Oven and Food

[SummerofLOV]

*price increase from $42 to $48 January, 2012*


Josefina's new baking set includes the retired adobe oven set as well as elements of her cocina supplies. The adobe oven is plastic, and feels plastic when you hold it, its fairly lightweight. I wasn't terribly impressed by the make of the oven, its fairly simple and the fake fire feels cheezy, but it has great play value. The wooden door that comes with the oven just sits in front of the oven's opening. It also comes with a wooden spatula to take the bread in and out of the oven which is made of a nice glazed wood and two rolls of bread- one white and "unbaked" and one brown and "baked". These rolls add a lot of play value to the set.

New to the set is a woven yellow and red tablecloth/runner. Its very cute and well made- thick. It also contains a small woven basket which can hold either the two plastic red chiles or the bundle of maize (corn) that the set comes with. It also has a set of "stones" (made of out plastic) called a mano y metate which are used to grind corn and grains. Adds another element of play value to the set. It also includes a small piece of soft leather (fake) and I'm honestly not sure what its for- I use it to put the bread on it when it comes out of the oven.

Overall its a very cute set with a lot of play value. Especially since the cocina set was retired long ago, I'm glad they brought back elements of it in this set. For the price of it, you get a lot of things. I do wish the oven didn't feel so fake and plastic, but I'm not sure what really could have been done to change that.
Otherwise, I give the set an A.

[Wickfield]

The leather cloth is to seal the gap between the oven and the door.

[sheltiesweetie2007]

The mano and metate in the current set are different than the ones that were included in the Cocina Set. The current ones definitely seem plastic, versus my old set that felt heavier and more like stone. The reason I purchased this set was for the oven - which I missed the first time around and don't think I have the skill to make it myself. The other things that come with the set I could probably live without.

[emchhardy]

AmericanDreams wrote up a pretty comprehensive review. I too was confused by the leather cloth. I am using it as a liner for the basket. This set does have good play value but agree that the oven itself looks kind of cheesy. I'm not impressed by the oven (would have preferred more of a clay type feel to it instead of smooth plastic) but the other pieces to this set are very well done. I especially like the woven runner and basket. My DD and DS thought the set was "cool" so I think kids may have a different opinion on it than adult collectors. It does work well with Josefina and does remind me of the ovens I saw as a child going to the pueblos in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

[Candace]

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.

[Wickfield]

I actually have to disagree with Candace on this one - there are quite a few differences between the two sets, so I wouldn't necessarily buy the Oven and Food set as a direct replacement for the earlier set.

First of all, this oven is a different color than the other set's oven. I actually prefer the color of this one, which has a more realistic pinky-clay tone compared to the more yellowish color of the original. However, it is lacking in the details of the original; the "smoke" trails are very clearly airbrushed (and they come across as purple because of the pink of the oven), and the fire inside is not painted to resemble embers like the original oven.




However, the paddle does fit in both of them without tilting it sideways.


The unbaked loaves of bread are basically the same in both sets, although my earlier set has more rubbery loaves, whereas this one is harder plastic. The baked loaves are colored differently -
Original bun on left, Oven and Food bun on right


As you can see, the coloring on the original is more yellow (mine actually has some damage to the top so please disregard green streaks ) and the newer one is actually better and looks tastier.

Finally the corn. Also different - the original corn has larger, more irregular kernels (I only have this sole survivor which came in a lot) and a shinier finish, and it also appears to have had a real husk stem at some point. The newer corn has plastic stems and a different kernel pattern.


I actually think this set has several strengths and it is definitely fun to play with. Even though the mano/metate are plastic now they still look realistic (and have more weight than I was expecting), the fresh chiles are a nice contrast from her dried paper chiles, and you have a chance to get the oven again. Basically, if you don't have the original this one is a fine substitute but just know that they aren't identical.