There's a modern and probably understandable obsession with the diet of our children.
Sugar, carbs, red meat, sugar, fats, additives, roughage, what they eat in school and so on and so on and so on.
What was it like when you were a kid?
Did we really eat loads of crap every minute of the day like people think we did?
Sure, I myself ate a lot of sweets. I loved sweets and I'm pretty sure my teeth have suffered as a result. But the rest of my diet was pretty balanced I reckon. My Mum, the head chef of my childhood, provided lots of different Sixties and Seventies grub using a whole range of ingredients and pans including a pressure cooker and a chip pan.
Meals I recall, some home made, some not, were: Mince and onions, sausage and mash, fish balls and croquettes, Lancashire hot pot, butter pie and marrowfat peas, cheese and onion pie and peas, pea soup with ham shank, vesta chow mien, vesta paella, vesta beef curry, fried egg and new potatoes, poached eggs on toast, finny haddock and boiled spuds, salad and chips, ham salad, toasties, sunday dinner and of course, fish and chips and my personal favourite, suet pudding and chips.
There was local and regional nosh too: onion rings in vinegar, red cabbage and vinegar, thick pea soup with juicy ham on the bone, parched peas and the coastal pickled vegetable, samphire.
We also had a chest freezer full of convenience foods like mini pizzas and probably some ready meals, although I don't think there were many of those back then.
Oh, and there was lots of fizzy pop like Tizer, Dandelion and Burdock and Sarsaparilla.
Yeah, I suppose it was a fairly traditional diet for a kid growing up when I did in Lancashire. Lots of meat and two veg and puddings to follow. There wasn't much aubergine or any star fruit and probably no avocado.
Yet I'm still here and I'm not a drooling zombie incapable of rational thought - as far as I know! OK, I do have a few teeth missing and high blood pressure but I don't think I was a fed a toxic pile of slurry by my parents. Any dodgy foods I've eaten probably came later and is my own silly fault.
Do you think you ate badly as a kid?
I don't think I did. I never took a bottle of water with me and I never died of dehydration. I never wore a cycle helmet and never received a fatal injury whilst riding my Moulton mini! Oddly, I never wore a hi-vis vest whilst walking to school either, what was I thinking!?
ReplyDeleteI think I spotted you Kev as I was coming out of the sweet shop with a quarter of toffee chewing nuts!
DeleteAll good points. And we played outside for hours without supervision.
DeleteWe never had processed food back then. All home cooked.
ReplyDeleteHave to stop you there Khusru, I'm afraid.
ReplyDeleteMy childhood was full of processed foods, as my mum hated cooking.
It was fry ups, tinned food and packet meals for us every day.
From Smash mashed potatoes to Findus Crispy Pancakes, tinned Heinz Spagetti, to Fray Bentos meat pies, it was convenience food all the way.
If I wanted anything home baked, I had to go to my friends homes because my mum NEVER baked!
Mmmm, Fray Bentos. I adored the chicken pie and the steak pie. That flaky and gooey pastry was just amazing Mish! As for Crispy Pancakes, I imagine the Gods of Olympus munching on them, food from heaven!
DeleteI do regret the sweets - too many fillings at the dentist due to that. Back in the 70s we didn't have the massive portions that you can get these days. and you didn't get fast food delivered. Mum mostly made healthy meals but at least once or twice a week it would be with chips. I remember lots of salads for Saturday tea during summer. After tea you'd be out playing with your mates too so would burn off the calories. I don't think kids today get as much exercise as we did.
ReplyDeleteYes, summer salads ... with chips too Yorkie. Slices of thick ham, lettuce, cucumber, boiled egg, spring onion and lots of salad cream! Mmmmm!
DeleteOh and sliced new potatoes!
ReplyDelete