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For those old enough to remember what eating was like in the UK in the 1950’s (and I do!)….
- 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 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 and jam was a treat.
- 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, but no one ever ate them.
- 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.
- Soup was a main meal.
- 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 unheard of.
- Sauce was either brown or red.
- Fish was only eaten on Fridays.
- Fish and chips was always wrapped in old newspapers, and definitely tasted better that way.
- Frozen food was called ice cream.
- Nothing ever went off in the fridge because we never had one.
- Ice cream only came in one flavour, vanilla.
- None of us had ever heard of yoghurt.
- Jelly and blancmange was strictly party food.
- Healthy food had to have the ability to stick to your ribs.
- Indian restaurants were only found in India.
- Cheese only came in a hard lump.
- 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 but it was obvious that they would never catch on.
- 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!!!