Eton mess is a dessert made of mashed strawberries, meringue, and cream, originating from Eton College in England. It is served at the annual cricket tournament and is believed to have been created by an excited Labrador during a picnic. The dessert has had an impact on British culture, with the officers’ dining room and political mistakes being referred to as “the shambles” and “Eton bungle,” respectively.
Eton pie is a particular meal of Eton College in Surrey, England. The pie features a mixture of strawberries, meringue and cream. The name derives not only from the place, in the town of Eton, but from how the ingredients appear when put together: it’s literally a mess.
The basic recipe calls for the meringue, diced strawberries, and cream to be mashed together with a fork and placed in a glass bowl or dish. Other fruits such as orange slices, kiwis and raspberries can be used, but the strawberry is the traditional Eton pie fruit. While the modern pasties contain strawberries, some of the original pasties contained bananas instead.
Once a year, Eton College students compete in an annual cricket tournament against students from Winchester and Harrow universities. Like many old colleges in Britain, the cricket match is an important sporting and social event. It is traditional for Eton mess to be served to players and spectators attending the game.
While Eton College opened in the 1500s, with its chapel built during the reign of Henry VI, the Eton mess is a much more recent invention. The name was first used in the 1930s when it was sold in the school supplies shop, fondly known by Etonians as the ‘sock shop’. The mess is thought to be a bit older. Records attest to a dessert of its kind in the 19th century, although meringues are thought to have been added to it later.
While the creation myth of the mess may be apocryphal, it is thought that an excited Labrador could have created the mess while out on a picnic. The last Wednesday in May each year hosts Eton College’s annual awards ceremony. One year during the picnic, guests were served meringues filled with cream and strawberries, just like a pavlova. Labrador sat on a basket containing meringue desserts and inadvertently created Eton’s first mess.
The Eton mess has had various effects on British culture. First, because so many officers were educated at Eton, the officers’ dining room at many military compounds has come to be known as ‘the shambles’. Secondly, as many politicians were also educated at Eton, including Conservative politicians such as Boris Johnson and David Cameron, the mistakes or confusion may be referred to by others as an Eton bungle.
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