I’m re-reading all eight Anne of Green Gables books, for the second time since the pandemic! And I made a list of all the food they eat, in some of the books. Remember, these books are written between 1908 and the 1930s, and they are set on a small island of Canada. So a lot of the food reflects what they could grow themselves. There’s lots of plum pies and plum puffs and plum preserves. They grew plums on Canada. Color me surprised! I thought plums were a tropical fruit. But they also had things like lemon pie, and I’m sure they don’t grow lemons in Canada. So they do import some things. Makes sense, because all the books are set near the sea, near harbors, and ships are coming and going. Note how very little chocolate features.
Anne of Green Gables:
- Apples (“russets”)
- chocolate candies
- For when the minister came to tea:
- jellied chicken
- cold tongue
- red and yellow jelly with whipped cream
- lemon pie and cherry pie
- three types of cookies
- fruitcake
- yellow plum preserves
- a pound cake
- a layer cake made of golden foam layers (that were supposed to be made with vanilla flavoring), clapped together with ruby jelly
- biscuits
Anne of Avonlea:
- for tea:
- nut cake with pink icing and walnuts on top
- bread and butter
- a can of peaches
- plum puffs
- jelly tarts
- lady fingers
- drop cookies frosted with pink and yellow icing
- buttercup cake
- lemonade
- the special dinner for the distinguished author:
- light cream of onion soup
- roast chicken and bread sauce
- green peas, with sugar in them
- beans
- creamed potatoes
- lettuce salad
- lemon pie with whipped cream
- coffee and cheese
- strawberry preserves
- for an old-fashioned supper: baked beans, doughnuts, and pie
- shortbread with preserves
- porridge
- cold ham bone for a noon lunch
- steak fried for dinner
- carved and jointed chicken
- light new bread, butter, and cheese
- fruitcake
- preserved plums floating in golden syrup
- biscuits
- sponge cake
- maple syrup
- kitchen-made candy
- plum cake
- mince pie
Anne of the Island (skipped!)
Anne of Windy Poplars: (note this one was written several decades after books 1, 2, 3, and 5 were. So I think some of the food is a bit more “modern” or reflects that they had a wider selection of groceries by that time)
- plum pudding (for Christmas)
- muffins
- pear preserves
- layer cake
- macaroons
- coconut pie
- potatoes
- steak (kept in the ice-box)
- blanc-mange
- supper: canned chicken and sponge cake
- orange custard
- pumpkin preserves
- pound cake with 36 eggs
- apple turnover
- rice pudding with raisins
- cinnamon toast
- doughnuts
- strawberries and cream
- frosted cupcakes
I’ll just bet that apple pudding, cinnamon toast, and frosted cupcakes were newer inventions in the 1930s, because they don’t show up in the earlier Anne books.
Anne’s House of Dreams:
- cherry pies
- strawberry pie
- glass of milk
- doughnuts
Anne of Ingleside: (this is the other book that was written decades after the first batch)
- toast
- cold chicken leg
- for Christmas: mince pie and apple pie
- fried parsnips
- lemon biscuits
- hot chicken pie
- ginger bread and whipped cream
- cake with maple frosting and nuts
- for a birthday party:
- butterballs (new-fangled)
- cream soup
- ice cream from the store
- fruit cake, orange frosted with coconut
- chicken salad
- maple sugar buns
- spice cookies
- fruit puffs
- mashed potatoes
- peppermints
- creamed peas
- chicken pie with lotth of gravy
- gooey chocolate cake
- orange shuffle dinner (I didn’t figure out what this meant; but some people speculate it was a typo and actually meant orange souffle)
- jam roly-poly supper
- butterscotch cookies
- stuffed leg of lamb for dinner
- cranberry pies
- baked potatoes for supper
- mussel-bakes
- porridge was eaten with sugar
Rainbow Valley:
- Lee Baxter’s potatoes
- spruce gum
- roast beef
- fried chicken
- roast goose
- codfish
- fried mackerel
- eggs
- Jersey cream
Rilla of Ingleside (skipped!)
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