Eating in the Fifties in UK.

[Yorky]

Eating in the Fifties in UK

Pasta had not been invented.
Curry was a surname.
A takeaway was a mathematical problem.
A pizza was something to do with a leaning tower.
Bananas and oranges only appeared at Christmas.
All crisps were plain. You could decide whether to add salt or not.
A Chinese chippy was a foreign carpenter.
Rice was a milk pudding. Never, ever part of a main dish.
A Big Mac was what we wore when it was raining.
Brown bread was something only poor people ate.
Oil was for lubricating. Lard was for cooking.
Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves. They were never green.
Coffee was Camp. And it came in a bottle.
Cubed sugar was regarded as posh.
Only Heinz made beans.
Fish didn’t have fingers.
Eating raw fish was called poverty. Not sushi.
We had never heard of yoghurt.
Healthy food consisted of anything edible.
People who didn’t peel potatoes were considered lazy.
Indian restaurants were only found in India.
Cooking outside was called camping.
Seaweed was not a recognised food.
“Kebab” was not even a word, never mind food.
Sugar was regarded as being “White Gold”.
Prunes were medicinal.
Muesli was readily available. It was called cattle feed.
Pineapple came in chucks in a tin. No-one had seen a real one.
Water came out of a tap. If anyone had suggested bottling it and charging more for it than petrol, they would
have been a laughing stock.

The one thing we never had on the table was our elbows!

 

[sidevalve]

So true In fact for the early part of that decade we still had rationing Even so despite not having all the modern "essential" foods so vital to health we did seem to be quite healthy

 

[classic33]

For some, sea weed would have been a recognised food, Fillisk. If I've got the spelling correct.

 

[Morning Glory]

Some of the above is not quite true (though amusing). For example:

Birds Eye started in the US when inventor Clarence Birdseye developed the freezing process, and in the 1930s launched the first line of frozen foods. In 1955, Birds Eye says, fish fingers were produced at a company factory in Great Yarmouth and sold to the public.

Curry has been around in the UK for a very long time. The first curry recipe in English was published by Hannah Glasse in 1747. Curry powder was widely available in the 50's. Queen Victoria employed Indian members of staff to cook Indian food on a daily basis. She even had on of the State Rooms at Osborne House decorated with an Indian theme by a highly regarded Punjabi architect.

The first Indian restaurant opened in the UK in 1810.

Pizza (whilst not taking off here until the 70's) was popular in America long before the 50's.

Laverbread (a traditional Welsh dish which probably dates back to the 1600's) is made from seaweed.

 

[jennyb]

I barely remember eating in the 50's. I was just about 4 when the 60's started so my childhood memories include fish fingers. Not pasta though except macaroni and spaghetti but we didn't call that pasta. I think I can remember flavoured crisps - cheese and onion. Perhaps they were introduced in the 60's.

 

[sidevalve]

Some of the above is not quite true (though amusing). For example:



Curry has been around in the UK for a very long time. The first curry recipe in English was published by Hannah Glasse in 1747. Curry powder was widely available in the 50's. Queen Victoria employed Indian members of staff to cook Indian food on a daily basis. She even had on of the State Rooms at Osborne House decorated with an Indian theme by a highly regarded Punjabi architect.

The first Indian restaurant opened in the UK in 1810.

Pizza (whilst not taking off here until the 70's) was popular in America long before the 50's.

Laverbread (a traditional Welsh dish which probably dates back to the 1600's) is made from seaweed.

Possibly however we have to take into account the reality of [ie the vast majority] peoples lives - for example
Curry - available yes, to a few who perhaps wanted it but to 90% of the population not really. The days of the empire were long gone and I would suspect it was more widely consumed here in the 1850s than the 1950s [queen Victoria doesn't really count and retired colonels from the subcontinent were rare by then] and most men remembered the NAAFI canteen more than any idea of India
Pizza - in America maybe but here, as you admit - not until the 70s
Lavabread -even in Wales it was pretty rare in the 50s - more people eat it now than for the last century because it has become "retro traditional"
Finally as I mentioned with rationing continuing until 1954 [something most people seem to forget] only basic food was usually available anyway.

 

[Morning Glory]

Possibly however we have to take into account the reality of [ie the vast majority] peoples lives - for example
Curry - available yes, to a few who perhaps wanted it but to 90% of the population not really. The days of the empire were long gone and I would suspect it was more widely consumed here in the 1850s than the 1950s [queen Victoria doesn't really count and retired colonels from the subcontinent were rare by then] and most men remembered the NAAFI canteen more than any idea of India
Pizza - in America maybe but here, as you admit - not until the 70s
Lavabread -even in Wales it was pretty rare in the 50s - more people eat it now than for the last century because it has become "retro traditional"
Finally as I mentioned with rationing continuing until 1954 [something most people seem to forget] only basic food was usually available anyway.

Yes - you are quite right. And sadly perhaps, I remember the 50's very well!

These are the important items missing for me during the 50's (and the 60's):
Garlic
Olive Oil
Chilli
Fresh herbs (except mint which we seemed to have). We had dried mixed herbs. Nothing else.
Shellfish. This is probably to do with my family as I'm sure people in coastal fishing areas or in the East End/Essex/Kent (shellfish stall tradition) ate shellfish.
Olives
Anchovies
Spices (we had ground cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg). No cumin, coriander, turmeric. I could go on listing the spices we didn't have...
Soft cheeses. We had Cheddar and a quite a lot of other hard cheese but I can't recall soft cheeses.

 

[Duck59]

One of the Blandings novels by PG Wodehouse details a recipe for lobster curry. The book was published in 1915. Interestingly, the owner of the cookery book quoted in the novel was American.

 

[Morning Glory]

One of the Blandings novels by PG Wodehouse details a recipe for lobster curry. The book was published in 1915. Interestingly, the owner of the cookery book quoted in the novel was American.

There is another old reference for Lobster curry I seem to remember... I'll look it up.

 

[classic33]

Some of the above is not quite true (though amusing). For example:

Birds Eye started in the US when inventor Clarence Birdseye developed the freezing process, and in the 1930s launched the first line of frozen foods. In 1955, Birds Eye says, fish fingers were produced at a company factory in Great Yarmouth and sold to the public.

Curry has been around in the UK for a very long time. The first curry recipe in English was published by Hannah Glasse in 1747. Curry powder was widely available in the 50's. Queen Victoria employed Indian members of staff to cook Indian food on a daily basis. She even had on of the State Rooms at Osborne House decorated with an Indian theme by a highly regarded Punjabi architect.

The first Indian restaurant opened in the UK in 1810.

Pizza (whilst not taking off here until the 70's) was popular in America long before the 50's.

Laverbread (a traditional Welsh dish which probably dates back to the 1600's) is made from seaweed.

Pizza: Gennaro Lombardi opened "G. Lombardi's", the first pizzeria United States, in 1905 at 53 1/3 Spring Street in New York City.
If your "pizza" has to have toppings, then history will date it back to the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Curry: Appeared in some English kitchens before 1200AD, with evidence to support the Moors bringing everything required as early as 40AD.

Indian Restaurant
In 1810, Dean Mahomed, established the Hindoostane Coffee House at 34 George Street, the first Indian restaurant, by an Asian in England. It closed the following year.
The first appearance of curry on a menu was at the Norris Street Coffee House, Haymarket, London in 1773.

However as pointed out by @sidevalve, how much of these would have been available to the average family, in the 50's?

In 1922, Birdseye conducted fish-freezing experiments at the Clothel Refrigerating Company, and then established his own company, Birdseye Seafoods Inc., to freeze fish fillets with chilled air at -43 °C (-45 °F).

In 1924, his company went bankrupt for lack of consumer interest in the product. That same year he developed an entirely new process for commercially viable quick-freezing: packing fish in cartons, then freezing the contents between two refrigerated surfaces under pressure. Birdseye created a new company, General Seafood Corporation, to promote this method.

In 1925, his General Seafood Corporation moved to Gloucester, Massachusetts. There it employed Birdseye's newest invention, the double belt freezer, in which cold brine chilled a pair of stainless steel belts carrying packaged fish, freezing the fish quickly. His invention was subsequently issued as US Patent #1,773,079

In 1927, he began to extend the process beyond fish to quick-freezing of meat, poultry, fruit, and vegetables.

In 1927 Birdseye had patented frozen fish fingers in the UK.

 

[Morning Glory]

Good work @classic33.

 

[Morning Glory]

One of the Blandings novels by PG Wodehouse details a recipe for lobster curry. The book was published in 1915. Interestingly, the owner of the cookery book quoted in the novel was American.

This wasn't was I was looking for but it is a gem (if a tad sexist):

Poem to Curry - William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 – 1863)

Three pounds of veal my darling girl prepares,
And chops it nicely into little squares;
Five onions next procures the little minx
(The biggest are the best, her Samiwel thinks),
And Epping butter nearly half a pound,
And stews them in a pan until they’re brown’d.

What’s next my dexterous little girl will do?
She pops the meat into the savoury stew,
With curry-powder table-spoonfuls three,
And milk a pint (the richest that may be),
And, when the dish has stewed for half an hour,
A lemon’s ready juice she’ll o’er it pour.

Then, bless her! Then she gives the luscious pot
A very gentle boil - and serves quite hot.
PS - Beef, mutton, rabbit, if you wish,
Lobsters, or prawns, or any kind fish,
Are fit to make a CURRY. ‘Tis, when done,
A dish for Emperors to feed upon.

(Punch, November 28, 1846)

 

[classic33]

Good work @classic33.

I knew the fish fingers were not long after the First World War, Interrupted his work in America and Canada. Some of which remains classified.

 

[Elawin]

I was brought up on curry (my granddad spent a lot of time in India), and we used to eat vermicelli rather than spaghetti or other pasta. And we did have a real pineapple once at Christmas time. We also had Hovis rolls - you remember, the ones that looked like miniature loaves. You used to buy olive oil from the chemists.

 

[sidevalve]

We also had Hovis rolls - you remember, the ones that looked like miniature loaves

Were they delivered by a lad on an enormous shop bike riding up a steep hill ?