Eating In The Uk In The Fifties

[McMouse]

* 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.
* 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.
* 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 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.
* 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 in 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 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

[VHG]

>>>Pasta had not been invented.

Pasta is over 1,000 years old.

[SueMoneyRowley]

Most of these comments are a load of rubbish!

[hc4361]

It is posted in the jokes section and is tongue in cheek.

Much of it is true, though. My grandmother never ate McDonalds, pasta or curry. Nor kebab.

[Svejk]

Yes Sue Moaney, I was brought up in the sixties & I can assure you most of them were still true.

[Svejk]

Also VHG, I expect rickshaws had been around for centuries but funnily enough we never saw one.

[pastafreak]

VHG
>>>Pasta had not been invented.

Pasta is over 1,000 years old.

OI!! I was[i invented...but I'm not [i]that] old.....geeeee

[Mosaic]

We ate 'curry' at home with boiled rice, a habit picked up by great-gramps in Indiaaaah. Sharwoods curry powder in a tin that smelled of...tin.
We also had spaghetti - the long dried sort.
Maybe living near the docks made a difference.

Olive oil though...a tiny bottle from the chemist....

[DSJ]

My mother often made curry with leftover meat in the 1950s. We ate it with ordinary white rice.

[missprim]

This made me giggle as I remember all these very well although not too sure about bread and jam being a treat I'm sure we had that, we definitely had bread and dripping.
My Mum (born 1912) couldn't even pronounce pizza and quiche when they first appeared in the shops.
Jelly was a treat that was eaten when Aunties came to tea and the ones who were diabetic brought their own!
The first curry eaten in our house came in a box, I think it was called Vesta. Wonder if you can still buy that.

[Zeuhl]

/The first curry eaten in our house came in a box, I think it was called Vesta. Wonder if you can still buy that. /

Yes you can. £1.50 from all good supermarkets
And they still sell the Vesta Chow Mein complete with Crispy Noodles and a sachet of Soy Sauce

[missprim]

That's the one we used to have Zeuhl Chow Mein with crispy Noodles. Might look out for them and try them for old times sake.

[RATTER15]

Many are very true, some are just amusing lol

[SUMAT28]

I remember it well and the only sweet and sour we knew was rhubarb and custard

[marval]

I like it, I hated Camp coffee