Subj : Eating In The 50's
To   : Daryl Stout
From : George Pope
Date : Sun Apr 06 2025 08:45:16

You missed one:
ALL food was "organic"(or "Natural") so no need to label anything as such; you 
either ate "food" or "junk food" & junk food was still quite new (really boomed after WW2's returning of our men from overseas)

I keep it simple now: when trying to choose a restaurant, I ask my fam: Shall  we have food or sh*t tonight? (McD's being the latter, of course); calling it  what it qualitatively is doesn't seen to affect the frequency of them choosing  such.

Always, though, Mom's home cooking over anything else.


> From a Facebook post...
> 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 potato chips were plain.
> Rice was a milk pudding, and never, ever, part of our dinner.
> A Big Mac was what we wore when it was raining.
> Brown bread was something only poor people ate.
> 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 or hats!

Gentlemen removed their hat upon entering a building, especially an eatery, or  anywhere with women present.

& people dressed UP to go out of the house, even just to the corner to buy 
bread!

I wasn't around in the '50s, but I've had many friends who were from the time & still lived/behaved that way. . . My veteran neighbour Jc wouldn't leave the  house without a tie & his late wife always had a matching hat, shoes, & jacket  whenever she stepped out of the building.  'Twas a pleasure to see them on  their way out for a coffee. He carried himself with proper carriage (he was an  ex-Navy man); I feel ashamed alongside my memories of them.  Another buddy of  nine, born in '37, never left without a tie, but he didn't go for the suit  normally, unlike Jack.  I am from a very different time, born 50 year after  Jack & 30 after Albert. I dress appropriately for my generation -- it's still  considered valid these days, but not dressy -- I dress at the upper end of  casual (an actual button-up shirt); most go for tees &/or sweatshirts, as I did in my teens & 20s. Girls tend to go for lingerie for above the waist. Not  necessarily terrible, I'll admit. So long as they are actual females (getting  rarer these days to see a display of femininity that doesn't belong to a 
'dude!')

Most of my friends seemed to have been born in 1937 -- sadly, most of them are  now dearly departed.  They were "dearly," & now they are departed.  Can I get  an "amen?"

Also from the '50s there was no argument or confusion as to which bathroom you  used at the mall!

Owners of "Indoor Plumbing" used the Ladies' Room; We, with "Outdoor Plumbing"  used the Men's.  Simple, even wee children could, & did, understand it!

Saw a comic of a couple standing in front of the washroom M&F sign, confused,  as she wore straight pants & he had a kilt on -- the silhouettes seemed to be  saying different things to them as to others who came by.


--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
 * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

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