Would YOUR little adventurers eat boiled tongue and fish paste?

THEY chased down smugglers and spies — but these unlikely antics are not the only difference between the Famous Five and children today.

Unlike our digitally savvy youth, Enid Blyton’s plucky band spent hours outdoors without parents interfering, had no fancy technology and did not care about their appearance.

And the food they ate was plain, treats homemade and convenience food non-existent. Not that siblings Julian, Dick and Anne, their cousin George and Timmy the dog ever went hungry — each story is punctuated with celebratory feasts.

Today, they’re remembered almost as much for their innocent joy over wholesome picnics as for their adventures, published yearly between 1942 and 1963.

Back then bananas were an exotic luxury and sugar rationing, which ended only in 1953, limited consumption to about 32g a day (the average child now eats nearly double this, at 61g). Processed food was rare and home-grown fruit and vegetables were available in abundance. Little wonder childhood obesity had yet to become a national crisis.

The dramatic shift in our eating habits is highlighted in a new recipe book, Five Go Feasting, crammed with recipes from the stories.

But how would modern children react to dishes once considered rare treats? And how easy would they be for a busy working mother to make?

I went back in time by cooking a selection of recipes — to see if my daughter Rosie, eight, and son Felix, six, would actually eat any of them...

BOILED TONGUE

ONCE a pantry staple, tongue — on thickly buttered white bread — appears in three Famous Five books. Now so unfashionable my supermarket doesn’t even stock it, I order ox tongue from a butcher online.

Too squeamish to open the box when it arrives, I call my mum, who plonks the unappealing meat into a pan and leaves it to boil for three hours.

‘Oooh ham!’ says Felix, when I serve the result with a healthy side order of deception. He wolfs it down, but Rosie’s not convinced. ‘It’s spicy and tough,’ she says, and when I confess they’re eating cow’s tongue, their verdict is: ‘Gross!’ KIDS’ RATING:

SCOTCH EGGS

FOR the Five, hard-boiled eggs were the equivalent of crisps; they get very excited about egg salad. Blyton may have been using creative licence, as eggs were rationed to one per adult a week until 1954.

I wrap mine in minced pork before coating in egg yolk for my breadcrumbs to stick to. It is a painstaking process — and as I put the first ball into the frying pan, it falls apart.

After three hours’ work I have a batch of presentable Scotch eggs — and I’m nearly in tears. But both children are wowed by the ‘amazing’ result and ask for seconds which (nearly) makes it worthwhile. KIDS’ RATING:

VEAL AND HAM PIE

THIS is the Five’s ultimate savoury treat and takes almost a day to make. I order a ham hock from a butcher, boil it for 90 minutes then put the chopped meat, veal and hard-boiled eggs in a hot-water pastry case made with lard, which I cook from scratch.

I find the pie quite chewy, but Felix devours it. ‘Your homemade cooking is the best ever, Mummy,’ he says, mouth full. I’m almost speechless with pride. KIDS’ RATING:

ANCHOVY PASTE

DEVOURED by the Famous Five at picnics, this was a handy way to store fish, which was not rationed, but in short supply.

The recipe is easy. I crush up anchovy fillets with garlic cloves and a splash of white wine vinegar. But the brown gunge that results is hardly appealing and is too ‘pongy’ to eat, say the children.

‘What’s the worst smell that you can imagine?’ asks Rosie. ‘Daddy’s old socks,’ I say, off the top of my head. ‘Well, it’s that, times a hundred,’ she retorts.

Not even insisting George — her fictional heroine — would be disappointed convices her. One for Timmy the dog, perhaps? KIDS’ RATING:

MILK PUDDING

THIS warming dessert uses just one tablespoon of sugar. I mix cornflour with milk, adding eggs, and stir together with the sugar and dried fruit.

Simple enough, right? But the mixture I put in the oven is strewn with lumps (albeit masked by currants and cinnamon). Rosie won’t touch it, and Felix judges it too ‘bumpy’. KIDS’ RATING:

RASPBERRY SYRUP

BEFORE shop-bought squash, this was a huge treat. Anne — the only Five character who does her fair