Recipes in British girls' comics?

Discuss all the girls comics that have appeared over the years. Excellent titles like Bunty, Misty, Spellbound, Tammy and June, amongst many others, can all be remembered here.

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hypnojoo
Posts: 34
Joined: 23 Feb 2018, 09:45

Recipes in British girls' comics?

Post by hypnojoo »

Hi everyone - I’m doing some research into the recipes that appeared in British girls’ comics and would be very grateful for any info please as I'd like to survey as many as possible (I'm interested in how generic these were or whether they were tailored to the type of comic; also what sorts of foods etc; how they address the reader; and so on). I have complete runs of Misty and Spellbound but my collections of other girls’ comics are pretty scattered and I don’t have many annuals (which is where I feel these mostly appeared - though happy to be proved wrong here! - maybe some comics had a weekly recipe page?)
If you have any memories of these, or images you're happy to share, please can you post here or send them to me jround@bournemouth.ac.uk. Thank you!! Julia

Goof
Posts: 230
Joined: 15 May 2018, 19:43

Re: Recipes in British girls' comics?

Post by Goof »

You may have set yourself a lifetime’s work here. As far as I recall, the comics and annuals are chock-full of recipes from the earliest days to the last. Here are a few from the DCT annuals, which cover a range of years. Not surprisingly, most of them are party food:

Judy 1971
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Diana 1971
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Debbie 1984
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Judy 1992
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Mandy 1994
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Bunty 2001
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I’ll hunt through some of the other annuals, and post other examples as I find them.

Tammyfan
Posts: 1995
Joined: 23 Aug 2012, 10:41

Re: Recipes in British girls' comics?

Post by Tammyfan »

Tammy had recipe features in her regular comic. One was "Tuck-in with Tammy" in the late 1970s and another was "Tammy's Tasties" in the 1980s. The recipes tended to go for baking (cookies, cakes, etc). If she had a special feature (Valentine's Day, for example), sometimes she would include a special recipe for it, such as Valentine's Day cookies. Readers could also contribute recipes. One was a Tammy's Tasties recipe for butter crunch.

In June annual 1982, Bessie Bunter had a special recipe feature. These were baking recipes with the names inspired by the strip.
Last edited by Tammyfan on 29 Jan 2025, 02:32, edited 2 times in total.

hypnojoo
Posts: 34
Joined: 23 Feb 2018, 09:45

Re: Recipes in British girls' comics?

Post by hypnojoo »

Thanks both! Great scans Goof! Yep realise there's a lot - I'm hoping as I dip into them something worth pursuing will present itself, e.g. a recurring type of food, phrasing, etc.
I didn't know there was a regular Tammy feature, that's really helpful Tammyfan, thank you! Very interested in how they tie into weekly stories.

Tammyfan
Posts: 1995
Joined: 23 Aug 2012, 10:41

Re: Recipes in British girls' comics?

Post by Tammyfan »

Tammy on occasion ran a special Pam of Pond Hill feature. One was "Pam's Picnic", which was a recipe page for picnic food.

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stevezodiac
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Joined: 23 May 2006, 20:43
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Re: Recipes in British girls' comics?

Post by stevezodiac »

Can I ask what image site you are using to add those pictures? Since Tinypic closed I've never found a good alternative. Most wanted login details.

Goof
Posts: 230
Joined: 15 May 2018, 19:43

Re: Recipes in British girls' comics?

Post by Goof »

stevezodiac wrote:
03 Feb 2025, 15:44
Can I ask what image site you are using to add those pictures? Since Tinypic closed I've never found a good alternative. Most wanted login details.
imgur.com. No login and it's free.

Tammyfan
Posts: 1995
Joined: 23 Aug 2012, 10:41

Re: Recipes in British girls' comics?

Post by Tammyfan »

In the wake of this discussion, I have included a sample of "Tammy's Tasties" in a Tammy entry up at "A Resource on Jinty". The link is https://jintycomic.wordpress.com/2025/0 ... uary-1984/

Tammyfan
Posts: 1995
Joined: 23 Aug 2012, 10:41

Re: Recipes in British girls' comics?

Post by Tammyfan »

I did a bit of checking. "Tuck-in with Tammy" started in 1978. I don't have the date for when it started. It didn't always appear but lasted until Misty merged with Tammy on 19 January 1980.

hypnojoo
Posts: 34
Joined: 23 Feb 2018, 09:45

Re: Recipes in British girls' comics?

Post by hypnojoo »

Thanks! - those dates are useful. I've got a decent collection of around 150+ scans across multiple titles and decades now, mostly from annuals. Will post back when I've done some analysis...

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