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Food in the Fifties

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#1
Food in the Fifties


* 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, ketchup and brown sauce if we were lucky.

* Soft drinks were called pop.

* Corona bottles had money back

* 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.

* Bread and dripping was normal.

* 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.

* Sugar tongs never left the drawer.

* Figs and dates appeared every Christmas, but no one ever ate them.

* Sweets came from big jars in a sweet shop.

* 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. (What are leftovers?)

* 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 what the Eskimos did, not sushi.

* Ready meals only came from the fish and chip shop.

* Then there was Vesta - or was that the Sixties?

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* We bought milk and cream at the same time in the same bottle.

* All school children had a bottle of milk at play time. Free.

* 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.

* Peaches only came as slices in a sweet syrup in a tin. On birthdays.

* 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 in cooking.

* 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 fifties, "Elbows"
 

p.risboy

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#2
A mixed bag of nuts, was my family, as well as a food.:2fun:

Sliced bread, was sliced from a loaf.

Marg, was my sister in law.

A flymower, was a bad gardener.

Skimmed milk was stolen, from the churns by the roadside.

Dripping on toast, was not melted butter.
 
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jay

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#4
Emails; texting; faxing etc had not been invented. We had just two choices of television channels; most of us went to Sunday School and children's cinema on a Saturday morning was the highlight of the week. :D
 

p.risboy

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Emails; texting; faxing etc had not been invented. We had just two choices of television channels; most of us went to Sunday School and children's cinema on a Saturday morning was the highlight of the week. :D
Where's the food in texting etc..:2fun::2fun:

Pop corn in the cinema in the 1950's.....now that was a treat.:biggrin:
 

jay

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#6
Where's the food in texting etc..:2fun::2fun:

Pop corn in the cinema in the 1950's.....now that was a treat.:biggrin:
There isn't ... I was just taking a trip down Memory Lane but if it is food you want : rabbit stew (before myxamatosis); properly sized mars bars; frozen milk in the winter with the cream half an inch above the top of the bottle ... imperial measurements; strawberries in the summer; blackberrying in the autumn. :p
 

duckweed

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#8
Curry was definitely there in the 50s but it came out of a small tin which you used to make a paste with.

Christmas dinner didn't have turkey unless you were very wealthy. Salmon came in tins.

Vegetables were boiled till soggy.
 

leefer

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#10
For some bizarre reason i remember being given soggy bread with hot milk on when ill while living at the childrens home....is there anything worse than soggy bread...you know like when the corner of your toast is wet:eek:

Scrumps were a delight and sometimes if you were lucky you got the odd chip in with them....i also remember going to Dairyfresh the bakers to buy broken biscuits for a penny....i used to live on them.
 

joaning

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#11
Bread 'n' milk,with treacle,I remember it well.Bread boiled in milk until it was like porridge.:2fun::D
"Blanc Mange," remember the glue we made for craft, by boiling cornflour and water until it was thick, try that with powdered milk and treacle...:eek::eek:
Memories are made of this...:rolleyes:

:)Joan
 

duckweed

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#13
we had real coffee but in very tiny cups. Tea was leaf only. Sugar in lumps. Milk in glass bottles that the milkman took back and the foil tops we made into bird scarers.

No supermarkets. You went to the grocers and were served at the counter.
 

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