Food and St John's
Early Days
Early Days
A buttery, unlike the modern college canteen, was originally a place to store casks or ‘butts’ of beer and wine. It features heavily in the early records of the college and its founder, Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509). Ale was an important staple then, as it was usually much safer to drink than the water.
Lady Margaret’s accounts, 1508
Lady Margaret Beaufort, the mother of King Henry VII, clearly liked to dine in style. This inventory of goods needed in her kitchen shows the kinds of foods which featured on a high-class Tudor table: beef, veal, mutton, and salt cod, as well as perhaps more surprising ingredients like cinnamon, ginger, saffron, dates, sugared almonds, and two different sizes of raisins. This section shows the accounts for the Buttery.
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Brewhouse and bakehouse accounts, 1587
In its early days, the college was very self-sufficient. It had its own bakery, which stood for over 200 years on the site now occupied by the Old Divinity School, and then moved to Bridge Street, until it finally closed in 1947. St John’s also had its own brewhouse, and these accounts, made by the bursar Simon Robinson in a mix of English and Latin, show the supply of “beere in the…buttrie”, for the “fellowes” and the “schollers”.
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Community
Community
The college was founded on the site of the Hospital of St John the Evangelist, a medieval religious institution whose members also worked to treat the sick. They followed the monastic Rule of St Augustine, and placed great importance both on communal dining amongst the brethren, and on feeding the poor in the wider community. These traditions were inherited and continued by the college.
Fragment of a metal plate, date unknown
This plate was found in the River Cam in 1994. It has been stamped with “SAINT JOHNS COLLEGE” around the rim, but the design is otherwise very plain and functional.
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Ceramic dinner plate, c.1850-1890
In this period the college cooks were also required to provide all the crockery. This college plate is very similar to one owned by James Prior, the Fellows’ Cook from 1825-1845, so it seems likely that this elaborate piece would also have been used by the Fellows. The decoration here reflects the contemporary fashion for ‘chinoiserie’: British designs inspired by East Asian culture.
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Accounts of the Hospital of St John the Evangelist, 1505-1510
These accounts provide early evidence of food being used to foster community. They record that two shillings and sixpence were spent on “bred to por folk on Saynt Jhon(’s) day”. The brethren celebrated the feast of their patron saint by practising charity and service.
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Recipe for the “Poor’s Soup”, as recorded c.1980
In the tradition of the Hospital, the college took a hands-on approach to its charitable efforts, making and distributing soup and bread to local people struggling with poverty. This continued for many years until 1990, when the college decided to replace the soup with a more practical gift of money.
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Fables & Feasts
Fables & Feasts
The Fellows of St John’s have the unusual honour of being the only people in Britain, except royalty, who are allowed to eat unmarked swans. But there has been no evidence of this happening since 1896. The truth is more theatrical.
Feast Book, 1873-1896
This list of menus for college feast days proves that swan was indeed being eaten quite regularly in the Victorian period. Here we find “Jeunes Cygnes” on the table for the 27th of December, the feast day of St John the Evangelist. Swans are not the only unusual bird to be found on these menus: ptarmigans, wigeons, and plovers were not safe either.
Post-Medieval Manuscript U.40
May Ball ‘Swans’, c.1950
‘Swan’ continued to appear on the college ball menu for years, but this photograph uncovers an elaborate deception. The ‘swans’ were actually turkey, stuffed with a mixture including veal, bacon, and pistachios, and then pressed into shape. Fake necks and wings were then made by pouring wax into a mould. When cool, they were attached to the ‘bodies’ and painted.
SJCR/SJAR/5/4/4/Sleeve 14, copyright Ken North
Nero, 1938-1949
This is Nero, the Kitchen Cat, who saw the college safely through the war. We can only wonder whether Nero would have been amused or disappointed by the ‘swan’ ruse. The photo was taken by Ken North (1923-1988), the Kitchen Clerk.
SJCR/SJAR/5/4/3, copyright Ken North
Coronation dinner menu, 1953
This celebratory dinner – chicken, peas, new potatoes, fruit salad – might seem a little underwhelming compared with the heights of Tudor dining. But in 1953, meat was still rationed, and this was a luxury. The menu also contains an enigmatic reference to the now-forgotten “Cocktail Elizabeth”.
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Passing-out dinner menu, 1944
During World War Two, the college housed many military cadets while they completed their training. This menu is from the passing-out (graduation) dinner of a group of OCTU Royal Signals cadets. Regarding food, it is deeply uninformative – each course is just marked “Soup”, “Sweet”, etc. – but its owner used the precious paper to collect autographs from his cohort.
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Quincentenary dinner menu, 2011
For its 500th birthday, the college threw a feast of which Lady Margaret could have been proud, featuring champagne, beef, liver pâté, lemons, cheeses, and even lobster thermidor. Grace was said in Latin, and songs were sung between the courses.
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Written and curated by Caroline Ball, Library Graduate Trainee.