extra rations

Niki sharing scones with mock cream

I don't know about everyone else, but I have just about recovered from our coffee morning visit to the Ministry of Food exhibition at the Imperial War Museum on Friday. It's a great exhibition, beautifully set out and curated, with lots of information, including films and artefacts, interspersed with art and posters.  It was great to see everyone enjoying the exhibition and it was especially thrilling to see our pretty jams and pickles on display in the period kitchen.

Our visit ended with a very generous spread in the museum Kitchen Front Cafe, courtesy of the lovely people at the Imperial War Museum and the fabulous friendly Company of Cooks staff as a thank you for our participation in the  project.  We were totally spoilt with seven (!) different types of cake to test and ate the equivalent of about a week's rations in one sitting.  After a wee bit of debate (!) we finally agreed on top scores for the ginger cake (wartime recipe), and almond slice, followed closely by the beetroot and cocoa cake and rock cakes. The chocolate syrup sponge, also made to a wartime recipe, was another high scorer .  The jam tarts and scones with mock cream looked very pretty but were less popular with our expert tasters.

If you didn't manage to get along on Friday, you've got the rest of the year to visit.  Don't miss the jam.  Or the cakes.