EATING IN THE UK IN
THE FIFTIES
Pasta had not yet come to
Britain.
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, runner beans,
carrots, swede, parsnips, sprouts
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 tomato or HP 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 microwave was
something out of a science fiction movie.
Brown bread was
something only poor people ate.
Oil was for
lubricating your bike not for cooking, fat was for cooking
Bread, butter and jam
was a treat; it was either bread and butter, or
bread and jam.
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 was not British.
Coffee was only
drunk when we had no tea….. and then it was Camp, and
came in a bottle.
Cubed sugar was regarded as posh.
Figs and dates
appeared every Christmas.
Coconuts only
appeared when the fair came to town.
Salad cream was
a dressing for salads, mayonnaise did not exist.
Hors d'oeuvre
was a spelling mistake.
The menu
consisted of what we were given, and was set in stone.
Only Heinz made
beans, there were no others.
Leftovers went
in the dog, never in the bin.
Special food
for dogs and cats was rare.
Sauce was
either brown or red.
. Mustard was only yellow
and English.
Fish was only
eaten on Fridays.
Fish and chips
was always wrapped in old newspapers, and definitely
tasted better that way. We were
not allowed to eat them in the street.
Frozen food was
called ice cream.
Nothing ever
went off in the fridge because we never had one.
None of us had
ever heard of yoghurt.
Jelly and blancmange
were usually party food.
Healthy food
had to have the ability to stick to your ribs.
Indian
restaurants were only found in India .
Cheese was
usually Cheddar.
A bun was a
small cake that your Mum made in the oven.
Eating out was
called a picnic.
Cooking outside was
called camping.
Eggs only came
fried or boiled.
Hot cross buns were
only eaten at Easter time.
Pancakes were
only eaten on Shrove Tuesday – and on that day it was
compulsory.
Cornflakes had
just arrived from America.
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.
Prunes were
purely 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.
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 only about washing your hands before meals.
Campylobacter,
Salmonella, E.coli, Listeria, and Botulism were all
called "food poisoning."
However, the one thing that we
never ever had on our table in the fifties ….
ELBOWS!!!
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