Tuesday, 11 June 2013

Eating in the Fifties

I have been incredibly silent on the blogosphere of late, but I return to you with some quirky, thought provoking sentences. Food and the way we eat has changed a lot over the years, in fact, it's changed a surprising amount. Here's a humorous take on what eating was like in the 1950's; 

"Curry was a surname.
 Olive oil was kept in the medicine cabinet.
 Spices came from the Middle East where they were used for embalming.
 Herbs were used to make rather dodgy medicine.
 A takeaway was a mathematical problem.
 Bananas and oranges only appeared at Christmas time.
 The only vegetables known to us were spuds, peas, carrots and cabbage.
 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 ketchup and brown sauce if we were lucky.
 Soft drinks were called pop.
 Coke was something that we put on the fire.
 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.
 Bread and jam was a treat.
 Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves and never green.
 Coffee was Camp, and came in a bottle.
 Cubed sugar was regarded as posh.
 Figs and dates only appeared at Christmas.
 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.
 Only Heinz made beans.
 Leftovers went in the dog.
 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 newspapers.
 Frozen food was called ice cream.
 Ice cream only came in one colour and one flavour.
 Jelly and blancmange was only eaten at parties.
 Healthy food consisted of anything edible.
 Indian restaurants were only found in India .
 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.
 The word "Barbie" was not associated with anything to do with food.
 Cooking outside was called camping.
 Seaweed was not a recognised food.
 Pancakes were only eaten on Pancake Tuesday
 "Kebab" was not even a word never mind a food..

 The phrase "boil in the bag" would have been beyond comprehension.
 The idea of "oven chips" would not have made any sense at all to us.
 The world had not heard of Pot Noodles, Instant Mash and Pop Tarts.
 Sugar enjoyed a good press in those days, and was regarded as being
 white gold. Prunes were medicinal.
 Surprisingly muesli was readily available in those days, it was called
 cattle feed. Pineapples came in chunks in a tin; we had only ever seen a picture of a real one.
 Mushrooms were an occasional treat.
 We never heard of Croissants; we certainly couldn't pronounce it.
 We thought that Baguettes were a problem the French needed to deal with.
 Garlic was used to ward off vampires, but never used to flavour food.
 Water came out of the tap, if someone had suggested bottling it and
 charging more than petrol 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."