30 Disgusting Vintage Recipes That Prove The Dishes Of The Past Were Really Bizarre

Bored Panda reached out to Jess, the curator of the "Weird Old Food" Instagram page. As you might've guessed, Jess's unique hobby involves exploring vintage cookbooks and sharing particularly unusual or intriguing recipes with her audience.

When asked about how her interest in vintage cookbooks began, Jess shared, "I have always loved paging through cookbooks. I was very interested in vintage illustrations and I began collecting vintage cookbooks that had beautiful mid-century line illustrations. Now I collect any books from 1990 or earlier." The oldest books in her collection date back to the late 1800s.

Regarding a recipe that genuinely surprised her, she revealed a peculiar one, 'Salmon in Bladder of Pork' (also mentioned in the post) from the book 'Loving French Cuisine, 1995'. She commented, "It’s from the nineties, which is very modern for my collection, but the photography is horrifying. It looks so anatomical."

The most challenging dishes in her collection, she explained, come from classic French cuisine. She mentioned recipes such as "Galantine of Duck" from "Classic French Cooking, 1971", and "Chicken in Chaud-Froid Sauce" from "The Creative Cooking Course, 1975", admitting, "As a home chef I wouldn’t ever attempt those... I don’t see myself ever attempting chaud-froid sauce."

Discussing her process for selecting which recipe to feature next on "Weird Old Food", Jess noted, "My process is very casual. When I’m looking through my collection and I see something odd or interesting I take a photo of it... My photo library looks wild- old cookbook pictures, cat pictures, and pictures of my niece and nephew. It’s mostly food pics though." She picks something that amuses her at that moment, demonstrating a light-hearted and spontaneous approach to her unique hobby.