Notes on the Doctor Who menu

Ginger beer and blue curaçao

The screwdriver has been sonic’d. Obviously thanks to the blue curaçao this is the Tenth Doctor’s screwdriver, which was blue, rather than Eleven’s more complex green one. Ginger beer was also a favourite drink of the Fourth and Eighth Doctors.

The Tenth Doctor and his sonic screwdriver

Bananas

“Bananas are good”, declares the Doctor in The Doctor Dances. In The Girl In The Fireplace, also penned by Steven Moffat, the Doctor tells Rose to “always bring a banana to a party”. So we thought we’d bring the banana to you. And here’s a video of some Doctor Who banana clips.

Celery and blue cheese sticks

The Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) had large shoes to fill when he replaced the immensely popular Tom Baker, a challenge possibly augmented by the novelty of such a young actor in the role – Davison was only 29. To add some Eleventh Doctor-style quirkiness, Five accessorises his cricket whites by placing a stick of celery in the lapel of his blazer. Kooky. In The Caves of Androzani, companion Peri asks the Doctor why he wears celery and receives a fairly irritated response as the Doctor hadn’t quite warmed up to her at this point.

Peri: Doctor, why do you wear a stick of celery in your lapel? 

The Doctor: Does it offend you? 

Peri: No, just curious.

The Doctor: Safety precaution. I’m allergic to certain gases in the praxis range of the spectrum.

Peri: Well, how does the celery help? 

The Doctor: If the gas is present, the celery turns purple. 

Peri: And then what do you do? 

The Doctor: I eat the celery. If nothing else, I’m sure it’s good for my teeth.

The Third Doctor eating gorgonzola in Day of the Daleks and finding it “absolutely delicious”.

The Daleks, of course, are the Doctor’s greatest enemy, whether they are in menacing black and gold or entirely non-threatening pastels (as in Victory of the Daleks). Or at least they used to be until Asylum of the Daleks written by Steven Moffat, current showrunner of Doctor Who, wiped the Daleks’ memory of the Doctor (or his new random name “the Predator”). Now it’s more of a one-sided legendary enmity.

Hence, celery and blue cheese canapés (in this case, Danish blue cheese).

Cheesy Yorkshire puddings

While the Doctor, Amy and Rory eat fish custard (see our next course) in The Power of Three, the Doctor says that if he ran a restaurant it would serve only fish custard. He then compares it to the Yorkshire pudding, which he claims to have invented: “Pudding, yet savoury. Sound familiar?”

Fish custard and chips

The first episode of series 5, The Eleventh Hour, introduced both the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan). Prior to whisking Amy off in his TARDIS, the Doctor met Amelia Pond, Amy’s younger self (played by Karen’s cousin, Caitlin Blackwood). The Doctor is in the process of regenerating when he lands in Amy’s garden. The regeneration process has apparently affected his tastes: “New mouth, new rules” he says after spitting out apple and yoghurt. The little girl cooks this strange raggedy man various dishes, including fried bacon (“Are you trying to poison me?”), baked beans (“Beans are evil”) and buttered bread (the Doctor chucks it out through the front door – “And stay out!”). He finally settles on fish fingers and custard, which becomes the Doctor and Amy’s signature meal.

In the same way that fish custard became a symbol for the friendship between the Doctor and Amy, chips were important to the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) and Rose Tyler’s (Billie Piper) relationship. Series 1’s The End of the World was a formative episode for Doctor/Rose as Nine (Christopher Eccleston) takes Rose to the year 5.5/apple/26. This is when the Earth is finally destroyed by the expansion of the Sun. The pair hold hands while Rose witnesses the death of her home planet, which makes for a moving scene and allows both the Doctor’s latest companion and the audience to empathise with the horror of the Time War, which led to Gallifrey, the homeworld of the Time Lords, being destroyed. When the couple return to London they go off to eat chips, which Rose refers to as their “first date” in New Earth.

Jammie dodgers

Eleven defends himself from the Daleks in Victory of the Daleks with a Jammie Dodger, pretending it’s a self-destruct button. Home-made Jammy Dodgers were therefore inevitable.

Dalek cupcakes

To exterminate your appetite…

Guest post by Sienna Rodgers (blog).