Oven and Food

I've decided to compare the new Oven and Food with the two sets it replaces: the bread oven set and the cocina supplies.

The picture of the complete booklet that goes with the Bread oven set is in the bread oven review thread.

The two original sets together retailed for $45 back in the day. This new set contains less, but is far cheaper. Overall I think it is a worthy replacement for the previous two sets, although collectors will probably still favor the original two sets.

What the new set consists of: bread, oven, oven door, piece of leather for the oven door, paddle, pamphlet, three ears of corn, basket, two bunches of chiles, mano and metate, two pretend loaves of bread.

What isn't in this set that was in the two sets this comes from: trivet, copper pot, pewter pot, tuft of faux fur, twigs, pretend garlic on a string, pretend squash on a string, twig, ring for the pewter pot, horno booklet.

• The oven is the same in both sets: small in scale, plastic, the opening isn't big enough for the paddle and bread to fit through straigtaway. They're the same thickness, the same color, have the same cheesy fire, the same everything. There is really no difference between the two ovens.
  
  
• the paddle is also identical. Wood, the same length, everything. Nothing different here.
  
  
• three ears of corn are also the same, nothing really different. There is some difference in the colors, but that could just be factory variance.
  
  
• the door is darker in color but otherwise the same.
  
  
• the piece of leather is thinner and synthetic instead of the real thing. It actually fits on the door better, and stays there. On the older set, the leather was so thick that it did not stay well, if at all.
  
  
• the chiles are now plastic, and look like those crystal things from that one episode of Stargate: SG-1, except they are plastic and red. Either that or they look like weird cacti. They really don't look like chiles to me, but they look cute in the basket, whatever they are. They are plastic, bunched, and red and green painted.
  
  
• the basket is lighter colored and no longer has a handle. It is also slightly larger than the previous one. This time though, there is nothing to put in it but the chiles.
  
  
• the loaves of bread are the same as the previous set. No real differences here.
  
  
• the mano and metate look the same but are no longer made of stone composite. They are made of some sort of thick plastic, and have Made in China for American Girl molded in the bottom. Kind of disappointing.
  
  
• the mat is the only new thing that was not part of the previous sets. I think it adds a nice splash of color, and is somewhere you can put the stuff from this set. I find it odd that it is the same pattern as the Herb Gathering rebozo, but whatever.
  
  

I think the set is a worthy replacement. Is it accurate? Yes and no. But its predecessor wasn't 100% accurate either. I'm disappointed that some things were not revised better (you can barely fit the bread in the oven, for instance) but it is still an okay set.

I can see why the previous sets were nixed, with the increasing cost of copper and pewter, and the lead laws. Not to mention that some of the items from the cocina supplies were weird: a twig that doesn't go anywhere with garlic and squash?

I have both sets and will probably keep both of them. The newer set adds to the older one: I like the thinner synthetic leather better as a door cover, and I don't mind the extra ears of corn, chiles, or loaves of bread. They add a bit more to Josefina's odd collection of foods.