A sweet slice of Mad Men life

Akshay Sawai

Lay people and film scholars have for years dissected Mad Men, the operatic drama series set in the world of New York advertising in the
1960s. These analyses have, however, ignored an essential element of the show – the cakes and other baked delights at Sterling, Cooper & Partners, the fictional ad agency in the story.

Agreed, the macho triumvirate of steak, alcohol and cigarettes is more integral to Mad Men. But look carefully. Present in many scenes, especially those of office meetings and celebrations, is cake, one of life’s eternal pleasures. For viewers with a sweet tooth, these scenes are joy and punishment. Cake was at the centre of the story as early as the third episode of the first season. Don Draper (protagonist and creative head at Sterling, Cooper & Partners) is sent by his wife to pick up their daughter’s birthday cake. Draper drives off, and characteristically goes AWOL till night. What a waste of cake.

Viewers expecting satisfying cake shots, something to match the scene in Godfather II when Hyman Roth celebrates his birthday on a Havana terrace, were left high and dry. Fortunately, we were spared the injustice in episode eleven of season five, when two other Mad Men characters, Freddy Rumsen and Peggy Olson, talk shop over pie and coffee. The café seems non-descript. But Rumsen eats his pie heartily.

Often, it is the gusto with which food is eaten or discussed, the atmosphere and the sounds of cutlery, that make a food scene. Remember Goodfellas, where gangster Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta) is so particular about the sauce simmering in his kitchen that between running errands and evading police choppers, he calls up home and gives sauce instructions. Hill is cooking ziti with meat gravy, among other things, for his kid brother. That scene sets off a craving for meaty red sauce Italian like few others. Remember also all the dinner table moments from The Sopranos and The Godfather. They inspired publishers to launch recipe books based on the series and the movie.

Being a period show, Mad Men requires extensive research for set design and props. Per episode, $15,000 is spent on props. An internet search threw up some clues about the research for the food on the show in general, if not the cakes. Surprisingly, the food is often real and not ersatz, as is becoming common.

In an interview to collectorsweekly.com, Mad Men prop master Scott Buchwald says, “You want to have food that’s right for the time period. You might have a burger, but probably not a bacon cheeseburger, because that just wasn’t in fashion yet. A white American family wouldn’t be going out for burritos and tacos in 1960. It just wasn’t there yet. So there’s an amazing amount of research just for food.”

Buchwald further reveals, “If it’s a home-cooked meal and it’s a smaller scene, I tend to do it. I’m a fairly competent cook for short-order food, but if the food is more stylised, like if it’s from a really nice, high-end restaurant, I have a very brilliant chef I work with. His name is Michael McDonald, and we’ve been working together for years.”

This Sunday, Mad Men will be back on our screens with the much-awaited seventh and final season. Our gorgeous friends will continue to lead louche, whisky soaked lives in a permanent haze of cigarette smoke. In office, they will meet and make ads. And in the corner, partially eaten yet glorious, will be cake. Watch. Salivate.

(Free agent by Akshay Sawai: Observations on sport, culture or anything from the assorted platter of life)