‘Close, But No Cigar’

A Fairground Revival Dish

Authors

  • Charles Spence Oxford University Author
  • Carlos Chulia Sanchez Independent Scholar Author
  • Jozef Youssef Independent Scholar Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/ppc.27889

Keywords:

United Kingdom, coconuts, fairground food, popular culture, recipe, preparations & techniques, food art, culinary trompe-l’oeil , Chocolate

Abstract

For many years, coconuts were a popular feature of the fairground in the UK. In fact, in the early to mid-eighteenth century, the public’s first exposure to this exotic nut may well have been at the fairground. In support of such a claim, just take Treloar’s (1884) suggestion that: ‘There are a good many people still living who can remember when a Cocoa-nut was a comparative rarity in some parts of England. In a few old country mansions, or on the mantel-shelves of retired sea-captains, and occasionally in London curiosity shops, …’. In this article, we briefly summarize the history of this former fairground food and offer a recipe for a dish comprised of two elements, both involving a little playful culinary trompe-l’oeil that pays homage to the old-time fairground spirit.

Author Biographies

  • Charles Spence, Oxford University

    Charles Spence is a professor at Oxford University and head of the Crossmodal Research Laboratory in the Department of Experimental Psychology. He has written in PPC previously, as well as in many other journals. His book Gastrophysics is essential reading.

  • Carlos Chulia Sanchez, Independent Scholar

    Carlos Chulia Sanchez works as part of the team at Kitchen Theory in London. He studied at Mondragon University in the Basque region of Spain.

  • Jozef Youssef, Independent Scholar

    Jozef Youssef founded the collaborative gastronomic project Kitchen Theory to explore the multi-sensory elements of eating. His book Molecular Gastronomy at Home is a simple introduction to the science behind modernist culinary techniques.

References

Aduriz, A. L., Vergara, J., Lasa, D., Oliva, O., & Perisé, R. (2012). ‘Culinary trompe-l’oeil: A new concept in coating’, International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, 1, 70–77.

Anon. (1867). Report of the annual Fair. Surrey Comet, 16 November.

Anon. (n.d.). History of the fairground. https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/nfca/researchandarticles/historyfairs.

Archer, T. C. (1854). The cocoa or coker nut (pp. 35–36). First Steps in Economic Botany (abridgement of Popular Economic Botany).

Ash (n.d.). Key dates in the history of anti-tobacco campaigning.

Bains, G. S., Berk, L. S., Daher, N., Lohman, E., Schwab, E., Petrofsky, J., & Deshpande, P. (2014). ‘The effect of humor on short-term memory in older adults: A new component for whole-person wellness’, Advances Mind Body Medicine, 28(2), 16–24.

Blumenthal, H. (2008). The big Fat Duck cookbook. London, UK: Bloomsbury.

Chesterton, G. K. (1915). The crimes of England. Fairford, Gloucester: Echo Library.

Child, R. (1974). The coconut (2nd ed.). London, UK: Longman. Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911). s.v. Coconut, 5, 631.

Grew, N. (1681). ‘A catalogue & description of the natural and artificial rareties belonging to the Royal Society and preserved at Gresham College’, Musaeum Regalis Societalis (Chapter 4, pp. 197–200).

Harries, H. C. (2004). ‘Fun made the fair coconut shy’, Palms. The International Palm Society, 48(2), 77–82. http://www.palms.org/palmsjournal/2004/vol48n2p77-82.pdf.

Home Cooked Heston (2014). Edible cigars. 20 May. https://homecookedheston.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/.

Laudan, R. (2013). Cuisine and empire: Cooking in world history. Berkeley, CA. University of California Press.

Mason, L. (2004). Sugar-plums and sherbert: The prehistory of sweets. Totnes, Devon: Prospect Books.

Mason, L., & Brown, C. (2006). The taste of Britain. London, UK: HarperPress.

May, G. (2016). ‘How eating too many sweets at the fun fair became a British tradition’, Vice (Munchies), 13 May. https://munchies.vice.com/en_uk/article/jpkknd/how-eating-too-many-sweets-at-the-fun-fair-became-a-british-tradition.

Nesbit, E. (1899). The story of the treasure seekers. London, UK: T. Fisher Unwin. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/770/770-h/770-h.htm.

Nesbit, E. (1902). Five children and it. London, UK: T. Fisher Unwin.

Richardson, T. (2003). Sweets: A history of temptation. London, UK: Bantam Press.

Spence, C. (2017). Gastrophysics: The new science of eating. London, UK: Viking Penguin.

Spence, C., Coruje, A., & Youssef, J. ‘Cotton candy: A gastrophysical investigation’, International Journal of Gastronomy & Food Science.

Spence, C., Okajima, K., Cheok, A. D., Petit, O., & Michel, C. (2016). ‘Eating with our eyes: From visual hunger to digital satiation’, Brain & Cognition, 110, 53–63.

Spence, C., Reinoso-Carvalho, F., Velasco, C., & Wang, Q. J. ‘Extrinsic auditory contributions to food perception & consumer behaviour: An interdisciplinary review’, Multisensory Research.

Spence, C., Sanchez, C. C., & Youssef, J. (2019). ‘Brandy snap: Reviving an historic British food’, Petits Propos Culinaires 115, pp. 13–33.

The Times (1842). Report on the christening of the Prince of Wales.

Treloar, W. P. (1884). The prince of palms. London, UK: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington.

Wells, H. G. (1897). The invisible man. London, UK: Harper & Brothers.

Wells, R. (1890). The bread and biscuit baker’s and sugar-boiler’s assistant. London, UK: Crosby Lockwood & Son. (The digitized version of this book is available at https://wellcomelibrary.org/item/b21538876#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&z=-1.0812%2C-0.0883%2C3.1625%2C1.7667).

Wodehouse, P. G. (1910). Psmith in the city. London, UK: Adam & Charles Black.

Youssef, J. (2013). Molecular cooking at home: Taking culinary physics out of the lab and into your kitchen. London, UK: Quintet Publishing.

Downloads

Published

2020-03-01

Issue

PPC 116 (2020)

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Spence, Charles, Carlos Chulia Sanchez, and Jozef Youssef. 2020. “‘Close, But No Cigar’: A Fairground Revival Dish”. Petits Propos Culinaires, March, 79-92. https://doi.org/10.1558/ppc.27889.