every food in: Nancy Drew #19 & #4
Annnnd we’re back with more Nancy! I decided to start combining them since it’s rare that one book will have enough material to write an entire post about. These are an interesting pairing, to me, because they were written over a decade apart, and the drop in quality is…. noticeable. Also, both of them feature mistaken identity/lookalikes as major components of the plot.
The Mystery at Lilac Inn, by Carolyn Keene
Revised 1961, originally published 1930
This book feels really dated, despite the 1960s rewrite.. Not as much as the Clue in the Diary (we’ll get to that in a few posts) but the setting, the actions of the characters, the way they interact, are very much 1930s. Even the plot is a little bit 30s detective film - stolen diamonds! A mysterious “hard-faced” woman impersonates Nancy! I haven’t read the original edition, but I’m guessing it actually made a little more sense in that version, because it’s pretty confusing and unclear in this one. I’ve noticed in #1 and #2, where I was able to compare, that the rewrites were both extensive and haphazard, and sometimes the editor deletes entire subplots if they seemed too old fashioned.
Basically, in the 1960s version Nancy gets her identity stolen by a mysterious stage actress/swindler who’s been acting in local play circuits, and there’s a decent bit of the plot where her charge plate is stolen. I have a strong suspicion that the original version of this probably involved Nancy having an account on file with the department store, and they changed it to a more generic credit card when the book was revised, because they were new & popular at the time.
Also, the idea of the characters going to stay at a historical inn that features live shows in the ballroom and having an early evening dinner isn’t… exactly impossible, but it does seem a little old fashioned when you compare it to newer Nancy books, which have her out late dancing, going boating, or eating past 11PM at various restaurants with friends. Hmm. Maybe it’s because occasional boyfriend Ned hasn’t shown up yet as a corrupting influence.
The food, when it is mentioned, is appropriately 1930s as well. Lots of creamed things on toast and broth. As usual, I’ve linked the recipes whenever possible, but several notes:
1930s birthday cake was not necessarily the same as our modern birthday cake. It was a lot more popular to add dried fruits and nuts to cakes until around the 1950s or so. Per the RIT Recipe Archive, here’s a recipe for a birthday cake with currents and walnuts.
Sandwiches, also, are probably not quite what you’re thinking. Potential 1930s sandwich fillings from my personal favorite reference ever, 1001 Sandwiches by Florence Cowles, range from the more popular date and cream cheese to the anchovy cheese sandwich, or alarmingly, peanut butter and olive. Think more paste-based, than cold-cut.
A hotel salad from 1930 likely is either molded or a highly composed and carefully cut arrangement of ingredients with a mayonnaise or cream dressing. They don’t say molded salad, so I’m assuming the latter. I’ve seen some sources claim that til the 1920s and 1920s a salad would compose of simple vinegar and oil preparations, but pretty much every primary cookbook source I own from the 1890s to the 1930s would say otherwise. Here’s a menu from Hotel Astor in 1928 that shows a good variety of salad options available at the time.
Beef broth is almost certainly beef consommé, judging by other menus from this time from NYPL’s archive.
Chapter 2: Strange Happenings
A first course of beef broth
Creamed chicken on toast, peas, salad, and iced tea
Chapter 3: A Stolen Charge Plate
Toast and coffee
Chapter 5: Blackout!
A birthday cake surrounded by red roses
Chapter 8: A Hoax Revealed
A sandwich
The Quest of the Missing Map by Carolyn Keene
Revised 1969, originally published 1942
As for #19, I debated including this one, as it’s only got three instances of food in the entire book, but figured I should. I’m a completionist.
This is another melodramatic plot - not all of them are, but the last few definitely have been phoning it in, in terms of quality. On the very first page, Nancy meets a young woman whose father was a ship captain, whose long lost twin was presumed dead at sea. Plausible.
Oh, and also Nancy somehow is an excellent forensic sketch artist, which has never been mentioned before and will never be mentioned again. It is interesting (depressing?) that, to my memory, this is the only time Carson Drew encourages an interest in his daughter that isn’t solving mysteries.
No notes this time, very boring food. Unfortunately as per usual, Bess is listed as eating extra, even though the food is hardly mentioned at all.
Chapter 14: Sneak Attack
A picnic lunch (”Bess reached for a second helping of potato salad”)
Chapter 18: Treachery
“a large pan of potatoes”
“a bowl of split pea soup”
