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Edible East Anglia

10 September 2021

By The EAFA Team

The Heritage Open Day 2021 theme offers an opportunity to explore the culinary traditions and practices of our region, as documented on archive film. Home movies that reveal the culinary ceremonies of family life, memorable cinema adverts that promote our favourite foodstuffs, wartime public information films that offer novel tips to economise, and professionally made films that showcase the working lives of those that help to put food on the table. From kitchel throwing to eel catching, mustard spreading and samphire picking. East Anglia has a rich regional history of culinary traditions and industry for you to explore in the collections of the East Anglian Film Archive.

highlights

  • c. 1946 Cat no. 6528

    Pom-Tiddely-Om-Pom

    c. 1946

    A cinema commercial, featuring real-life husband and wife, actors, Claude Hulbert and Enid Trevor, advertising Colman’s instant mashed potato product, ‘Pom’.

    Cat no. 6528

    0:02:11

    Black and White, sound

  • 1939 - 1945 Cat no. 1949

    Food Flashes and Fuel Limericks

    1939 - 1945

    Food Flash! When at the bakers, don’t ask for a large loaf if a small loaf will do.  Every crust counts!  These government sponsored cinema advertisements, part of the ‘Food Flash’ series, offers handy hints to encourage households to economise during wartime.

    Cat no. 1949

    0:07:27

    Black and White, sound

  • 1960 Cat no. 9574

    Iced Diamond [Refrigerator] by Hotpoint: Home

    1960

    Advertisement for Hotpoint’s new range of table-top refrigerators.

    Cat no. 9574

    0:02:10

    Black and White, sound

  • 1952 Cat no. 125

    Since Time Began

    1952, Norwich (Norfolk)

    Animated cinema commercial in Technicolor for one of Norfolk’s finest food exports and family favourite – Colman’s English Mustard, featuring their famous slogan “Mustard Makes the Meal!”

    Cat no. 125

    0:02:08

    colour, sound

  • 1940 Cat no. 995

    Spring Offensive

    1940, Clopton (Suffolk)

    After war was declared in 1939, a bulletin on the BBC Home Service declared a War Agricultural Executive Committee would be appointed for each county, with the responsibility to ensure that “additional land is brought under the plough with all speed”.

     

    Filmed in East Suffolk, and featuring real farmers, Spring Offensive, a film directed by Humphrey Jennings, is a 1940 dramatised account of the work of the “War Ags” as they were known, and the business of land reclamation to aid wartime food production.

    Cat no. 995

    0:19:09

    Black and White, sound

  • 1930 Cat no. 589

    From the Orchard to the Home

    1930, Histon (Cambridgeshire)

    At Histon, near Cambridge, was the large factory of ‘Chivers and Sons Ltd, Jam Manufacturers’.  ‘From The Orchard to the Home’ is a 1930 film showing the fields and harvesting of fruit and vegetables, and the jam making and canning processes, as well as recreational facilities for the staff of the Chivers company.

    Cat no. 589

    1:35:33

    Black and White, silent

  • 1958 Cat no. 1167

    Midday Adventure

    1958, Essex (County)

    A look into healthy, freshly cooked meals at a school in Essex.

    Cat no. 1167

    0:21:23

    Black and White, sound

  • 1963 Cat no. 116009

    The Smallest Public House In Britain

    1963, Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk)

    Anglia Television meets the landlord of The Nutshell in Bury St Edmunds as he serves the region’s finest ales to his regulars. The Nutshell proudly holds the title of the smallest pub in Britain.

    Cat no. 116009

    0:04:47

    Black and White, sound

  • 1954 Cat no. 899

    The Moment of Perfection

    1954, North Walsham (Norfolk)

    A Technicolor cinema advertisement for Duncan’s food products, which was based in North Walsham, Norfolk.  As the commentator enthuses Duncan’s canned vegetables are ‘picked at the moment of perfection from the Norfolk fields’.

    Cat no. 899

    0:02:10

    colour, sound

  • 1947 Cat no. 390

    An English Fen

    1947, The Fens (Other)

    Life and livelihoods on the fens including the serious business of eel catching.

    Cat no. 390

    0:17:20

    Black and White, sound