Waiter Card from a pack of vintage Menuette Playing Cards
Menuette was a card game available just after World War II, the object being to gather a hand of cards comprising eight components of a meal, each component (roll, soup, fish, entree, green vegetable, potato, dessert, drink) having different values, and the highest-scoring meal winning the game. The cards feature various dishes - starters, fish, meat, vegetables, sweets and drinks worth varying numbers of points. The object of the game is to collect a complete meal with the highest possible score. The fascination is in being able to look back and see what was thought to be desirable in post-war Britain as well as what were the most expensive items. We have grown accustomed to a wide choice of vegetables in the shops all year round. What was available in 1945? Spinach only got a score of one; it seems to be more highly rated today. Cabbage is awarded the same mark. Cauliflower gets three and peas four. They were seasonal then as Mr. Birdseye had yet to introduce to the frozen variety. Top marks go to sprouts at five. Potatoes seem to be more highly rated than other vegetables with baked ones getting five and roast six although lowly mash only gets two and, surprisingly, chips three. Chicken was a luxury eaten mainly at Christmas or on special occasions whilst beef was much more everyday, now the reverse is true. Bread rolls are worth five, which seems quite a lot but bread was rationed during the war and if required in a restaurant had to be substituted for one course of a three-course meal.
Size: 3276px × 4728px
Photo credit: © Some Wonderful Old Things / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 5, 40, 1940, antique, art, artwork, assorted, beer, british, card, cards, cartoon, close, collectable, collectables, cookery, curio, curios, design, english, ern, fashioned, food, game, games, historic, illustrated, illustration, menuette, pack, plate, playing, retro, score, shaw, traditional, vintage, waiter
