Hilariously naff dinner party photos reveal the way we used to dine (2024)

• 1970s was the decade that brought the dinner party to the masses
• Fondue, foreign cuisine and wine put on the menu for the middle classes
• Hosts keen to show their sophistication with latest fashions and foods
• FEMAIL dusts off the dinner menu, dress code and drinks list of the past
• M&S wine expert Chris Murphy pairs wine with each menu

Partner

The first rule of fondue parties? Don't wear anything flammable. Now if only someone had told that to the dinner party hosts of the Seventies.

It was the decade of polyester flares, billowing nylon blouses, Spandex and kipper ties - worn in perilous proximity to all those open flames.

If it wasn't crimes against Health & Safety being committed, it was crimes against fashion.

These brilliant photos from the time reveal how helmet hair (yes we mean you, Judith Chalmers) dodgy moustaches, leg o'mutton sleeves and enough mustard to put Colman's out of business were the order of the day for hosts of yesteryear.

The food served was a sight to behold too. With foreign dishes and wine on the home entertaining menu for the first time, hosts attempted to wow their guests with exotic fruit and veg (enter the avocado), recipes picked up abroad (spag bol; duck a l'orange) and sophisticated garnishes (think crinkle-cut veg and glacé cherries) cribbed from fancy restaurants.

For all their fashion faux pas though, the colourful scenes make today's minimalism look positively dull in comparison.

Here FEMAIL reveals how to recreate the dinner parties of the past. Recreate the fashions too if you dare... Just make sure there's a fire extinguisher to hand.

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SEVENTIES

Hosts in the Seventies used the dinner party to demonstrate their worldliness, serving exotic dishes they might have sampled abroad.

Fancy new cutting skills picked up on visits to posh restaurants were key (who can forget the zig zag cut tomato?) as well as fiddly preparation that told of the host's sophistication - and their range of new kitchen gadgets.

Ready meals grew more adventurous too: it was out with Fray Bentos and in with chicken Kiev, which was introduced as Marks & Spencer's first ever ready meal in 1976.

Having experienced wine abroad, the middle classes wanted to serve it at home too. M&S obliged by introducing wine in 1973 - a range of eight wines, four sherries and a selection of beers.

This democratisation of wine shaped the way we drink it today, says Marks & Spencer's wine expert Chris Murphy.

'The wine supply was such a success it was rolled out very quickly,' he says. 'Previously it was privileged people, mostly men, buying wine, and mostly from specialist suppliers. The Seventies saw that change.'

But wine was still not an everyday drink. 'It was served only on special occasions,' he says.

ON THE MENU

CANAPES Vol-au-vents; half boiled eggs with paprika; crudités

STARTER

French onion soup with gruyere croutes

MAIN Chicken Kiev. Dauphinoise potatoes; carrotssliced into rounds and boiled with a parsley garnish. Or cheese fondue

PUDDING

Black Forest gateau; Baked Alaska

WINE - THEN

From 1973 the M&S customer would have bought French table wine, labelled vaguely French Dry White Wine, at £2.49 a litre. 'We sold huge volumes,' says Chris.

Sherry too was in vogue - four types were among the first wines stocked at M&S in 1973.

WINE - NOW

With tastes leaning towards more specific regions, Chris recommends a Sauvignon from the Loire Valley, like Sauvignon Blanc de Touraine, around £8 a bottle to serve with a Seventies-inspired feast.

Sherry is back on the menu too, after shaking of its stereotype as a nan's drink. Just ask Gordon Ramsay, who serves a range of chilled sherries in all his restaurants, or Shoreditch restaurant Tramontana Brindisa, bringing dozens of different sherries to East London's hipsters.

EIGHTIES

The Eighties dinner party had real flourish. Shoulder pads, blue eye shadow and sequins were de rigueur, as was sparkling Lambrusco, pina colada and the glacé cherry.

With France a popular holiday destination and French the cuisine of choice atupmarket restaurants, dinner party hosts were inspired to serve boeuf Bourguignon, duck a l'orange or coq au vin.

A glance at your Good Housekeeping cook book from the era should confirm this - there will be splodges of gravy and a light dusting of flour on the boeuf Bourguignon page.

ON THE MENU

CANAPES Melon co*cktail with glace cherry; cheese and pineapple hedgehogs

STARTER

Prawn co*cktail, mushrooms a la grecque

MAIN

Coq au vin, boeuf bourguignon, duck a l'orange, spaghetti Bolognese.

PUDDING

Pavlova;trifle; pineapple boats with glacé cherries

WINE - THEN

Guests would have been welcomed with a glass of fizz - Italian semi-sparkling Lambrusco was just growing in popularity, and the already-popular red version was joined by a white and rose version in 1974.

The Eighties saw both Italian and French wines take off and Beaujolais Nouveau - which sold 3,000 bottles in a week after it was introduced in 1985 - become fashionable.

Spanish wines were on the rise too. M&S introduced its Marques del Romeral Rioja in 1980 and it's still selling well today.

WINE - NOW

Chris would still recommends a Beaujolais Nouveau with a menu such as this, with wine drinkers being more specific with their tastes, he suggests a Fleurie (like the Fleurie 2012 at £10.99 a bottle from M&S). 'There are ten villages in Beaujolais that are allowed to use the name,' he says, 'but Fleurie is one of the best.' NINETIES

Thai restaurants spread like wildfire in the Nineties, pubs unveiled Thai menus that blew our minds - and our tastebuds - with spicy green curries and Pad Thai noodles, and sushi hit our shores, introducing us to raw fish and fiery wasabi.

It was the genesis ofModern British movement too,where chefs (and then home cooks) simplified fussy French styles and gave them a contemporary spin.

Creamy sauces and endless lists of ingredients made way for lighter dishes that let fish and meat speak for itself.

The march of the Med continued too - this was the decade of sun-dried tomatoes, pesto and real Parmesan.

ON THE MENU

CANAPES

Crostini with homemade pesto, roasted peppers and goat's cheese

STARTER Mediterranean board with prosciutto, saucisson, olives, mozzarella balls, sun-dried tomatoes

MAIN Pan-fried halibut with gremolata and green beans; monkfish stew; roasted squash and Mediterranean vegetables served with pesto dressing and rocket; Thai green curry

WINE - THEN

'This was the decade when Australian wine really took off,' says Chris. 'It had started to be stocked in the late Eighties, but by the mid-Nineties people had realised how wonderful it was.'

Back then though, dinner party hosts would likely have served a generic Australian Shiraz - a 'stereotypical blockbuster', as Chris calls it.

WINE - NOW

Our knowledge of Australian wine has come a long way, says Chris. 'We're now more specific about Shiraz - we want something from a designated region,' he says.

Chris recommends something like the Hunter Valley Shiraz by Australian family-run firm Tyrrells (£9.99 for 2011). 'We have been dealing with this company for 20 years and know them personally,' he says. The Hunter Valley offers what Chris says is a 'far cry' from the earlier varieties.

'It's more restrained and balanced; a more elegant style,' he says. NOUGHTIES

A decade of contrast that saw Naked Chef Jamie Oliver tearing up herbs with his bare hands and bunging giant cuts of meat on the table on chopping boards, while molecular gastronomists such as Heston Blumenthal were frothing up foams and smearing purees on plates.

Jamie'sNaked Chef series launched in 1999, meaning the '10s were dominated by this charming cheeky chappy - and his fuss-free style was the final nail in the coffin for fiddly dishes and nouvelle cuisine.

Indeed, while the odd budding Heston attempted dry ice tomato sorbet at home, the majority of us looked to Jamie for inspiration. He pretty much rebooted the dinner party trend by stripping back the nonsense and making cooking fun again.

ON THE MENU

CANAPES Homemade bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar; prosciutto and fresh figs

STARTER

Heritage tomato and buffalo mozzarella salad with freshly torn basil MAIN Slow-cooked rolled shoulder of lamb with potato and celeriac smash, served with steamed vegetables. Served to carve at the table on a wooden chopping board

PUDDING

Individual Eton mess

WINE - THEN

This was the decade when, thanks to the Italian influence of the likes of the River Cafe and Jamie Oliver, we really embraced Mediterranean food - and as such, its wine too. 'Southern France had really got its act together by the middle of the Noughties,' says Chris. 'We'd have been drinking some really well-made reds from the Languedoc-Roussillon.

Where fizz was concerned, this was the decade that prosecco caught up with cava and champagne. Previously known only to those who had travelled to Italy, by the end of the new millenium's first decade there wasn't a shop, restaurant or bar that didn't serve it.

M&S saw sales of their £16 pink prosecco soar, while some pubs even started selling it on draught. Pint of prosecco, anyone?

WINE - NOW

To accompany Mediterranean food at a dinner party today, Chris recommends you stretch your boundaries - and satisfy itinerant tastebuds - with some more unusual wines, says Chris.

'We've noticed a real rise in demand for wines from places like Hungary, Israel and Turkey,' he says. 'We've got a large range and it's really working.'

Try the Hungarian Sauvignon Blanc 2010, £6.99 a bottle; Israeli Binyamina Merlot 2011, around £9.49 a bottle, or Turkish reds in the Anfora trio, £7.99 per bottle).

TODAY

Homegrown, homemade, free-range, foraged or farmer's market is in. If you picked it from your garden, rescued it from the road or unearthed it in the woods, you win. Where it was once the done thing to boast about how far your ingredients have travelled, now 'air miles' is a dirty word.

The more local or specific you can be, the better.

A banger is not a banger, it's a Hand-Reared Organic Free-Range Gloucester Old Spot sausage. And dinner party pros would never be as gauche as to serve meat or fish on a 'bed' of anything, rice, rocket or otherwise. Now it's all about listing the ingredients in their purest form.

ON THE MENU

CANAPES

Home grown heritage tomato, burrata and wild garlic pesto

STARTER Free-range pork belly bites, windfall apple crisps and caramelised apple reduction, foraged borage.

MAIN Rabbit and crayfish pie with sauteed kale served with foraged chanterelles and Thames samphire PUDDING Woodland blackberry crumble with elderflower custard; Pine milkshake chaser.

WINE

'The flavour of this decade has to be Malbec,' says Chris. 'If you asked people at a wine tasting five years ago if they'd heard of Malbec you'd get barely a flicker,' he says. 'Now everyone has drunk it.'

White wines to watch? 'Indigenous grapes have become very trendy over the last few years,' says Chris. Think Fiano, a refreshing, minerally wine grown near Naples; the characterful Falanghina from Southern Italy or the light, dry Albariño from Galicia, on Spain's Northern coast.

For real kudos serve an English sparkling wine like the 2009 vintage Ridgeview Marksman. From one of England's finest estates, it is described as having notes of red apple, exotic spice and brioche underpinned by 'beautifully balanced' acidity and a long, mouth-watering finish which Chris says compares 'very favourably' to champagne.

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