Eating in England in the 60's

[Jega]

* 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 with suspicion.
* 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 lemonade.
* Coke was something that we mixed with coal to make it last longer.
* Rice was a milk pudding, and never, ever part of our main course at 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.
* 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.
* 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: any others were impostors.
* Leftovers went in 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.
* Ready meals only came from the fish-and-chip shop.
* 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.
* If we said that we were on a diet, we simply got less food.
* Healthy food consisted of anything edible.
* 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.
* If we had eaten bacon lettuce and tomato in the same sandwich we would have been certified.
* Eating outside was called a picnic.
* Cooking outside was called camping.
* 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 Shrove Tuesday – in fact in those days it was compulsory.
* The phrase "boil in the bag" would have been beyond our comprehension.
* The idea of "oven chips" would not have made any sense at all to us.
* 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.
* 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 or spell the word and we had no idea 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".
* The one thing that we never ever had on our table in the sixties … elbows

[chrisjpainter]

but we was 'appy...

(or at least, I would have been. Not being born until the 80's was a bit of a problem for remembering the 60's. Also missed out on the music. booo)

[pistolgrip]

Ah the good old days, buzz bombs and rickets

[Harnser]

In a good pub you could get a cheese roll and a pickled egg . Saw the beetles in norwich in 62 and was more interested in the local talent than I was in the band . I thought they were rubbish .

 

Harnser

Edited September 14, 2014 by Harnser

[fortune]

I love it. "A big Mac was what we wore outside when it was raining".

[loriusgarrulus]

We also had ginger beer and dandelion and burdock fizzy drinks, delivered by an open back lorry with Corona on it. This was a friday night treat if we had been good.

The TV was black and white and there was children's hour not about 10 channels for children's programmes.

[vole]

A Bender was a toasted frankfurter bun from Wimpy . Daft name but delicious .

[Old farrier]

Not to mention

The smell of a paraffin heater

All the best

Of

[Kes]

Interesting but I enjoyed it and the girls who always had 'modern ideas' and pointy bra's. It did make many things special having seasonal foods and we imported less and farming prospered.

There were more trees and hedgerows, more wildlife, better shoots, and no mobiles. There was also the music and the freedom.

[Scully]

The only exception to the list is that my Dad, having served in Palestine, Egypt etc towards the end of the war, loved figs and dates, and would eat the lot at Christmas.

We had a tin bath hung on the coal house shed wall outside, and my Dad would drag it in each Sunday night and place it in front of the fire then my Mam would fill it from the tap after boiling the water on the cooker. The little girl from next door would come round and together with my sister all three of us would get in.

Happy days. Would I swap them for what we have now....would I ****!

The worst smell I can remember regarding cooking, was the bloody pressure cooker hissing and burbling away for the Sunday roast each weekend. Still hate cabbage to this day.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Scully

[newarcher]

chicken in the basket, then the first Chinese opened in our town ,and what did we border chicken and chips!

Edited September 14, 2014 by newarcher

[loriusgarrulus]

My sister and I going down the local river with a jam sandwiche and a water bottle with cossy and towel and staying out all day in the Summer holidays.

Camping with a Green Goliath ridge tent and the site only having a cold tap and a bucket toilet on a farm.

Edited September 14, 2014 by loriusgarrulus

[islandgun]

Sunday dinner consisting of roast beef, pork, or lamb, no chicken, home grown veg, (those first earlies ! ) listening to family favourites ? on the home service, bfpo . sunday tea ham on the bone salad, followed with strawberries and carnation milk,

 

 

Later in the sixties discovering girls before tights were invented,

[39TDS]

Interesting but I enjoyed it and the girls who always had 'modern ideas' and pointy bra's. It did make many things special having seasonal foods and we imported less and farming prospered.

There were more trees and hedgerows, more wildlife, better shoots, and no mobiles. There was also the music and the freedom.

My family made their money producing out of season soft fruit. Now you can have strawberries on Christmas day at buy one get one free if you want.

I don't think it is an improvement for anybody, their value has gone in more ways than just money.

 

Sit down fish and chips with a mineral water was a rare treat. Equivalent to dining at the finest restaurant today.

 

"Leftovers went in the dog" Not in our house, they went back in the pan with a bit more potato for the next days meal.

[fendrover90]

Can you imagine chittlings being served up to today young uns

[timmytree]

That brings back great memories!

Our cottage kitchen had an aga type range but also a cooker ring run on a bottle of paraffin, combine that with the toilet that was behind a curtain in the corner of the kitchen and the pong could be incredible! I remember staying at an uncles farm when I was 7 and being given a shotgun, may have been a .410 to keep the starlings off the fruit trees, the starlings went in a pie.

My favourite food was steak and kidney pudding made with real suet, jam roly poly, chips cooked in a proper fire blackened pot in lard.

Sausages that tasted like they should, Uncle Bill putting clotted cream on his roast dinner. Fat bacon for breakfast on a Saturday morning and bread fried in the fat.

Kids of today are missing out!

[keg]

Hmmmm... Jumpers for goalposts wasn't it hmmm.

 

I was born in 1966 and it was Ben Shaws for us rather than Corona and he sold "Blue Pop"

[feaks]

What about spam or was that more of a 70s thing along with soup in a basket?

[Blackpowder]

A well thought excellent post, and here was me thinking I was the only ancient old buffer on this forum. However the OP forgot to mention the pretty frost patterns on the inside of the bedroom window each frosty morning. Seriously though food seemed to taste better, we grew our own, veg scraps helped feed the pig which produced manure to grow the next crop. Hens put eggs on the table and a plump bird at Christmas and New Year, rabbits were abundant along with wild crops of fruit and mushrooms. But especially the freedom of summer outdoors during the 50's. Priceless!

 

Blackpowder

[Lord Geordie]

Boil in the bag! That was boil washing underwear wasn't it?

[pigeonblasterian]

Toast made over an open fire and the bread used to bend in half on the toasting fork.

[Grandalf]

I was in the army through most of the sixties.

When I went home on leave I used to get fed up with my Dad saying how the country had gone to the dogs and how life was much better before the war. (1930's for you young'uns).

[islandgun]

Less is more, there are some very spritely 80/90 yr olds on the island, who spent most of their life eating porridge, boiled mutton stew , potatoes, fish and oatcakes, their children are in worse shape than them, with allergies and intolerances, also the oldies enjoy a wee dram and wouldn't drink beer or wine because of the impurities

[four-wheel-drive]

To me the best thing about the 50s and 60s was that we only had BBC1 and ITV and most of what they showed was rubbish so instead of just having tea and sitting down to watch TV we did gardening or made stuff in the shed or if we could afford one tinkerd or cleaned the car or went out playing or watching local sport or even just stood talking to our neighbours over the garden fence but most of all we did not just sit there getting fat.

[timmytree]

Sunday dinner consisting of roast beef, pork, or lamb, no chicken, home grown veg, (those first earlies ! ) listening to family favourites ? on the home service, bfpo . sunday tea ham on the bone salad, followed with strawberries and carnation milk,

 

 

Later in the sixties discovering girls before tights were invented,

Tights were awful!

Loved the stockings and suspenders, that bit of flesh at the top of the leg we called the "giggle zone" because we reckoned if you got your hand that far you were laughing!