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I think this may have been posted before but it's still serviceable and worth another look:

EATING IN THE UK - IN THE FIFTIES

* Pasta was only available in Italy
* 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
* 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
* 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 put on the fire
* 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, fat was for cooking
* Bread and jam was a treat
* Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves and never green
* Instant Coffee was Camp, and came in a bottle
* Proper Coffee was ground in the shop to order and was made in a percolator.
* 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
* 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, 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 - white - and one flavour - ice cream
* 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
* People who didn't peel potatoes were regarded as lazy
* Indian restaurants were only found in India
* Brunch was not a meal
* 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
* Eating outside was a picnic
* Cooking outside was called camping
* Seaweed was not a recognized food
* Pancakes were only eaten on Pancake Tuesday
* "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 they would never catch on
* 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 was called POM.
* Sugar enjoyed a good press in those days, and was regarded as being white gold.
* Lettuce and tomatoes in winter were only found abroad
* 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 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 and if you were lucky the tap was in your house, otherwise it could be down the road a piece. 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!

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My wife read this topic a while ago and found it interesting, she copied content and took it to a care home where she volunteers to help with activities. Most of the ladies have dementia, but when she

This is my sons wine rack. He has over 300 different labels. this is the main cellar    

Just been talking to my son. The half bottle of wine on the shelf Brew is as you said someone has been having a nip or three and also as I said a wine tasting. When customers go to see the cellars the

My wife read this topic a while ago and found it interesting, she copied content and took it to a care home where she volunteers to help with activities. Most of the ladies have dementia, but when she started reading from the list everybody remembered some of it and could relate. Can not remember who first posted it but she says thank you, something that will not seem very much to some made a happy afternoon for elderly ladies. Keep up the good work memories mean a lot.

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Thank you Alan.

Would greatly appreciate any memories from these ladies.

Stan2me @94yrs "They say I have a bad memory, WHY I CAN REMEMBER WHEN I WAS FIVE YEARS OLD!"

Mick2me "Yes Dad, What did you have for your dinner"

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Sorry Mick forgot to mention I now live in the north east so local memories will be no use. My wife says that one memory all ladies have is going to Sunday school! Are there still Sunday schools ?

Hi Alan - yes, a few - but not many in the big league like there would have been in, say, the first half of the 20th century. Down here in South Devon we manage about 15 on a good day with a following wind! Around the early 60s my sister went to a methodist Sunday School in Sawley, and at the anniversary I guess there would have been 70 or 80 taking part.

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i thinkin a lot of churchs the modern term is childrens church have never seen anyony advertizing sunday school aniversaries anymore.

welcome alan

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  • 4 weeks later...

Sorry Mick forgot to mention I now live in the north east so local memories will be no use. My wife says that one memory all ladies have is going to Sunday school! Are there still Sunday schools ?

Our church still has a Sunday school :)

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  • 7 years later...

I don't think such things as takeaway pizzas in boxes even existed in those days, young Trogg.

 

They certainly didn't have such things on the menu in the Pytagoras Tea Room, as run by Al Gebra and his violin case-toting cronies. "Ya messa wi da cucumber sandwiches...we blowa ya head off!"  

 

Most of what Al Gebra said was a complete mystery to me...and still is:blink: but I preferred his Mafiaesque tones to the nerve shattering, Ian Paisley impersonations of Barmy Colleen.

 

Perhaps she'd have liked a pizza in a box.  I thought she was more deserving of a custard pie in the face! :P

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4 hours ago, radfordred said:

Why is pizza round, served in a square box & cut into triangles :crazy:  

 

To eat easily when you get it home and you don't get covered in tomato and melted mozzarella and because you can't cut triangles from a square shape. Just enjoy it and don't try to complicate life when you're hungry.

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7 minutes ago, nonnaB said:

because you can't cut triangles from a square shape

 

Wow, when did they change the rules of geometry nonna?    :rolleyes:

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Jill and Brew yes I know but wasn't thinking when I posted. I realized after I'd posted. But you get the drift. Anyway pizzas are always round unless you get a family pizza or even a frozen pizza when they are oblong and just to complicate matters there's elephant shapes and teddy bear shapes. Which do you prefer?:rotfl:slywink

 

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Pizza is Italian and Italy is the home of Il Papa, the Vatican and Roman Catholicism, so I'm sure Barmy Colleen of The Manning School maths department would have approved of it!  She would have been quite capable of spending an entire lesson telling us that Protestants shouldn't be permitted to eat it! No matter what shape it was.

 

That aside, I'm quite partial to pizza, but it has to be very, very thin crust and covered with yummy cheese and herbs. The best ones were to be had at The Pizza Place years and years ago, in my opinion. No one else came up to their standard.

 

 

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Pizzas are so different wherever you go. We have at least 4-5 pizzerias in our area. Some are ok, some are ugh and some are " I could eat another one that was so good".

I too like a crispy crust with a topping of not too much tomato, enough mozzarella ( in the case of pizza 4 stagioni when there are 4 different cheeses) and NO herbs they spoil it. Only herb that is permitted is basil in the tomato sauce. Certainly no oregano it's too bitter for me.The neoplolitan  pizza is supposed to be the best and the nearest that we can get is a pizza base called Pinsa. Which is a large oval fluffy part baked dough which you finish at home. It is really nice and very useful to have fresh ( 2 in a pack) or if you're not going to use them immediately put them in the freezer. Once they are topped and put in the oven they crisp up and it's like eating crispyclouds with pizza taste. ( if that sounds ok)

The other week I bought a frozen pizza to store in the freezer in case of ( don't want to cook) . That occasion arrived the other day. I have tried frozen pizzas before and I don't like them they go too dry but this one was a brand that was new to me. Ok I thought , it's a deep pan pizza probably too much so I'll leave the other half for breakfast tomorrow. ( usually more tasty) well it came out of the oven and the smell was lovely,  I started to eat it and finished it. It was so light, the only thing missing was the beer to go with it.

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Here we go, I like pizza but it has to be good. As I said frozen pizzas are rubbish but to eat a good pizza  you have to go to a dedicated pizzaolo who chooses his flour wisely and leaves the dough to do it's job in sometimes 72 hrs. Then taste the difference between Pizza Hut, frozen pizzas and those slices you find in bread shops.

Come on pizzas are best eaten in Italy and fish and chips are best eaten in Great Britain out of a newspaper obviously. I long for a bag of fish n chips but unfortunately they aren't the same here even if we do them ourselves.smile2:rulez:

ps we all have our likes and dislikes but until you try things you never know what you're missing. My daughter is trying to get me to eat tripe. She never liked it until she had to cook it in her restaurant , now she loves it. One day she will bring some home for me and sit and watch me eat it. Ooohhh dear.

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1 hour ago, philmayfield said:

You’ve not missed anything. All supermarket pizzas are rubbish. You may get a decent one if you go into a dedicated pizzeria but quite frankly it’s junk food. I await the comments from the dedicated pizzerati!

 

Phil it's no more junk food than a sandwich.  Pizza, - bread , tomato, cheese, ham , or veg topping and a sprinkling of olive oil. Where you would put butter. You get all your carbs and fat in one dish. I like both but it's nice to go out to,eat a pizza for a change instead of cooking one at home. :)

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Only ever eaten a pizza in Nottingham when there was the pizzeria at London rd island. We went there with Conti and none of us could eat it.

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