Eating in Nottingham in the 50`s


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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.

* 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.

* Special food for dogs and cats was unheard of.

* Sauce was either brown or red.

* Fish was only eaten on Fridays.

* Fish didn't have fingers in those days.

* 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 and one flavour.

* None of us had ever heard of yoghurt.

* Jelly and blancmange were only eaten at parties.

* 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 sos.

* 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 in the same sandwich we would

have been certified

* A bun was a small cake back then.

* A tart was a fruit filled pastry, not a lady of horizontal pleasure.

* Eating outside was called a picnic.

* Cooking outside was called camping.

* Seaweed was not a recognised food.

* Eggs only came fried or boiled.

* Hot cross buns were only eaten at Easter time.

* Pancakes were only eaten on Shrove Tuesday - 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.

* The world had not yet benefited from weird and wonderful things

like Pot Noodles, Instant Mash and Pop Tarts.

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

* 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.

* 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 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 fifties .

elbows

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a lot of truths in that but one or too thingsi would contradict what do others think ie

mayonaise exsited a long way before salad cream

a lot more vegitables but most home grown

we always thought brown bread for posh people

bread and jam a every day thing to fil you up but it would be homemade jam

eggs at our house also poached my favorite or scrambled

i loved figs and dates still do

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Fried jam sandwiches - magic. You did a normal jam sandwich with a couple of doorsteps, spread with butter and a thick coating of jam. Then you dipped them in batter and deep fried them. Normally the batter was left over from cooking fish. Sounds simple, but wow weren't they yummy. Had to be eaten hot.

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When i was growing up in Gedling our dad and some of his pals used to take us kids out mushrooming on sunday mornings,probably to get us out of the way while mam cooked dinner,chased by bulls more than once,what a sight,all the men laughing and running only looking back to us kids when we reached the gate,10 people and 1 gate abit of a scramble,next day we had bacon or sausage never both not that well off and creamed mushrooms or blue buttons,i have just had that meal here in West Mids and all my lovely Notts memories are always with me right the way through the meal,did anyone else have that same meal, as my hubby,a wolverhamptoner had never seen it until he met me.

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Carni, you didn't get to wear your Sunday best and go to Sunday School? Tut. We used to go to Castlegate Congregational Church, often taking a short cut through the "bombed buildings" on Listergate in defiance of our parents strict orders not to.

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Hi alisoncc,The mushrooming escapades were often very early mornings,we had to go early so no one got to them before us,i think really it was to give mam a little break from us all,we did go to Sunday School but that was later in the day.

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my brother kept ferets and was always down the field rabiting or shooting pheasants so would often bring a bag of mushrooms back too we would have rabbit stew or pies made with field mushrooms as well as pheasantsand the odd wild duck we also had a lot of wild duck eggs at this time of yearhe would swim over to the islands with a bag canvas in them daysand raid some of the eggs from the hests.

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Hi piggy and Babs,sorry i cant remember were the school photo is on Nottstalgia but if you can find it i think i am 4th from left front row blonde hair,next to dark haired girl who is taller than me even tho we are sitting down you can tell, can you tell me were the photo is if you find it,i am still not sure how to do things on the site i am,a bit of a twerp sometimes.

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carni thinking back to gedling school pic is your name john

Hi,finally found where i put the school photo,it is in All other nottm school discussions, page 3, under the name Gedling school class photo,I am 4th from left first row,do you know me,I left Notts in 1966.

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