time for a little giveaway!

Have you heard of Marguerite Patten? Coincidentally she was a guest on Supersizers this week at their 1950s coronation dinner. Marguerite Patten is hailed as the original celebrity chef, although she prefers the title of home economist. During world war two she worked for the ministry of health, coming up with recipes to keep the nation healthy (and satisfied) during rationing. She shared her ideas on the radio and then had her first TV show in 1947!

Now in her nineties (and with an OBE for services to the art of cookery) she is still writing cookbooks, making TV appearances and even podcasting! But what I know her best for is her box of recipe cards from 1967. My mum (and countless others) had these cards. I feel I have to make a disclaimer here and point out that some of the recipes have survived the test of time. I have the white vegetable soup recipe card (the original from my mum's long gone box) stuck inside the kitchen cupboard and my family have it as part of Christmas dinner every single year. It's yummy! But food (and food photography in particular) are victims of time and fashion and the cards' major appeal is how dated/retro the pictures look and how downright crazy some of the recipes seem to the modern mind and palate. I know I'm not the only one who thinks so - just have a look at this blog post and this flickr set.

Over the past few years, I've been keeping my eyes peeled in charity shops and have found a couple of boxes of these recipe cards, which I have literally dragged home - thousands of recipe cards are not particulary light! I have decided it's time to start sharing my treasure trove so I've hand picked some beauties and turned them into cards. On the front you can see the fabulously retro photograph of the dish:

and inside (behind the flap) is the recipe for you to follow:

so that you can delight, amuse or repulse friends and family depending on what the recipe is!

Now to the giveaway... I have chosen a selection of twelve of the recipe cards that I've made so far. As I said, I have thousands of these cards and I'd like to get some idea of which ones would go down well with the card buying public. Are people going to go for the look of the photo or the sound of the recipe? Are people going to choose tasty recipes or tasteless recipes? Will nostalgia rule the purse strings or will it all depend on the certain je ne sais quoi of an individual card? Or is there some other quality that hasn't even occurred to me?

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post telling me which of the twelve cards you like best (i.e. which one you would be most likely to buy) and why. I will choose a winner next week based on the usefulness of their comment, so make it good and tap into your market research know how! The commenter I judge to be most insightful will win their favourite card... and a little something else or two just to make me seem less mean!

Here are the cards:

1. Slimmers' Salad

2. Savoury Boxes

3. Bacon and Eggs

4. Prawn Cocktail with Soured Cream Sauce

5. Creme de Menthe Souffle
6. Danish Pastries

7. Hamburger Chowder

8. Chocolate Cake with Coffee Orange Frosting

9. Rose Blossoms

10. Ham in Aspic

11. Hedgehog Cake

12. Cheese Pyramids

Good luck and I promise I will dig out one or two other things to make the prize a bit more substantial! The giveaway ends at midnight on Tuesday July 28th and I'll announce a winner on Wednesday July 29th. Now please enter or I'll look very silly indeed... Thanks for your help!