Eating in the UK in the 1950's

For those who can remember and those youngsters who never knew:


* Pasta had not been invented.
* Curry was an unknown entity.
* Olive oil was kept in the medicine cabinet
* Spices came from the Middle East where we believed that 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, anything else was regarded as being a bit suspicious.
* 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 mixed with coal to make it last longer.
* 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.
* Spaghetti was a small town in Bolognese.
* A microwave was something out of a science fiction movie.
* Brown bread was something only posh people ate.
* Oil was for lubricating your bike not for cooking, fat was for cooking
* Bread and jam was a punishment.
* Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves, not bags.
* The tea cosy was the forerunner of all the energy saving devices that we hear so much about today.
* Tea had only one colour, black. Green tea etc. was not British.
* Coffee was only drunk when we had no tea.
* Cubed sugar was regarded as a bit of an over kill.
* Figs and dates appeared every Christmas, but no one ever ate them.
* Sweets and confectionery were called toffees.
* Coconuts only appeared when the fair came to town.
* Black puddings were mined in Bolton Lancashire.
* 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.
* The menu consisted of what we were given and was set in stone
* Only Heinz made beans, any others were impostors
* Leftovers went in the dog.
* Special food for dogs and cats was unheard of.
* Sauce was either brown or red.
* 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 yogurt.
* Jelly and blancmange was only eaten at parties.
* If we said that we were on a diet, we simply got less (more for us).
* Healthy food consisted of anything edible.
* Healthy food had to have the ability to stick to your ribs.
* Calories were mentioned but they had nothing at all to do with food.
* The only criteria concerning the food that we ate were, did we like it and could we afford it.
* People who didn’t peel potatoes were regarded as lazy so and so’s.
* Indian restaurants were only found in India .
* A seven course meal had to last a week.
* Brunch was not a meal.
* Cheese only came in a hard lump.
* If we had eaten bacon lettuce and tomato on the same sandwich we would have been certified
* A bun was a small cake back then.
* A tart was a fruit filled pastry, not a lady of horizontal pleasure.
* The word" Barbie" was not associated with anything to do with food
* Eating outside was called a picnic.
* Cooking outside was called camping.
* Seaweed was not a recognised source of food.
* Offal was only eaten when we could afford it.
* Eggs only came fried or boiled.
* Hot cross buns were only eaten at Easter time.
* Pancakes were only eaten on Pancake Tuesday, in fact in those days it was compulsory.
* "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 that they would never catch on.
* The phrase "boil in the bag" would have been beyond our realms of comprehension.
* The idea of "oven chips" would not have made any sense at all to us.
* The world had not yet benefited from weird and wonderful things like Pot Noodles, Instant Mash and Pop Tarts.
* We bought milk and cream at the same time in the same bottle.
* Sugar enjoyed a good press in those days, and was regarded as being white gold.
* Lettuce and tomatoes in winter were just a rumour.
* Most soft fruits were seasonal except perhaps at Christmas.
* 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 didn’t eat Croissants in those days because we couldn’t pronounce them, we couldn’t spell them and we didn’t know what they were.
* We thought that Baguettes were a serious problem the French needed to deal with.
* Garlic was used to ward off vampires, but never used to flavour bread.
* Water came out of the tap, if someone had suggested bottling it and charging treble 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."
* Joints were eaten on Sundays and not smoked on Friday nights
* The one thing that we never ever had on our table in the fifties, "Elbows

 

How the times have changed !

 

Before my time but alot still exists down the Lolimac line....ie...Hot cross buns only eaten at Easter,Loose tea,Pancakes only on pancake day...i could go on
Loli the Luddite

 

Happy days.

 

..................and now that Christmas is over, you can bet that next week the Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns will be on the supermarket shelves already.....................

 

Was only saying the other day, Tea was on the table (and eaten at the table) about 6 ish, no starter,no pud,no choice. We had a proper dinner every night, money was tight with 4 children but we never lacked for food. We had the most delicious meals, I struggle to try to re-create.

 

I'm not even that old but I can remember some of the being true. Some of it is lies though, for example the fish on fridays one. My dad reckons fish and seafood in general was a regular staple, with my dad and his brothers (my uncles) regularly being sent to collect winkles and crabs out of the rocks. Imagine that nowadays, sending kids out on algae/seaweed covered rocks that just out to sea, with the very real risk of being cut off by the tide if you time it wrong, and no mobile phones if you get stuck. Social services would be straight round. My dad tells me they were also sent on their pushbikes once a week to go and buy eggs from a farm some 20 miles from where they lived.

 

And the Haloween stuff.

 

Do people actually get travel sick in a car anymore??

 

My mum always used a bilious attack as my reason for being off school . Its a term you don't hear much these days.
I think that the hugely improved suspension system on modern cars makes car sickness very rare. It used to be mandatory for some kid to projectile vomit on any journey of over 8 miles.

 

To be fair I think we had swede and parsnips as well.