Eating In The Uk In The Fifties

[Ron Tao&Sky]

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 to the 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.
How many can remember this or some of them ??

 

Enjoy ......Ron

[Rosemary]

Yeah Ron, I wasn't around in the fifties, but the sixties were pretty much the same in SA.  We ate well - the food tasted so good and we all sat down at the same table and at the same time for meals.  We cleaned our plates, never, ever left anything for the dogs - they had their own pot on the stove  

 

Sigh ... the good ol' days 

[basketcase687]

Yes indeed

The good old days when a phone was a phone !!

Nice one Ron

[raindog]

Ha Ha!! I remember most of those from my childhood Ron. Mind you, we did have curry at home though - it was totally disgusting. My mum had "walked out" with a musician before the war (Maurice and his double bass) and, as a result had enjoyed a brief period of the posh life. Maurice played in a famous dance band and socialised in the West End. On one date, he took my mum to Veeraswami's - the first Indian Restaurant in the UK where she was introduced to the delights of Indian food. She was so taken with the food that years later, she used to try to emulate the experience for us kids by making her own version of curry. Unfortunately it was an unmitigated disaster. What she did was make an ordinary English Beef stew and mix curry powder into the gravy. Then she added sultanas and apple to the mix (for that exotic feel) and expected us to eat it. After that I avoided curry until my 21st birthday in 1969 when my friends took me to an Indian Restaurant for dinner and I discovered the real wonders of Indian food.

[Mollys Dad]

Much of that sounds familiar from the 70s, but maybe that is what you get for growing up in the Fens