Main | Action Man »

A La Cart Kitchen

None-too-subtle reinforcement of gender stereotypes for the Daily Mail readers of the future

alacart2.jpgAh, another rough diamond from the school of “training the housewives of tomorrow”. Many are the generations of little girls that were saddled with “mini-mum” plastic ironing boards and carpet sweepers from an early age (all the better to brain your little brother with), and many the house that was cluttered with all the paraphernalia of pretend cleaning without any real cleaning actually getting done.

This particular primary-coloured party-pooper was a complete kitchen set comprising oven, hob, sink and, erm, washing machine on a handy moveable cart - hence it’s “A La Cart”, geddit? Quite why the more predictable inclusion of a kitchen fridge was omitted is anyone’s guess1.

However, the toy was successful in ingraining itself on the nation’s collective memory primarily because of an extremely memorable TV advert. Briefly, this featured a small girl who got up unfeasibly early in order to potter around for a few hours, knocking bits of plastic together in a brisk but pointless way, and eventually arriving in the parental bedroom to feed her dad cold baked beans and arctic roll from a plastic saucepan (“Wake up daddy, breakfast’s ready!”). He at least had the unshaven grace to pretend to look happy - we can only imagine how a genuine parent might’ve reacted.

Whilst this sorry display surely says something rather serious about the division of household labour in the late 20th century, we’re not quite sure exactly what (although we’d love to know the whereabouts of “mummy”). Besides, if that child is so keen on household chores, surely “daddy” can find a chimney to shove her up?

Bluebird continued to expand its range of authentic, though slightly strangely-juxtaposed, culinary workstations on wheels with the Walford-inspired “East End Market Stall”2; one side a fruit and veg trader’s stand, the other a burger bar. All the major food groups well-represented there, then. Conspicuous cuckoo in the nest this time was a bright red telephone stuck in the middle. Even in those pre-mobile days we can’t envisage a market trader installing a landline on their trolley. Presumably they used it to phone in those bulk orders of beans and jam roll to the cash and carry.

1Check out the miniature branded groceries, though. Daz, Mr Kipling’s Cakes, Ryvita. Yum!

2The inverted commas were actually part of the name. Not so with the Bluebird Café Royale, however, despite the flamboyant use of French. Brands represented in this deliberately unisex fast food restaurant training kit included Heinz Beans, Saxa Salt and Bisto. The eggs and sausages supplied were made of plastic, much like in yer real greasy spoon.


Posted on March 5, 2006 by Registered CommenterSteve in | Comments21 Comments | References1 Reference

EmailEmail Article to Friend

References (1)

References allow you to track sources for this article, as well as articles that were written in response to this article.
  • Response
    Response: washing machine comparisons
    at washing machine comparisons on Apr 1, 2009
    – I have seen only two feature films by James Lee— THE BEAUTIFUL WASHING MACHINE (B ) and BEFORE WE FALL IN LOVE AGAIN (2006, A ). I’ m not sure if he’ s a great director or not, but I think he’ s a very interesting director, because his films ...

Reader Comments (21)

Well, it got ME started in the catering trade, so as I'm laughing all the way to the bank, I swear by 'em!!
Mar 9, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterJamie Oliver
My sister had a Fisher Price(?) kitchen set about the same time that this came out, I remember accidently booting it across our kitchen without intending to, sending pots and pans flying everywhere. Not totally relevent but right for the time period.
Mar 9, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterRichard Davies
I remember this so so much, more importantly for some bizarre reason i seem to recall a small girl in the advert making a jam swiss roll and cold tomato baked beans! swiss roll and baked beans? words fail me why i can only remember this about it, but as soon as i saw this again, i thought swiss roll and baked beans.

Classic 80's toy, my sister really wanted this.

Crackin'

Johnny
Mar 10, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterJohnny Biffa
They always seem to miss out the fridge. Does it not occur to the manufacturers of these kitechen sets back in those days and in the present, that some food has to be kept cold? Arctic roll and baked beans! yuck!
Mar 14, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterJenny
I'm not sure if it's also been mentioned but there was a market stall in the same range as this item, with an as of of a similar wackyness.
Mar 18, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterRichard Davies
My mother, ever-practical sort that she is, would invariably let the four of us help her bake instead of shelling out for something that took up half the living room and cost about thirty quid.
They're still churning infinite variants of these damn things out to this very day. The Junior Masterchef tie-ins were a significant improvement in that they let you produce something edible (either decorated chocolate shapes or toffee apples, to my recollection). I think they even sold a working microwave in the same range for a while, but you can see how THAT's going to end up...
Mar 19, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterJames
It was a swiss roll and baked beans, with a side order of 'wake up daddy, breakfasts ready!' brat.

Were the parents semi clad? If so they stayed ver calm given the situation.
Mar 21, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterAdam
I had one and I LOVED it! I wish I still had it!
My mom and I were recently trying to remember what it was called, and we too could mostly remember the advert with the baked beans and swiss roll. Too funny! Great memories!
Apr 11, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterLaura
I seem to remember using the washing machine as a dishwasher. Ahead of my time? I like to think so.
However, as a training device for my later years it appears not to have worked. In fact, it's put me off the whole mini housewife thing for life. However it has given me a taste for using plastic cutlery, plates and cups.
Those brand boxes always got lost, or sat on, or wet.
Apr 20, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterMargaret
Was I the only boy who wanted one??? The idea of a psuedo reality toy always appealed.Though quite why I saw a multi coloured kitchen lifelike I will never know. I would have preferred one of these instead of the boys staple cowboy rubbish - I suppose then I knew Id end up living with one!
Jul 10, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterLaurie Asher
I don't think you were there is a picture on me on my birthday with my brother and the 'A La Cart Kitchen' and he is trying to get his hands all over my new toy.
Jul 11, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterMargaret
I am a 31 years old man and the "A La Carte Kitchen" gifted to me in 1981 takes pride of place in my otherwise dingy lounge. I've long since lost all the free groceries, the stickers have peeled away to grey sludge and the oven is mainly filled with empty whiskey miniatures, but I can still whip up a delicious pan of spaghetti hoops and salad cream for me and my lodger.
Sep 5, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterKimos
I used to love this toy, but a i got older and involved in the more illicit activities of selling drugs I would use the a la cart kitchen to hide money. Oneday i came home to find out my girlfriend (the coked up fool) had turned the a la cart kitchen on and had burned up the best part of 85 grand.

I've never been able to look at her or the kitchen since.
Sep 5, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterFuzzy
I was born at the end of 1982. I had the A La Cart Kitchen when i was a child. It was great and i loved it! It kept me amuzed for hours. I have still got the oven tray and the blue frying pan.
May 22, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterCarly Sargeant
oh how i rememeber the hours of fun i had with this kitchen
me and my mum where just talking the other day about toys i had when i was younger and how much they have changed and we had a good old laugh about this kitchen when my mum used to get up make the breakfast and i used to pretend to cook it on that kitchen
oh how rotten that must have been for them
im nearly 30 now i would love to get this for my own girls
Mar 2, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterlisa mccrory
That girl in the advert is my girlfriend!!! No joke!!! This is comedy!
Jul 26, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterTim Paget
Photos please!
Jul 26, 2008 | Registered CommenterSteve
In response to the fabrications made by the drug dealer... the oven didn't actually work, what kind of madman would have installed a working oven in a childs toy?! I reckon maybe you've been sniffing more charlie than you've been selling. 85 Grand set alight.. psh.
Jan 18, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterShirley Holmes
NO way, i remember wanting one so badly for Xmas and didnts get one, but i did get the market stall. The advert for the kitchen is on you tube and it apparently cost about £40, no wonder i didnt get it.
Apr 10, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterlaura lavery
My Brother was in the East End Market Stall advert... can't find it anywhere! We lost the video it was on:(
May 15, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterJustine

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment. All HTML will be escaped. Hyperlinks will be created for URLs automatically.

My response is on my own web site »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
  

By submitting a comment to this site you agree to grant use of your submission under the terms of a Creative Commons Licence Attribution-Sharealike Licence. No payment will be made for submissions and all submissions can be published by TV Cream in this or any other medium.