EATING 50/60 YEARS AGO – BET YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN MOST OF THEM

[Chad]

For those who are old enough to remember - enjoy.

For the rest - it's a history lesson...!!

Very surprising how time and memory has taken its toll.

Have things really changed this much in our time?

---------------------------------------------------
EATING IN THE UK IN THE FIFTIES
   
Pasta had not been invented.
   
Curry was a surname.
   
A takeaway was a mathematical problem.
   
A pizza was something to do with a leaning tower.
   
Bananas and oranges only appeared at Christmas time.
   
All crisps were plain; the only choice we had was whether to put the salt on or not.
   
A Chinese chippy was a foreign carpenter.
   
Rice was a milk pudding, and never, ever part of our dinner.
   
A Big Mac was what we wore when it was raining.
   
Brown bread was something only poor people ate.
   
Oil was for lubricating, fat was for cooking
   
Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves and never green.
   
Coffee was Camp, and came in a bottle.
   
Cubed sugar was regarded as posh.
   
Only Heinz made beans.
   
Fish didn't have fingers in those days.
   
Eating raw fish was called poverty, not sushi.
   
None of us had ever heard of yoghurt.
   
Healthy food consisted of anything edible.
   
People who didn't peel potatoes were regarded as lazy.
   
Indian restaurants were only found in India.
   
Cooking outside was called camping.
   
Seaweed was not a recognised food.
   
"Kebab" was not even a word never mind a food.
   
Sugar enjoyed a good press in those days, and was regarded as being white gold.
   
Prunes were medicinal.
   
Surprisingly, muesli was readily available, it was called cattle feed.
   
Pineapples came in chunks in a tin; we had only ever seen a picture of a real one.
   
Water came out of the tap, if someone had suggested bottling it and charging more than petrol for it they would have become a laughing stock.
   
The one thing that we never ever had on our table in the fifties .. was elbows!

[Leman]

We used to have curried mince, with raisins added, with rice in the fifties. I remember the first time I had yoghurt - it was Ski in 1968. Agree with most of the rest, although we certainly had bananas regularly, including with custard. We only ever had grapes after the Harvest Festival service.

[Hertsblue]

Golden Syrup was the big treat at tea. Wind it around the knife and then spread it on your bread and butter. And being in Devon, real clotted cream thickly spread on bread. 

[Steve J]

Love it .

[Fenton]

Was the person who originally compiled this living in a hole somewhere?

[Rob]

Sorry to be politically incorrect (it's an age thing) but what I really miss is mothers/wives & women in general that can cook at home. That want to, and have the time to make delicious meals without resorting to ready made alternatives.

I know that is an over generalisation but these days the skills are not so wide-spread among modern women, and they don't have the time or just do not want to do it.

I am not trying to say how women should behave. I am saying what I miss. I cannot help how I was brought up. I cannot help remembering going to friends and aunties houses and being presented with a delicious meal as normal within 10 minutes of arriving. I cannot help being spoilt by my mothers cooking.

How I miss home made bread and butter pudding, lemon meringue pie, jam tarts, butterfly cakes, apple crumble, rhubarb pie, rice pudding with a skin on it, proper Yorkshire pudding, pancakes, strawberry flan, mashed potato with milk and proper butter, fry ups, bubble and squeak, and dare I say it home-made dripping on toast.

Cheers, Rob  

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

You could always make it yourself.....

IanS

[Leman]

There's no great mystery to cooking, despite what the burks on TV might seem to insist. Get some recipes, some ingredients and follow the instructions. after a while some recipes become second nature. More often than not these days it's less a case of can't and more a case of can't be arsed.

[Ithoriel]

Pasta, in the form of mac 'n' cheese, was a staple; curry was a treat; a takeaway came from the fish & chip shop; a pizza was something we got at my auntie's; bananas and oranges were staples of the fruit bowl along with apples, most crisps were plain, flavoured one a treat; pudding rice was a milk pudding, "long" rice went with curry; wet was what you got when it was raining ( ); brown bread was good for you - eat it up; oil for cooking meant you'd been somewhere "furrin" probably during the war or you were a foreign war bride; tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves except at my auntie's where it might be Earl Grey or Gunpowder Green (both of which I still drink with great relish); Camp Coffee was kept in the kitchen for the dire emergency of vistors when we'd run out of the real thing (coffee granules); cubed sugar was on the table for the evening meal and found in cafes; Heinz made baked beans that weren't as good as homemade Navy Beans in Tomato Sauce; fish did indeed have fingers in those days and they regularly formed part of lunch though fish was never eaten raw; yoghurt were things the Mongols lived in ( ), food was something you ate or you didn't leave the table; people who didn't peel potatoes were called fathers; Indian restaurants were only found in the local big town; cooking outside was an invitation to midges to eat YOU; seaweed was fertilser not food; "Kebab" was not even a word never mind a food; sugar was "pure, white and deadly"; prunes were breakfast, prune juice was medicinal; surprisingly, muesli was readily available, it was also breakfast, though only at my auntie's; pineapples came in rings in a tin; we had only ever seen a real one at various posh relatives houses; but water did indeed come out of the tap, if someone had suggested fluoridating it they would have become a laughing stock.
   
The things that we never ever had in the fifties were choice, quality and unadulterated food ... thank god I don't still live then!!

[sebigboss79]

Agreed there was some shortcomings but then again so is there today.

"Convenience food" where there are more lies and chemistry involved are a matter of today, not the past. Although being one of the more junior members here do argue "the old ways" of having a garden and grow your own stuff.

Only way to be sure.

[SV52]

There's no great mystery to cooking, despite what the burks on TV might seem to insist. Get some recipes, some ingredients and follow the instructions. after a while some recipes become second nature. More often than not these days it's less a case of can't and more a case of can't be arsed.

The mystery lies in getting it right - any fool can cook, but is what they cook always edible?  Fish is the prime example.  Equally, is turning out a perfect medium steak something anyone can do?

[Leman]

Yes. Never had a cookery lesson in my life, but always willing to give it a try. If it goes wrong give it another go. Too many blokes still unwilling to embrace equality.

[Fenton]

Experimentation is the key...Couldnt be bothered going to the shops one day so tin of chopped tomatos made into a masala sauce with added spices and a tin of sardines in tomato sauce added to it  ...with a side dish of wrapped vines leaves and some crusty bread it was lovely

[Subedai]

Agree with all of them on the list. My old man was a squaddie and had various postings around the globe, so I've had a rather eclectic culinary upbringing (although my first taste of 'curry' was a Vesta boxed version). One of the best meals I ever remember was boiled fish and boiled rice made by our maid in Hong Kong, plain but stunning. Even now I am quite happy to boil up some rice and open a tin of sardines. My mother's bread or rice puddings were to die for and her pastry...I'm salivating just thinking about the taste of it.
   Like Fenton I will experiment, if it works then great, if it doesn't then don't make it again. My son will go to the fridge and cupboards and after 2 seconds will announce we have nothing to eat; I will go to the same places and pull out a tin of tomatoes, chopped bacon, mushrooms and some pasta and ten minutes later we have a meal. Fortunately, I really enjoy cooking foreign food, especially Indian, Chinese, Italian or even Tunisian/Moroccan. Plus some of the combinations I have eaten and still eat on occasion  get a rousing chorus of Yeuchs from everyone else. I mean, have you ever tried mash, cabbage, fried bacon and fried egg with the oil poured over your mash? Stunning stuff.
   Back in our day, home cooking was the order of the day and recipes and techniques were passed down from mother to daughter. Nowadays, with a lot of women/wives/girlfriends working there is hardly any time to cook even if they felt inclined to do so; it's a real shame that these skills are slowly being lost and the takeaway or fast food joint is king.
  I will always try and but the fresh or at least raw ingredients because these ready meals have got so many 'E' numbers, preservatives and chemicals in them I'm convinced a diet of that stuff promotes illnesses and maybe even obesity.

[mollinary]

Anyone remember faggots?  No sniggers please!  I seem to remember even Birdseye produced them, before hamburgers were even thought of?  And I remember Salami being available from our local butcher, and it was a bright rose red colour!  Also, all salad consisted of hard boiled egg, sliced in a mandolin, lettuce, luncheon meat, a slice of tomato, and Heinz salad cream.  It took me twenty more years to find out that it was not set out in holy writ.


Mollinary