Generations of children will shudder at the thought of some of the food served to them in school canteens through the years.
School dinners haven't always had the best reputation, but it's no wonder with memories of frogspawn like tapioca pudding, spam fritters, boiled cabbage and prunes with custard. However, everyone will remember one or two dishes that were actually delicious, and made us salivate when we spotted them standing in the dinner queue.
One of these rare treats for generations of Mancunians has to be the Manchester Tart. Thought to be a variation on the original Manchester Pudding, it was many kids' favourite sweet treat during their school years.
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The recipe was first published by Mrs Beeton in her book Household Management. A set custard slice in shortcrust pastry, the ingredients included breadcrumbs, milk, sugar, eggs, jam and lemon juice.
A popular element in school dinners for years, it was often served with lashings of hot custard. Of course, adaptations of the original recipe have been made over the years, and for some people, you can't call it a proper Manchester Tart unless its topped with coconut and a cherry.
But there's one controversial ingredient people can't seem to agree on. Recently, a photo of a Manchester Tart was uploaded to the popular Council Cuisines Facebook page, which was later shared on the Manchester History group.
The image showed the tart with a layer of cut banana running through it between the jam and the custard. And while many expressed their love for the Manchester Tart, the inclusion of banana wasn't to everybody's taste.
On the Manchester History group, one person said: "Never had it with bananas, ugh!" Another person agreed, posting: "Definitely doesn't have bananas in it!"
This prompted the reply: "I've never seen it any other way, I had it with school dinners/at home etc for years. [It] always had base, jam, banana, custard with coconut on top."
While another person said: "Perfect. It’s not a Manchester tart without the banana!"
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And it seems the controversial inclusion of bananas may have had something to do with what school you attended. One person posted: "It does have bananas in, had this so many times at school." Which prompted another person to reply: "It didn't at St Mark's School in West Gorton, Manchester."
The row went on with more remembering it being served with bananas while others said their Manchester Tart came only with coconut. In fact, posts on the group suggested cornflakes on top was another variation they enjoyed.
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On the Council Cuisines Facebook page, the original post about the Manchester Tart proved incredibly popular with over 25k likes and nearly 8k comments. But people were still split on the inclusion of bananas.
Mo Bowers Harding posted, saying "I don’t remember it having bananas in!" This caused an avalanche of replies, with Anne Dodgon, saying: "Ours did in Lancashire." While another person replied their version in Yorkshire did too.
But Liz Morrison was adamant, posting: "No bananas!" To which Pippa Greenway replied: "Definitely had bananas in it".
Karen Harris opened up another can of worms, commenting: "The bakeries here put bananas in and when I spoke to them to say 'yay, the proper tart', they said 'yes, the head baker always puts 'em in… he’s from Salford, lol!"
Others who also said their Manchester Tart came with bananas included people from Huddersfield, Liverpool, Staffordshire and Barnsley.
Did you enjoy a Manchester Tart with or without bananas? Let us know in the comments below.
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