Back In Time For Dinner Bbc2

[Ann]

Did anyone watch this programme at 8pm tonight? A family is "going back in time" by year through the 50s and 60s etc experiencing life as it was in those days, particularly in the kitchen and eating the food which was around then.

Tonight was the 50s - how pathetic - they didn't know how to open a tin with a tin opener??? What??? Also the teenage children said "Yuk" to bread and dripping - still a rare luxury in my house!! and to pilchards ..... the same brand are still around today and I regularly buy them. The mother tried to make a jelly which obviously was a disaster as it didn't set (why didn't she use less water if she was short of time?) She went next door to use their fridge (can't remember fridges around in the early 50s, all we had was a "meat safe" and we kept milk in a bucket of water. After I married in 1968 we didn't have a fridge until the following year) The family ate liver as if it was poison, and National Bread which was a staple part of the diet in those days (which looked perfectly acceptable but they pulled faces)
In the programme they said a high proportion of households watched the Queen's coronation on a TV - but as a child at Primary school we walked down in classes to see it at the local cinema as nobody I knew had a TV in 1953.
As the programme reached 1959 the Shadows hit "Dance On" was playing but I'm sure that came out in 1961?

Will be interesting to see what they make of the 1960s in next week's programme - OH and I were disputing facts, and shouting at the TV (Wrong! or good grief what's the matter with you, eat that up, get it down you mi lad!!! ) LOL ;)

[woofgang]

She did say she was Jewish when she was cooking the bacon. I think that part of the point was to get a family who didn't remember the time and therefore couldn't remember how they managed, and in particular, to have a wife who had no experience of being a housewife. The National bread might have looked alright but that's not the first program where its indigestibility has been commented on. It was also never sold on the day it was baked as this wasn't allowed. Day old bread sliced more easily with less waste.

[DaisyNonna]

Sorry Jack, my mother would never have been seen in a headscarf, still less with curlers underneath.
*** good cook though.

[pastafreak]

Where did it say that the mother is Jewish?

[Ann]

My Mum didn't wear a headscarf and curlers while cooking either but she did wear a nylon overall, as did my Mum in law.

[pastafreak]

Ah...just saw your answer...crossed posts!

[Ann]

She said it herself Pasta, she said "what am I doing cooking bacon, I'm Jewish but it smells so good I could eat it"

[woofgang]

Jackdaw where did you live? My mother and her friends would never have dreamed of going around in curlers. While she would wear an apron for working, she would always be dressed tidily to go out and for most of the day at home in case visitors came (no phone then, they would just turn up). We were deffo a working class family, albeit an educated one. Shads actually published "Dance on in 1963"
I was quite surprised to see all that dripping though as I understood that fat of any kind was in short supply. Surely she could have fried the boiled potatoes?

[pastafreak]

Ha! I did hear that...but had the volume low so missed the Jewish bit. Hilarious!

[DaisyNonna]

No overall either.
Wouldn't nylon be too warm to wear whilst cooking?

[Ann]

I think most housewives in the 50s were good at cooking, my Mum made amazing Victoria sponges, Battenburg cake, wedding cakes and steamed suet puddings etc. She also salted all our homegrown runner beans in kilner jars to preserve them - health and safety eat your heart out at the sight of all those layers of salt (unhealthy?) which was sliced off a huge block of salt - and we are still here to tell the tale!!

[DaisyNonna]

No point in buying liver if most of the family won't eat it.
Dad's leftovers to feed 3 kids and mum? Profligate cooking for dad.

[Jackdaw33]

Women would not go out dressed like that, but if there was a knock at the door my mother would take her curlers out and apron off before answering.

[Ann]

I looked at the savoury mince dinner with boiled potato and cauliflower etc and thought "good grief, I cook that even now!" - nice meal in my opinion.

I thought the same about the potatoes - could have been fried in the lovely dripping - scrumptious! Also why did they have to eat the leftovers while complaining the meal was cold - why not do as my Mum did, put them on a plate over a saucepan of boiling water to heat them up next day?

[Jackdaw33]

I didn't see the programme but would have loved to see her do boiled tripe and onions and the kids' reaction.

[Ann]

//my mother would take her curlers out//

I still have some of my Mum's "Dinky" curlers and "waveclips" to show when we go round groups giving talks on the 1950s.

[Jackdaw33]

The leftovers from Sunday were fried up on Monday. There are various names for this Northern dish.

[Ann]

Jack - I gave you the link to watch it on catch up - its near the top of all the posts, just click on the arrow.

[pastafreak]

If they were only allowed 5oz meat per person per week,and eggs were in short supply...what did they eat?...aside from what was grown on allotments?

[Ann]

The meat left over from the Sunday roast was minced up in the "Spong mincer" which clamped to the kitchen table. It was then mixed with onions and gravy and re-heated under the grill for Monday's dinner - not forgetting an OXO cube!

[Ann]

I asked that same question Pasta - I was trying to remember but can't really as in 1951 I was only 4.