All Colour Fish

I don't often come across genuine, British 70s Dinner Party-style cookbooks, but a thrift store trip paid off!

Of course, my copy of the Hamlyn All Colour Cook Book (copyright 1970, but mine is a 1978 printing) didn't come with the dust jacket, so I'll have to show you the inside cover page instead.

One interesting feature of the book is that it was written by three authors, Mary Berry, Ann Body, and Audrey Ellis, and each was responsible for several specific chapters of the book.

As I paged through, I became mesmerized by Ann Body's chapter about fish and shellfish. I just can't look away from the pictures. Sometimes it's because the fish is so clearly fish:

I just can't look at this picture of whitebait without thinking anyone who wanted to eat it would have to pretend to be a pelican. I mean, who else could be as excited to have a whole basket full of full-on, barely-disguised-by-thin-breading fish? (Okay, maybe Opus.)

Sometimes it's because the fish are in that uncanny valley.

The one that '70s cooks so often achieved with olive "eyeballs."

Sometimes I just can't trust my eyes at first.

I initially thought of tire tracks on a bumpy road before I saw the little tails sticking up.

Sometimes the pictures look like a dinner scene from a science fiction- horror hybrid.

Alien slugs with extra mucus and lemon wedges, anyone?

Not alien sea slugs-- just deviled lobster.

Even the most artificial-looking preparations are eye-catching.

Little Debbie Christmas Coffin snack cakes, anyone?

Or more accurately, Salmon Chaudfroid? (I think I'd rather have the snack cakes!)

I'll end with a fish recipe from Audrey Ellis, though. Her pictures were not generally nearly as attention-getting.

But guess what's in this one...

It's a fried peanut butter and sardine sandwich! Or, as I call it, the Surprised Elvis! (Or the Scandinavian Elvis? Or the Baited Elvis? Feel free to make up your own name to this one.)