70s food

[ladyofastolat]

We watched a programme last night in which a family were "sent back in time" to 1950, and made to cook and eat as a British family in 1950 would. Year by year, they moved through the decade, getting newfangled products at the appropriate times. It was a bit gimmicky, but I found it rather interesting. Next week, they're moving into the 60s, and

Comments

[learnsslowly]

Rennet is occasionally asked for by examination boards for Biology practical - 7 years ago we could still buy it quite economically in local supermarkets in the UK, but we haven't been able to in my area for the last few years.
Slightly overawed when I started secondary school in 1978 and my new friend asked if I would be OK eating quiche. I had no idea what it was, but say yes to be polite, reporting back to my family that it was "like a flan but didn't taste of much." It was my first encounter with Earl Grey tea, too.
In the 70's salad was lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, radishes, and sometimes grated raw carrot, sliced cold hard boiled eggs, sliced beetroot and cress or mustard and cress. Never cold rice or pasta.
I think it's years since I've seen a radish in a salad and I seldom see cress.

cold rice

[bunn]

In the 70's my mother regularly used to make 'rice salad' - a cold rice dish with tuna, tomato, cucumber and salad cream. It was such a family staple that I was amazed in the late 80's to discover that there were people who didn't eat it.

Re: cold rice

[ladyofastolat]

We used to have "rice salad" which was just cold rice, chopped apple, raisins and tomato. I can't remember when this was, though; possibly not until the mid 80s. And when I visited home while away at university, I was often sent back with an old Vitalite tub* of pasta salad.

* So ubiqitious and useful were these re-used Vitalite tubs that I used to worry about what on earth I would use to store food in when I was big and grown-up, given that I hated the stuff and planned to only ever buy Lurpak butter for as long as I should live.

Re: cold rice

[bunn]

We moved to Devon when I was 12, and I can definitely remember eating rice salad in Swansea, so it would have to be at least very early 80's. But I don't remember the discovery of rice salad, in the way I remember the Arrival of Quiche, the First Mango or the Discovery of Duvets.

My memory is that Rice Salad Was Always Eaten, which seems like it ought to push it back to around 1975-ish at least.

[ladyofastolat]

I remember my Mum buying some Early Grey tea at some point in the 80s, presumably getting it as an experiment since (presumably) it was the new big thing and everyone was talking about it. We both tried some, and concluded that it tasted "just like washing-up liquid."* We never tried it again.

* A fact that I can confirm, since many years later, I went and chucked a teabag into a dirty mug, not noticing that Pellinor had put some lemon-scented cleaning fluid into it to clean away the tea stains. When I came to drink the resulting tea, I said, "Yuck! There must be a rogue Earl Grey tea bag in this packet!" I still drank it, though. I do not advise this.

As for salad, I remember an American friend being horrified at the "salad" that came with a pub lunch (c. 2000, this was) which was basically just lettuce, cucumber and tomato. But, conversely, I was overwhelmed by the salads on offer in America, when the waitress threw questions about dressings to me, and I had no idea what any of them were, but was expected to make a choice.