I Challenged 6 Chefs To Create Meals Inspired By Nostalgic Cooking Toys From The 1960s-2000s

EASY BAKE CHEF

The heart of this concept was simply to encourage play: supply 5 chefs (and 1 bartender) with childhood cooking toys from the 1960s to the 2000s.

The challenge for them would be to create a dish not just inspired by the toy but ideally crafted using it. Well, at least in theory, given the constraints of time and practicality.

For us as photographers, we knew each toy would need a matching environment, so we built six scenes mirroring classic toy advertisements.

More info: gerardbelevender.com

1992 Easy Bake Oven - Lena Sareini

Almond Sponge Cake Petit Fours with raspberry jam and lemon curd

Chef Lena Sareini, a James Beard recognized pastry chef, recalls how she had this exact model, a 1992 Easy Bake Oven, before her mother threw it away. She nostalgically recounts trips to Target with her sister, grabbing every mix-in they could get their hands on. "And we would make a mess all the time. My mom would get so annoyed that we wouldn't clean up after ourselves, so she ended up throwing it away without telling us." She admits these early experiences with the toy influenced her career path. Lena's creations are the tiny, fully decorated, dreamy cakes that every kid believed would emerge from that oven, rather than the semi-baked attempts of our collective childhoods.

1994 Doctor Dreadful Food Lab - Mike Finsilver

Malfatti Monster Skin (Italian spinach ricotta dumplings)
Shaved Purple Carrot Dirt with Squash Worm
Red Wine Vinegar Pickled Cauliflower Brains with Basil Foam
Petri Dish Tomatoes preserved in olive oil with smoked paprika spheres

Chef Mike Finsilver, the perfect curator for our 1994 Doctor Dreadful Food Lab. His childhood days spent in the garden amidst bugs and dirt seamlessly translated into dishes that evoked memories and imagination - think pureed squash worms and purple carrot dirt. Tiny tomatoes become petri dish cultures. The main dish, malfatti, served up as monster skin, was a tribute to creativity unhindered by practicality. "When you’re cooking professionally there's a level of practicality you have to have. You’ll never see malfatti at a restaurant because it’s too hard to make at scale. But with projects like this, you’re able to rethink what you would make if you could make anything"

2002 Queasy Bake Cookerator - Rece Hogerheide

Chicken Galantine with chanterelles and summer truffles
Chianti reduction "blood"
Fava beans
Foie gras mousse "dog bone"

The Easy Bake Oven, deemed not 'masculine' enough for little boys of the early aughts, evolved into the 2002 Queasy Bake Cookerator. Instead of cupcakes, it made "mud cakes with gravel" (chocolate cake with pop rocks) and dog bone cookies with drool frosting. Most people I talked to didn't remember this one, but Chef Rece Hogerheide's face lit up when he heard the name and was immediately taken back to his childhood. He wanted to be a chef his whole life, owned the Queasy Bake, and vividly remembered opening the little packets and their smell. His dish is the adult version of gross-out kid culture we grew up with, referencing Silence of the Lambs, not shying away from the dark humor of it.

1966 Suzy Homemaker Grill - John Yelinek

Stuffed squab with grilled bird bone jus, served with foraged mushrooms and a touch of sumac

Chef John Yelinek was given the 1969 Suzy Homemaker Grill. John's concept was guided by his memories of the outdoors; his youthful days hunting and fishing. “Cooking over a fire, in a campsite, you have to adapt. There's something satisfying about making it work,” he tells us as he's preparing the foraged mushrooms and squab. His current approach in the kitchen, driven by innovation and play, is obviously rooted in these early experiences. He’s managed never to lose that early sense of adventure and joy, never taking cooking too seriously.

1994 Doctor Dreadful Drink Lab - Chris Allen

- Mystic Morph Tequila infused with butterfly pea flowers + ube simple syrup with lime, topped with Prosecco
- Eerie Inked Elixir Rum, lemon, honey, squid ink and edible glitter

When bartender Chris Allen was a kid, he would sneak into his sister's room to play with her Barbie pink Easy Bake Oven, something his parents wouldn't give him. Originally aspiring to be a pastry chef, he stumbled into bartending and found that there were a lot of similarities between the two. Upon meeting Chris, there was an undeniable joy to his demeanor - we knew he was perfect for this project. We handed over a 1994 Doctor Dreadful Drink Lab, asking him to build a cocktail using another toy his parents wouldn’t have bought for him.

1969 Betty Crocker Easy Bake Oven - Gerard + Belevender

Crusty Kraken Shortcake: Cocktail shrimp boat encircled by octopus tentacles set upon biscuits layered with lemon-avocado aioli, caviar, and sea grapes

Although we lost a chef along the way due to the demands of running a restaurant, our 1969 Betty Crocker Easy Bake was too precious to ignore so we jumped in.

It seemed fitting to dust off our 1970’s Betty Crocker recipe cards. One dish stood out: Crusty Salmon Shortcakes - think biscuits layered with salmon sauce hues and topped with olives, described as "an off-the-cupboard shelf lunch for drop-in guests." Staying true to the seafood-biscuit fusion, we replaced salmon with octopus and shrimp, adding a lemon-avocado aioli, a nod to our retro green oven. Crusty Kraken Shortcakes, a dish inspired by Michelle’s childhood fascination with the Kraken from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Although we're not chefs, we love that our work offers us the chance to playfully experiment with food, taking us back to the days of themed cakes, artsy crafts, and the creativity of our childhood.