EATING IN THE UK IN THE FIFTIES

Joined
2 Feb 2011
Messages
4,785
Reaction score
561
Location
Bristol
Country
United Kingdom
EATING IN THE UK IN THE FIFTIES
* Pasta had not been invented.
* Curry was a surname.
* Olive oil was kept in the medicine cabinet
* Spices came from the Middle East where they were used for embalming
* Herbs were used to make rather dodgy medicine.
* A takeaway was a mathematical problem.
* A pizza was something to do with a leaning tower.
* Bananas and oranges only appeared at Christmas time.
* The only vegetables known to us were spuds, peas, carrots and cabbage,
* All crisps were plain; the only choice we had was whether to put the salt on or not.
* Condiments consisted of salt, pepper, vinegar and brown sauce if we were lucky.
* Soft drinks were called pop.
* Coke was something that we put on the fire.
* 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.
* A Pizza Hut was an Italian shed.
* A microwave was something out of a science fiction movie.
* Brown bread was something only poor people ate.
* Oil was for lubricating, fat was for cooking
* Bread and jam was a treat.
* 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.
* Figs and dates appeared every Christmas, but no one ever ate them.
* Coconuts only appeared when the fair came to town.
* Jellied eels were peculiar to Londoners.
* Salad cream was a dressing for salads, mayonnaise did not exist
* Hors d'oeuvre was a spelling mistake.
* The starter was our main meal. Soup was a main meal.
* Only Heinz made beans.
* Leftovers went in the dog.
* Special food for dogs and cats was unheard of.
* Fish was only eaten on Fridays.
* Fish didn't have fingers in those days.
* Eating raw fish was called poverty, not sushi.
* Ready meals only came from the fish and chip shop.
* For the best taste fish and chips had to be eaten out of old newspapers.
* Frozen food was called ice cream.
* Nothing ever went off in the fridge because we never had one.
* Ice cream only came in one colour and one flavour.
* None of us had ever heard of yoghurt.
* Jelly and blancmange was only eaten at parties.
* If we said that we were on a diet, we simply got less.
* Healthy food consisted of anything edible.
* People who didn't peel potatoes were regarded as lazy.
* Indian restaurants were only found in India .
* Brunch was not a meal.
* If we had eaten bacon lettuce and tomato in the same sandwich we would have been certified
* A bun was a small cake back then.
* The word" Barbie" was not associated with anything to do with food.
* Eating outside was a picnic.
* Cooking outside was called camping.
* Seaweed was not a recognised food.
* Pancakes were only eaten on Pancake Tuesday
* "Kebab" was not even a word never mind a food.
* Hot dogs were a type of sausage that only the Americans ate.
* Cornflakes had arrived from America but it was obvious they would never catch on.
* The phrase "boil in the bag" would have been beyond comprehension.
* The idea of "oven chips" would not have made any sense at all to us.
* The world had not heard of Pot Noodles, Instant Mash and Pop Tarts.
* Sugar enjoyed a good press in those days, and was regarded as being white gold.
* Lettuce and tomatoes in winter were only found abroad.
* Prunes were medicinal.
* Surprisingly muesli was readily available in those days, it was called cattle feed.
* Turkeys were definitely seasonal.
* Pineapples came in chunks in a tin; we had only ever seen a picture of a real one.
* We never heard of Croissants we certainly couldn't pronounce it,
* We thought that Baguettes were a problem the French needed to deal with.
* Garlic was used to ward off vampires, but never used to flavour food.
* 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.
* Food hygiene was all about washing your hands before meals.
* Campylobacter, Salmonella, E.coli, Listeria, and Botulism were all called "food poisoning."
* The one thing that we never ever had on our table in the fifties …. elbows.
 
Sponsored Links
* A takeaway was a mathematical problem, unless it was fish and chips.

* The one thing that we never ever had on our table in the fifties …. elbows. Plus, pasta, curry, olive oil, anything with spices, herbs, vegetables other than peas, carrots and cabbage, flavoured crisps, cola, burgers, mayo, fish fingers, sushi, frozen food apart from vanilla ice cream, yogurt, seaweed, kebabs, hotdogs, pot noodles, instant mash, pop tarts, french breads and morning goods.

;)

But a lot of that is inaccurate, as my old Gran used to make macaroni cheese in the 50's.

She bought tinned spaghetti for her kids as a treat in the early 30's, so I guess it was around before then.

She used to grow all sorts during the war, including beans, asparagus and brussels.

And of course she used herbs.

Fridges and freezers did become more widely available and affordable in the fifties, but our family did not get one until well into the 60's.
 
I think you are painting a bleaker picture than I remember

* Spices came from the Middle East where they were used for embalming
No, not at all. We had nutmeg (used on egg custards, mmmmm!), cinamon, cloves, ginger (parkin!) and a few more as well as packs of pickling spices used to make pickled shallots and onions although pepper was invariably white and came ready ground

* Herbs were used to make rather dodgy medicine.
Again, not true. The range was more limited, but I can recall rosemary (pork), basil, thyme, parsley and sage (stuffing, what else) in regular use

* A takeaway was a mathematical problem.
Only because chippies and pie shops weren't called that. Being brought-up in a remote district our "chippie" was in the back of a mobile van that came on Tuesdays and Fridays!

* Bananas and oranges only appeared at Christmas time.
By the late 1950s that certainly wasn't the case. I vividly recall helping my mum make mountains of marmalade in September/October every year when the surplus of marmalade oranges from the factories in Dundee came on the market for a short while. Jams, too, from our allotment (raspberry, strawberry, goosberry, redcurrant, blackcurrant) not to mention a lot more exotic stuff like greengaga or damson if the greengrocer had overstocked and it was going soft. Bananas were available, too, but only at certain times of year and always labelled "Fyffes"

* The only vegetables known to us were spuds, peas, carrots and cabbage,
And turnips, swedes, cauliflower, marrowfat peas (mmm, lovely sloppy), runner beans and long beans as well as onions and leeks. We did have a sort of mange-tout at the beginning of the season served-up with butter - but nobody used a fancy foreign name for it and on bonfire night there were always black-eyed peas whilst in summer there was lettuce, tomatoes and spring onions but never cucumber

* Condiments consisted of salt, pepper, vinegar and brown sauce if we were lucky.
But you've missed out Lea & Perrins Worcester sauce, mustard picalilli, Coleman's English mustard, pickled onions (proper ones) AND salad cream in summer

* Brown bread was something only poor people ate.
Nah! Brown bread was HOVIS! It was a health food (along with Ryvita)

* Bread and jam was a treat.
Again, not by the late 1950s

* Coffee was Camp, and came in a bottle.
Or if you were lucky, was instant (Maxwell House)

* Special food for dogs and cats was unheard of.
Kit-e-Kat was the first, again in the late 1950s. It stank to high heaven!

* For the best taste fish and chips had to be eaten out of old newspapers.
And cooked in dripping, These days you need to go to Dublin to get it that way

* Prunes were medicinal.
Which is why we got them at school once or twice a week - to keep us regular. If it didn't work there was always California Syrup of Figs or in dire circumstances BP Paraffin

* Turkeys were definitely seasonal.
You must have been rich, then. All we got at Christmas was a chicken

Food was very seasonal because we had no fridges and shopping was a daily chore for many women. Because of the cost I don't think my family were alone in having an allotment and growing a lot of our own food, so much so that I never tasted a factory-made jam until I was into my teens. Almost everything we ate was cooked at home with a lot of cheap cuts like mutton, shin and oxtail - some things I hated, others I've loved ever since, but I wouldn't want to go back to it, thanls very much
 
Sponsored Links
why do people eat turkey, its horrible (horrible is the wrong word, bland i think is what i meant), if high in trytophan. Nice lump of sirloin roast for me...... that's a christmas dinner.
 
I remember my grandmother making jam every summer. Raspberry, Plum, Strawberry, Blackcurrant jelly, Apple jelly. Bramble jelly. She even made her own rosehip syrup. Meat at dinnertime though, usually meant any of the cheaper cuts of beef,lamb pork etc. My mum used to make her own soups. My favourites were Kale, Chicken and Rice, Lentil, and Stovies.
Saturday dinnertime, we used to sit down to jellied veal rolls. Jellied veal from the butchers in a buttered bread roll. I must admit I've not seen jellied veal since the early Seventies. ;) ;)
 
why do people eat turkey, its horrible (horrible is the wrong word, bland i think is what i meant), if high in trytophan. Nice lump of sirloin roast for me...... that's a christmas dinner.

+ 1
 
Not necessarily.

We had a capon last Christmas (well, all of us except me) that could have given Mike Tyson a run around!
 
And Mum could cook a 3 course Christmas dinner from scratch using only a Baby Belling and a pressure cooker.

Nowadays people need a 'range' to heat a tin of soup.

It hadn't changed much by the 70s although the fresh pineapple was quite widespread. I remember the arrival of the Avocado Pear.
 
why do people eat turkey, its horrible (horrible is the wrong word, bland i think is what i meant), if high in trytophan. Nice lump of sirloin roast for me...... that's a christmas dinner.

guess its beef then this year, ill put the sprouts on a low light tomorrow, :p
 
Sponsored Links
Back
Top