Credit for the pie's invention is claimed by Nigel Mackenzie and Ian Dowding, the owner and chef respectively of the former Hungry Monk Restaurant in
Jevington,
East Sussex, England. They said they created the dessert in 1971, basing it on a San Francisco recipe for "Blum's Coffee Toffee Pie", which used
milk jam, a soft toffee made by boiling an unopened can of
condensed milk for several hours. Mackenzie and Dowding found they were unable to perfect the recipe consistently, and after trying various changes including the addition of apple or
mandarin orange, Mackenzie suggested banana and Dowding later said that "straight away we knew we had got it right". Mackenzie suggested the name "banoffi pie", and the dish proved so popular with their customers that they "couldn't take it off" the menu. The recipe was published in
The Deeper Secrets of The Hungry Monk in 1974, and reprinted in the 1997 cookbook
In Heaven with The Hungry Monk. Similar recipes were adopted by other restaurants throughout the world. Dowding stated that his "pet hates are biscuit crumb bases and that horrible cream in
aerosols". It was
Margaret Thatcher's favourite food to cook. The word
banoffee entered the English language, used to describe any food or product that tastes or smells of both banana and toffee. File:The Hungry Monk, Jevington, East Sussex - geograph.org.uk - 2434941.jpg|The Hungry Monk Restaurant,
Jevington,
East Sussex, whose staff Nigel Mackenzie and Ian Dowding introduced banoffee pie File:JomzzT.V Pubmat (1).png|A served banoffee pie File:Banoffee.jpg|Banoffee pie with banana on top ==See also==