage Recipes
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elStiJneriNO elStiJneriNO Community Member Follow
first thought it was shrimp stuffed tomatos (tomate crevette) which is delicious
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#19
Questionable Vintage Recipes
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Iggy Iggy Community Member Follow
Hasn't Gwyneth Paltrow tried something similar?
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#20
I Teach Culinary Arts. One Of My Fav Classes Is Garde Manger. My #1 Rule: Tread Carefully With Animals (Cucumber Sharks, Ugh) But Never Make Food Look Like Other Food. Below Is The First Slide In My What Not To Do Presentation
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Monty Is Fiennes Monty Is Fiennes Community Member Follow
Somebody worked hard for this....
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#21
Campbell's Cream Of Mushroom Soup. Is There Anything It Can't Make More Delicious?
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JuJu JuJu Community Member Follow
Tons of American receips still ask for a can of mushroom soup.
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#22
I Found This Recipe And I Just Had To Try It
It's called Frankaroni loaf. It calls for macaroni, bread crumbs, cheese, hot dogs, tomato sauce (not spaghetti sauce) and stuffed olives. I had all ingredients on hand. Except I chose to make it with Spaghettios because it just made the whole thing campier (more campy?campier? Technically that's not a word but I'm a trailblazer) also the only olives I have are stuffed with blue cheese and are for Martinis (guess what wins here). So I reserved some of the Spaghettio juice (or whatever it's called), mixed all the ingredients and put the hot dogs in the middle. It called for 6 hot dogs in a loaf pan longer than the one I had so I needed to break hot dogs in pieces and arrange them to fit (which drove me nuts that I couldn't get into perfect rows). I had 1 left over that I just couldn't fit in and I was already stressed from the guilt of saving the stuffed olives for Martinis so I just left it out. I baked it then used the reserved Spaghettio juice to make that classy diagonal stripe. But alas, what do I do with the leftover hot dog? Well, since the lack of green olives left a gaping hole of despair in our culinary sensibilities I decided I would use the extra hot dog in the style of nouvelle cuisine. Nouvelle cuisine uses the presentation of the dish artistically. For example, you may have a salad that resembles a sunset over the ocean. And the chick pea, if placed perfectly, represents blissful departures with good fortune. So I placed the leftover hot dog along the diagonal stripe of Spaghettio juice to represent a hand hewn boat floating with tranquility across a placid fjord. And the tooth pick represents a flaming arrow shot by a viking setting his dead friend ablaze. Finally it was cool enough to try. I took my first bite and I must say this pretty much tasted like crap. Not spit it out and wash your out out with Scope bad. It just tasted like Spaghettios with bread crumbs. Maybe it will taste better tomorrow. That's OK. I'll just wash the taste out with this Martini...with olives
Pam Zanco Report
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Vicky Z Vicky Z Community Member Follow
OK that's a looong description and I'm too bored to read it
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#23
Questionable Vintage Recipes
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Laura Catania Laura Catania Community Member Follow
Tastes like sadness
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#24
Anyone Fancy A Lamb Chop Tandoori With Mango Chutney- In A Glass?!! Taken From A Book Called Aphrodisiac Cuisine...
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Robert T Robert T Community Member Follow
Go home glass, you're drunk!
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#25
Jellied Bouillon With Frankfurters
think we (mostly) really like each other in this group. I don't know why we feel compelled to do this to one another. For the record, I'm REALLY ashamed of myself for posting this. Sigh.
Jellied Bouillon with Frankfurters
Directions: "Dissolve unflavored gelatin in hot beef broth. In a pretty gelatin mold, place diced celery, slices of hard-boiled eggs and hot dogs in an eye-pleasing design. Pour beef Jell-O into the mold. Chill until firm."
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Iggy Iggy Community Member Follow
Frankfurters, eggs and peas - I hope the bedclothes are blast-proof!
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#26
Uestionable Vintage Recipes
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Konpat Konpat Community Member Follow
Does the "laxation" come from the raw eggs?
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#27
Here...all These Years...steak, Lasagna, Burgers, Pizza...sigh...all I Needed Was A Can Of Beans & A Hollowed Out Onions! “Honey, Dinners Ready!”
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Iggy Iggy Community Member Follow
Time to reinforce the blast-proof bedclothes and extend the exclusion zone.
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#28
So, The Company’s Coming Cookbooks Were A Huge Hit In Canada In The 1980s. You Could Buy Them At Every Drug Store, Grocery Store And Department Store. Probably Even Larger Gas Stations And The Most Canadian Of All Stores - Canadian Tire. Lots Of Canned Soup Involved In The Recipes. Some Are Actually Pretty Good. And Then There Is This Gem:
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Julia Atkinson Julia Atkinson Community Member Follow
It was closely followed by a sequel, "Company's Leaving and Not Coming Back"
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#29
Church Cookbook. 1991
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Cyn Haynes Cyn Haynes Community Member Follow
This is like Ethiopian peanut soup, or Thai peanut satay. It's not that strange.
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#30
Questionable Vintage Recipes
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Aunt Messy Aunt Messy Community Member Follow
This is oddly appealing...think Hawaiian pizza.
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Seabeast Seabeast Community Member Follow
I grew up eating stuff similar to this in the 60s. One reason people came up with these bizarre recipes is, there was very limited choice in grocery stores back then and only so many ways to serve what was available. An avocado or an eggplant was expensive and "exotic" back then. Restaurants tended to serve steak and potatoes as the height of sophistication. Chinese food and pizza were exotic and "foreign".
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P.A.B. P.A.B. Community Member Follow
I was raised in the 60’s and my mother NEVER served my family anything even resembling this stuff.
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Easily Excitable Panda Easily Excitable Panda Community Member Follow
Anyone doubting these recipes are real should check out the website "The Gallery of Regrettable Food." *shudders*
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Seabeast Seabeast Community Member Follow
You beat me to it. https://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/
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A Head A Head Community Member Follow
All right, that's it. I am determined to make at least a dozen of these dishes for family and friends over the summer. We're spending a couple weeks in Maine with friends where we rotate cooking responsibilities, and they WILL be subjected to some these. HAHAHAH.
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Joseph Holtom Joseph Holtom Community Member Follow
Please - for the Love of God - have a camera handy....I have 2 see your families reaction 2 the "Crown Roast of Weiners"....
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Seabeast Seabeast Community Member Follow
I grew up eating stuff similar to this in the 60s. One reason people came up with these bizarre recipes is, there was very limited choice in grocery stores back then and only so many ways to serve what was available. An avocado or an eggplant was expensive and "exotic" back then. Restaurants tended to serve steak and potatoes as the height of sophistication. Chinese food and pizza were exotic and "foreign".
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P.A.B. P.A.B. Community Member Follow
I was raised in the 60’s and my mother NEVER served my family anything even resembling this stuff.
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Easily Excitable Panda Easily Excitable Panda Community Member Follow
Anyone doubting these recipes are real should check out the website "The Gallery of Regrettable Food." *shudders*
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Seabeast Seabeast Community Member Follow
You beat me to it. https://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/
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A Head A Head Community Member Follow
All right, that's it. I am determined to make at least a dozen of these dishes for family and friends over the summer. We're spending a couple weeks in Maine with friends where we rotate cooking responsibilities, and they WILL be subjected to some these. HAHAHAH.
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Joseph Holtom Joseph Holtom Community Member Follow
Please - for the Love of God - have a camera handy....I have 2 see your families reaction 2 the "Crown Roast of Weiners"....
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