73+quilts

EATING IN THE FIFTIES

Pasta had not been invented. It was macaroni or spaghetti.

Curry was a surname.

A take-away was a mathematical problem.

Pizza? Sounds like a leaning tower somewhere.

Bananas and oranges only appeared at Christmas time.

All chips were plain.

Oil was for lubricating, fat was for cooking.

Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves and never green.

Cubed sugar was regarded as posh.

Chickens didn't have fingers in those days.

None of us had ever heard of yogurt.

Healthy food consisted of anything edible.

Cooking outside was called camping.

Seaweed was not a recognized food.

'Kebab' was not even a word, never mind a food.

Sugar enjoyed a good press in those days, and was regarded as being white gold.

Prunes were medicinal.

Surprisingly muesli was readily available. It was called cattle feed.

Pineapples came in chunks in a tin; we had only ever seen a picture of a real one.

Water came out of the tap. If someone had suggested bottling it and charging more than gasoline for it, they would have become a laughing stock.

The one thing that we never ever had on/at our table in the fifties ... was elbows, hats and cell phones.

A&W was the very first drive-in food place.

I may be an "old fogie" BUT I AIN'T A STUPID OLD FOGIE. Still got the brains God gived me and I use them every day just to keep them working like a 12 year old.

Iceblossom

Still snickering over the "chickens didn't have fingers"...

I try to explain to my son what it was like in the old days of even the 1960s, that the produce department was very small with mostly long lasting/storing foods. So yes for the seasonal, strawberries only in the spring. Fall was apples. Oranges came at Christmas. It helps that my grandfather was a produce manager of a Safeway and so my father particularly and then the rest of us were exposed to a wide variety of options. Kiwis back in the 70s were quite exotic!

Pizza indeed was ethnic food. The chains hadn't come out yet but I remember Shakey's when there were still piano players and such.

And back in the days with just one phone or TV in the house... not to mention no recorded media other than records.

DebbieJJ

And don't forget party-line telephones. Had to wait hours for our neighbors to quit listening to each other breathe on the line, when they could have just walked across the yard to each other's house!

aashley333

Rotary phones. My niece did not know how to work it. "Where are the buttons?"

b.zang

Snacking wasn't a "thing". If we came home from school hungry we could have a pickle or a carrot if we peeled and cleaned up after ourselves. Popcorn was a big treat and an occasion for the family to gather. My parents didn't buy candy but we all learned to pull taffy.

cashs_mom

LOL! So funny!

I've heard the best way to confound a young person today is put them in a standard shift car with only a rotary phone to call for help!

aashley333

I was reminded this morning that long distance calls were charged by the minute! Would they know what a collect call involved?

sew cornie

And write the instructions in cursive!

Feather3

I remember all those things.

I bet very few of today's kids eat like we did in 60's. I was born in 1957. My father, brother & I lived with my Grandparents. They were born in 1888 & 1892. They grew up on farms & went thru the Great Depression, Spanish Flu, etc. We had a huge garden. We canned a lot & froze a lot. I remember being 5 years old, sitting on a stool at the kitchen sink, peeling blanched peaches & putting them in jars. Snapping green beans to be canned. My Dad & GF hunted & fished, so we ate a lot of squirrels, ground hogs(wood chucks), deer, catfish, pigeon,etc. Store bought meat like beef, chicken, turkey & ham was usually only purchased for holidays. We went to a local farm for milk & you had to take your own containers. Picked wild berries in season for jams & pies. We lived in a small town, not on a farm. One old B&W TV. One rotary dial phone. Hand me down cloths or made our own. One pair of shoes for school, one pair of sneakers, rubber boots for winter. They all had to last a year or you wore them with holes. Christmas was usually one or two small gifts. Second hand bicycles were spray painted to look new. We had chores to do & got no allowance. Everyone in town new everyone & if you did something wrong you knew your parents would be told about it. There were no vacations, no amusement parks, etc..

Kids today have no clue.

SueZQ from MN

I am a baby boomer, and this post really got me to thinking. Do you remember the following? Lik-M-Aid The opening of Disneyland Pink polio vaccine handed out on sugar cubes at the school Iron lungs News reels before a movie Double feature movies The Bobbsey Twins Getting your first extension phone Walnut Crush candy bars Chocolate or candy cigarettes Drive-in movies Candy priced at 2 or 3 for a penny Button candy strips The Howdy Doody Show Your first transistor radio Licorice Nibs Pop in glass bottles suspended in a cooler filled with ice water Blowing up a backyard pool with the vacuum cleaner Layers and layers of starched petticoats Woolworths, Kresges and Grants dime stores Cigarette vending machines in the lobby of the movie theatre balcony Shaeffer cartridge fountain pens Brush rollers and "ratting" your hair Aqua Net hair spray The familly's first tv Betsy Wetsy and Tiny Tears Fizzies The Weekly Reader and last but not least, The Lennon Sisters