Back then people sat down to meals together around a table (it's that thing in the corner with four or six legs). The food was boring, home (and often terribly) cooked. Everyone in the house ate the same meal at the same time (how very odd). It was pie, or meat, or fish, or sausages on most days and on Sundays it was roast beef, pork, lamb or a chicken (chicken was the most expensive meat back then and lamb probably the cheapest). Vegetables were overcooked slop (and seasonal) and mashed potato was served with everything except on the days (Friday if you were a left-hander) when you had fish (haddock or cod fried in batter with chips preferably).
Spaghetti came in cans, fish fingers were a luxury, everybody had school dinners, puds were tinned fruit and custard or sponge and suet puddings (with even more custard), or occasionally Angel Delight (posh) and sometimes (on a Sunday and even posher) there just might be a trifle (made with custard). Sandwiches were home-made from cheese, ham or hard-boiled eggs, the salad was floppy and grown in the back garden, fried eggs with chips and beans was a regular tea, liver and onions (whether you liked it or not) was good for you, stews, sausage and mash, bread and jam, homemade cake, egg and bacon for breakfast and everyone drank tea with every meal and not that foreign wine stuff.
There were no takeaways (except a fish supper from the chippy) No Indians, no Chinese, and certainly no Thais or Arab kebaby food muck. Burger bars were rare. There was no McDonald's or Kentucky and what exactly is a pizza? Food was not delivered to your door in shiny foil or plastic containers, no huge flat boxes containing cheese on toast (Italian style) and food was something your mum cooked for tea (beans on toast usually).
Waste was NOT ALLOWED, so you ate it all (or else). Fruit from the shops was a treat (and often came in tins). Scrumping apples was a National pastime. Rabbit was easy to come by (and delicious). Some people (mainly farmers and gamekeepers) ate pigeon, partridge, and pheasant (other stuff too, black feathery stuff). We all ate roadkill (when we were lucky enough to hit it) and If you went river fishing then you cooked and ate your catch (usually pike). Oh, and Eels were a delicacy.
If you went to a restaurant (special occasions only) you would have a chewy steak (well done) or half a chicken (good Berni Inn fodder). There were no Michelin Star Restaurants outside of London. Prawns were tiny and came in a prawn cocktail on a bed of limp lettuce and a sauce made from salad cream, ketchup and paprika. Nobody ate mayo (nobody even knew what it was - they left the 'r' of mayor didn't they? I don't really like mayor with my prawns).
Nuts and tangerines were for Christmas (dates too) and strawberries only appeared for about two weeks in the Summer, then vanished from the greengrocers. Yes, we had greengrocers, and butchers, and bakers, and fishmongers, and cheesemongers, and sweet shops, and fresh eggs in paper bags. The high street was our one-stop-shop (with lots of stops and a woven willow shopping basket). In short, it was a different food landscape. Have I painted the past foodie picture well enough?
No matter how you look at it though, it was a huge step up from rationing and all that digging for victory. In contrast today the world is your oyster (not the cheap oyster of the 18th century either, those days when oysters were so plentiful and cheap that they were fed to the pigs), but an oyster nonetheless. Now, you can get anything you want, any time, and delivered to your door if you choose.
Well, you could, But maybe things are about to change and there could be some big upsides to this strange scary mess.
The countryside and streets might not be littered with takeaway wrappers, boxes, tin cans and cartons (in my day litter was lolly sticks and bottles that we took back to the offie to get the deposit). Coffee may become a drink once again and not an expensive status symbol for twats. Water could even just be water once more (you know the stuff that comes out of the tap). Up your arse restaurants serving tiny portions of foam and squiggles on plates could struggle and go to the wall (they are really unnecessary and pointless in food terms). The wonderful world of tinned food (so long forgotten and mocked by people who follow ridiculously expensive powdered drink trendy diets) may have a resurgence (it's nutritious and tasty and keeps forever). Perhaps people will even roll back their poxy plastic grass and start growing vegetables instead. People may learn to cook again, perhaps even make their own sandwiches, who knows, who knows, who knows?
One thing is for sure though, if we went back to how it once was people's health would improve generally and silly girls and women (mainly) would not obsess about what they eat to the extent where they think being a stick is beautiful (sticks are just sticks). It's going to be interesting.
More tea Stan?
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