Tuesday, April the 11th, 2006
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There has always been a pedagogical impulse throbbing at the heart of Hooting Yard, so I am delighted to report that our recipe for gruel is now being used as a set text. Students are directed to this “rather elaborate recipe” by the editors of Alquin, a site for students learning English as a foreign language. The assignment is as follows:
“Search the Internet for recipes for two of the following Victorian foodstuffs and translate the recipes into Dutch, in a way that you, or someone else, would easily be able to prepare the food. By presenting some Victorian food dishes, the actors who're in the play [an adaptation of Oliver Twist] might be even more motivated to act Victorian. Of course you could also feed them gruel, but that might not go down that well…”
There follows a list of enticing grub including dumplings, black-cap pudding, ‘good common cake’, pickled mussels, and potted meat sandwiches. Links for each dish are provided for the students, ending with one to Hooting Yard, suggesting that they “try to work out from this description what you need to do to make gruel”.
May I implore all readers, next time they find themselves eating out in the Netherlands, to order a bowl of gruel?