Sometimes you get a craving for the food of your childhood
Of butterscotch Angel Delight,
Beans on cheap white bread toast with lashings of butter
Or corned beef hash.
Fruit cocktail out of a tin with only half a cherry,
Artic roll,
And lucozade with the orange film wrapping.
Neapolitan ice cream
Evaporated milk mixed with the juice of tinned mandarin oranges,
Coca Cola in glass bottles
Custard with skin
And semolina in school only made bearable by a blob of raspberry jam
Cheese triangles with the ends bitten off and the cheese sucked through.
Full fat ice cold milk
Tonight I had a lightly boiled egg
And soldiers
Yes! There are times in this hard life when the only stiff drink that helps is an ice cold Coke in a small glass bottle. (Custard with skin also has its place and time, usually 3am in a kitchen lighted only by the small bulb over the sink.)
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me of those kitchen sink film from the 1960s
DeleteWhat are soldiers?
ReplyDeleteButtered toast cut in 4 tall strips, to sop up the egg yolk. Yum!
DeleteThanks sandra
DeleteMy oldest introduced me to zero calorie, no sugar, Coca Cola. Having only once previously drunk a Coke (in Morocco), I now find myself having one with my lunch almost daily. I love the bite of a very cold Coke, and I feel virtuous about the 'no sugar' bit.
ReplyDeleteI’m a Diet Coke girl cro, I hate the sweet tasting drink now
DeleteNot one of those foods were a part of my childhood...let's see: spaghetti bolognese/ lasagna/ beef kabobs w rice pilaf/ corn on the cob right from the field and fried beefsteak/red tomatoes with cream gravy. Lunches were served sporadically: grilled cheese and tomato soup/ BLT/ white bread w peanut butter, mayo, lettuce and tomato/ PB & J rarely/ sauteed mushrooms on toast. We did have corned beef hash/ roast beef hash but it was homemade and a treat, w fried eggs, a weekend supper. Milk , water or for the grownups beer, no soda/ Coke.But rootbeer floats on hot summer nights. Good memories.
ReplyDeleteWhat’s cream gravy sounds lovely,
Deletebacon fat pan drippings, flour, milks, black pepper. Like a bechamel or white sauce w pan scrapings. https://www.homesicktexan.com/cream-of-gravy-crop/
DeleteOooohhhh
DeleteRemember US bacon is different from yours, it's fatty strips. Housewives saved the fat after cooking it in refrigerated crocks, reused to fry chicken, steaks, pork chops, tomatoes etc. Very tasty.
DeleteAnd bacon drippings to season beans!
DeleteThat’s what “dripping” is, essentially
DeleteOatmeal with cream and brown sugar, pigs in a poke, creamed peas on toast, fried green tomatoes with sausage and mash. Corn on the cob and toasted tomatoe sandwiches with mayo. Ice cream from the local diary. Now I am hungry, haha.
ReplyDeleteBarb
Pigs in a poke is that like toad in the hole? Ohhhh creamed peas on toast sound lovely…we had toast toppers which was a bit like the centre of a vol au vent
DeletePig in a poke was pork sausages in a batter, baked in the oven. It was very much like a yorkshire batter.It puffed up around the sausages. We had it sliced with a tomatoe chutney.
DeleteYes that’s the same
DeleteBread and dripping! Now you've made me want boiled egg and soldiers for breakfast
ReplyDeleteI never had that at home as dripping was seen as working class. I first had it in Yorkshire in Sheffield in a pub and it was bloody lovely . Dripping sandwiches
DeleteI would guess that the majority of your British readers of 70+ were reared on bread and dripping irrespective of class.
DeleteMy mother was brought upon it too but wouldn’t have it at home . My grandparents loved it
DeleteAll that lovely dripping after the Sunday roast.
DeleteMy grandmother kept it all in a white jar on top of the fridge
DeleteYour mother's behaviour towards dripping is unfathomable.
DeleteQuite the contrary . my mother. Like many people born in real poverty aspired for what she thought as " better things" .having a hostess trolley and nice party food and not making dripping sandwiches was just just part of that when she " became" middle class.
DeleteI understand her behavior re the dripping quite clearly
canned beans on toast sounds very working class --or war era?---to me. Nasty! As for drippings, did the pan drippings not get made into gravy for the Sunday roast?
DeleteKeep your hair on John. We know your mum was lovely. X
DeleteMy mum was poor as a child and lived with her siblings and her widowed mother living in a terraced house on a cobbled street -After marrying she became a little Hyacinth Bucket to my embarrassment at times x
DeleteFlis my mother was a little like her too
DeleteRachel, no problem with my hair at all, you are mistaken though my mother wasn’t lovely at all
DeleteXx
Ha ha!
DeleteBubble and squeak, with lovely crispy, almost burnt bits, on toast. Dandelion and burdock, ice-cold. Hot Vimto. xx
ReplyDeleteYes to bubble and squeak ( still my favourite with colcannon)
DeleteI always hated dandelion and burdock and we never really drank Vimeo ( an anagram of vomit btw)
We only drank ribina at my grandmothers house , and did so hot in winter
Thanks for that image, John.🤮 I'll think of that every time I drink Vimto (which is seldom nowadays - too much sugar!) xx
DeleteIt was an answer in VIZ MAGAZINE once
DeleteVIMEO cannot be an anagram of VOMIT, there is no T in vimeo. Whatever that is.
DeleteJohn's spelling it wrong ... It is Vimto. Google it.
DeleteYes I m tired apologies vimto
DeleteMuch of your list evokes for me pre-diabetic days - especially that butterscotch Angel Delight. As for Luco, don't mention it, please - being probably the major reason for my 'downfall', when I'd just glug, glug, glug it down by the gallon!
ReplyDeleteAs a child you only were given lucozade as a treat when “ recovering” from sickness
DeleteYes, I remember that. I particularly recall it being so expensive that my mum would 'ration' it, pouring barely an inch high into the glass for a single 'dose', which I'd then drink as some kind of magic, cure-all elixir.
DeleteWith twins in her house it was always gone in a day
DeleteHow about pink Cream Soda pop? Toad in the Hole?
ReplyDeleteI will pass on the pop but oh yes toad in the hole ,
DeleteThe fight to get the top-o-the-milk on your Cornflakes (as long as the birds hadn't pecked through the foil first). And I miss Opal Mints.
ReplyDeleteThat was a foodie trip down memory lane. I wonder what this generation of young folk will remember when they get to our age.
ReplyDeleteKFC, MACCIE D ?
DeleteNeopolitan ice cream, maybe. That’s a trip you can take without me.
ReplyDeleteMix the colours up to make flesh tone
DeleteWhose flesh?
DeleteMy favourite was picking the crust of the warm bread on the way home from the bakehouse. Or a stick of rhubarb from the garden to dip in a pile of sugar on a saucer. If I asked very nicely I might get a teaspoon full of drinking chocolate added to the sugar ! Happy days.
ReplyDeleteTish x
Warm bread and thick butter
DeleteYour food list sounds like my childhood diet..apart from the Coke, we had Corona.....delivered to the door! We are having beans on toast for our Saturday lunch, but with brown seeded bread not white. I occasionally make corned beef hash. You had to be quite poorly for Mum to lash out on a bottle of lucozade!
ReplyDeleteIndeed it was a treat
DeleteAnd bought at the chemist too
DeleteMy mother considered it a con and refused to buy it. I have never drunk it to this day.
DeleteBecause it came from the chemist and even though it was expensive , it was always bought everytime youpuked in a bucket
DeleteChopped up boiled egg in a cup with butter mashed in, Bird's trifle, Findus Crispy Pancakes, Vimto, Toast Toppers and Heinz tomato soup with extra milk to make it go further. All my 70s childhood comfort foods! :-)
ReplyDeleteEgg in a cup, when u were really ill
DeleteWe didn't eat what my friends ate I noticed when I was invited to their homes after school - My mum prepared meals advised by dads older sister -Occasionally there would be " chucky eggs ,soldiers and baby oranges "though x
ReplyDeleteAnd vesta curry as a treat !x
DeleteVesta curry
DeleteToo hot for our welsh mouths
Rice pudding with a proper dark crust on the top, and then as the 'baby' I was given the bowl to scrape the crusty bits.
ReplyDeleteSkin on any pudding turns my stomach even custard
DeleteVesta Chow Mein with the crispy noodles, I still buy the noodles from our nearest Oriental Grocery.
ReplyDeleteFrizettes, Cremola Foam, plain crisps with the little scrunched up packet of salt in the bag, barley sugar twist sticks, Surprise dried peas (they were delicious), Toast Toppers, especially the mushroom and bacon one, Bird's Trifle, Conny Onny butties, fish finger and tomato ketchup butties, the list is endless!
I miss hearing the crinkly sound of a bottle of Lucozade being unwrapped, it made you feel better just knowing a glass was on the way!
Oh I forgot fish fingers … with lashings of tomato sauce
DeleteBread and dripping. Thick slice of white bread and a load of salt.
ReplyDeleteOnly had it once , in a pub in Sheffield , food of the gods
DeleteCoke in glass is the best❤️
ReplyDeleteAs a kid out of the bottle , In a car outside a pub with a bag of crisps
DeleteMy Grant's chips, fried twice in beef dripping followed by rice pudding baked in the oven until there was enough skin to go around.
ReplyDeleteI love it when you talk dirty
DeleteA simple perfectly cooked grilled cheese sandwich, cold meatloaf with French's mustard.
ReplyDeleteCroque monsour
DeleteRacking my brain here John.. Toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grill cheese sandwiches, picking blackberries and eating as much as you put in the bowl, corned beef and cabbage, shoofly pie ( basically a molasses crumb cake), I asked hubby and his is Poke Cake.. His mom would bake a cake then poke holes all over it with a skewer then pour melted icing in the holes.. Fun post John! Thanks! Hugs! debs
ReplyDeleteCorned beef and cabbage oh yes
DeleteI had to Google so many of these "missed" foods! Way too many of them sound perfectly gross to me ... Grilled cheese and tomato soup are about all I recognize here!
ReplyDeleteGross never ….funny what kids eat
DeleteBeing an American reader, most of these foods are foreign to me, too.
Delete'Perfectly gross' sounds a tad rude really. I think 'grits' sound dreadful, as do 'biscuits and gravy', but hey, each to their own. We can all be respectful about each other's food stuffs surely!
DeleteI wonder which biscuits should you eat with gravy? x
DeleteDumplings
DeleteOhh - fancy that - I know a German lady who loves her pasta with gravy would you believe x
DeleteI understand that craving.
ReplyDeleteI’m bloody hungry now
DeletePancakes and patty sausage, pigs-in-s-blanket (link sausage wrapped in bisquit dough and baked), dreamsicles.
ReplyDeleteHugs!
Sausage rolls in the uk
DeleteSoft boiled egg with soldiers continues to be enjoyed today. It is an easy tasty meal.
ReplyDeleteThe tradition of dunking the toast is incredibly satisfying
DeleteYou've just listed all the foods of my childhood and (funnily enough) I am more than happy to never revisit. My parents still dabble with a fair few of them now. My tastes have definitely changed :)
ReplyDeleteYes especially as we now are a world culture
DeleteWe inherited one of my dad's wartime childhood favourites...Connie onnie aka condensed milk.....spread on brown bread
ReplyDeleteMy mom used to mash a banana and sprinkle with white sugar and smear on to white bread. .
DeleteOmg yes I’d forgotten that
DeleteMy mother did that too. Only one of my brothers would eat it. Banana sandwiches.
DeleteI still eat banana butties to this day but not with sugar
DeleteA liberal sprinkling of sugar seems unbelievable now!
DeleteGot to be crunchy peanut butter and banana butties. Delicious! xx
DeleteI, too, love a banana on a peanutbutter sandwich. Yum!
DeleteCrunchy peanut butter and banana sandwiches! Yes!
DeleteHaven't seen Arctic Roll in decades. Thanks for the memories
ReplyDeleteI was searching for one recently
DeleteIceland or the Coop
DeleteJelly and Ice cream!
ReplyDeleteSquelched through teeth
DeleteArctic Roll was my boys favourite dessert when they were little, and a Vienetta as a pudding at Christmas. Alan had a bottle of Irn Bru the other day, leftover from the 'Scottish Hamper of Essentials' that his sister put together for us at Christmas ... gosh that stuff is sweet!!
ReplyDeleteIron bru…hateful stuff
DeleteOh I loved vienetta though
Home made lemon meringe pie.
ReplyDeleteSorry I'm not anonymous, Alcea Rosea.
DeleteOh yes my elder sister used To make it
DeleteOh what fun this was. White buttered bread with milk gravy. Homemade venison jerky. Mashed potatoes with milk gravy.Hot dogs naked with no bun — hot or cold. Peas in the pod fresh from the garden. Sitting in the garden eating the tender, young carrots (NOT appreciated by gardeners unless I was at home in our own garden). A big bowl of fresh picked raspberries on grandma’s table and she saved the cream for me that raised to the top of the bottle. Cherries anytime as many as I could get my hands on. Mama’s pies. Oh it was a good childhood.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a Norman Rockwell painting
DeleteYeah, custard with skin!
ReplyDeleteEven though I mentioned it it still makes me gip
DeleteSweetened condensed milk eaten out of the tin with a spoon.
ReplyDeleteStill do that!
DeleteLord I haven’t tasted that in a while , another for the Sainsbury’s trip tomorrow
DeleteThey also do Arctic Roll.
Deletecondensed milk sandwiches!
DeleteOh lord
DeleteOh you all have made me hungry..and for dessert...graham cracker lemon meringue pie, oatmeal raisin cookies, though now I make oatmeal coconut cranberry pecan cookies, oh never forget a praline,or vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and pecans.
ReplyDeleteI'm now slobbering silly..
Often American pies can be too sweet for me ,
DeleteNo such thing as too sweet, that's why we add ice cream and whipped cream to our pies. Fun post!
DeleteNo sugar goes into the lemon, just condensed milk and egg..sugar is the meringue only. Slightly on tart flavor,. Like a key lime pie.yum
DeleteThat’s better
DeleteWe still have lucozade in the house in case one of us is ill
ReplyDeleteAnd your don’t drink it?
DeleteI did when I had covid.
DeleteJam sandwich (white bread). X
ReplyDeleteWith marge
DeleteSugar butties (white bread sprinkled with sugar) but no butter or margarine, we were poor. Our neighbour sometimes gave us dripping, that would be a treat, a dripping butty.
ReplyDeleteI think I may do a roast and make my own dripping
DeleteAll of this talk of cream gravy make me want milk gravy with crumbled pork sausage spooned over very fresh white bread, and slices of a big red, ripe homegrown tomato, from someone else's home. I'll be buying some pork sausage at the store this week.
ReplyDeleteThis American cream gravy intrigues me
DeleteAll of the memories of a 70's upbringing. I loved the findus crispy pancakes. It was one of the first "convenience" foods I remember Mum buying; my sister and I used to have 2 each when we got home from school. Mum worked until about 5 we were latch key kids unheard of today. We never got coke as a rule but the one time Dad decided we could afford it he made a spider with it. I hated it and was cross I couldn't have just the coke.
ReplyDeleteJo in Auckland
this is Grace, Google wont let me sign in:
ReplyDeleteWhat about the Vesta chicken Curry with the dried pieces of meat and sultanas!
Oh and school dinner rice pudding with the burnt skin and a blob of jam.