# Eating in the uk in the fifties



## autostratus (May 9, 2005)

I came across this on another forum and thought it would interest those of "a certain age".


EATING IN THE UK 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 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, 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."


Tracy Anne


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## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

Do you have to keep repeating things.

What you missed was the first fresh salad of the season gave you violent diarrhoea but was treated as an annual medicine to 'clear you out'. 
Having a plateful of sliced beetroot in vinegar for tea gave you bright red poo and pee next morning....such fun!
You also missed fat bacon, pig's head brawn and rabbits.

Never, ever heard of having turkey to eat. Never even saw one before 1968.


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## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

I recognise it all - and I am only 73:surprise:

You left out the ration book still there in early fifties.

Geoff


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

Chilli was what you got in the winter.

All pepper was white. 

Coffee came out of a bottle and was called "Camp"

We had Chitterlings (chitlins) once a week and Rabbit for dinner on a Sunday .....It was called dinner but we ate it at lunchtime !!

No one drank Wine but if they did it was always sweet, even the red... and it came from Spain ( late 50s)... France was still in a mess so there was not much French wine about.

Sherry came out of a barrel and was drunk from a schooner.

Beer was 9d a pint ..... ( I lived in a pub then so I remember the drinks)

Just remembered an advertisement from then .... "Do 'ave a Dubonnet" :grin2:


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## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

'Champagne' at Christmas was Babycham (Dry or Sweet) 
Bags from shops were paper
Choke was a knob you pulled out to start a cold car.
Beer was draught or in bottles
Cans were tins with a lining - never buy a dented one- lining broken, tin poisoning.



I am trying to think about what was around that is still sold.

KitKat

Bovril

Can you still get Polos?

Quality Street chocolates.

Clark's shoes

Rolls Royce


Happy days

Geoff


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## Matchlock (Jun 26, 2010)

Bovril was a luxury, we used to have an OXO cube in a cup with bread for dunking, Sunday dinner at 2pm (after the pubs had closed) was usually rabbit, dad used to go out early and catch one.
Breakfast before school was usually a dripping sandwich, a bonus if you got the jelly with it as well, in the winter it was pobs.
Sunday tea was at 5:30pm and was generally tinned salmon with a salad, well I say salad if you count a bit of lettuce, spring onion, beetroot and cucumber marinated in vinegar as salad and as a treat in the summer ice cream in a tub when the van came round at 6 oclock.
But you try and tell the young people today that... and they won't believe ya.

Barry


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## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

Our Sunday tea was toast, grilled on a brass toasting fork(no toasters in them days), in front of the fire spread with dripping and the jelly - yummy. I still make sometimes but the toast from the toaster does not taste as good as from the open fire:wink2::smile2:


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

I can't remember that far back!

In the children's homes we would have bread and butter and an orange for tea

Once a week tripe

I would sit in front of it for hours, I just couldn't eat it

Then I was sent to bed for disobedience , come to think of it I was sent to bed constantly

Spent a lot of my childhood in bed on punishment

The house master had hers with chips at the head of the table

We were not worthy of chips!!!

We had the same meal each day of the week, can't remember which day was tripe, but I was sad the whole day

Aldra


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