Question of the Day, Friday, June 11

[MoochNNoodles]

Liver. My stepdad said he wouldn’t enter the house if it had been cooked even for someone else. I tried it once and didn’t care for it anyway.

But we ate basically everything else. Mom and I like trying new foods. Even back when we didn’t have much I never remember not ever having something. Fruit snacks or fruit roll ups were a treat. Sugary cereal was a treat. We had takeout occasionally.

 

[Maria Bayote]

My brother and I grew up in a not-so Middle Class family (between poor and middle class ). So we did not have much although my mother did all she could to send us to private Catholic schools. My mother was a single parent and also was supporting not only us but her nieces and nephews, so we had to make do with what was on the table. At a young age we learned how to share, dividing literally a piece of bread or a mango fruit to several. It was not really a sad time, because it was a time when my brother and I bonded deeply with our young cousins, like siblings do.

Pizza, pasta, tacos, chocolates, cereals were something we could not afford, among many things. Cakes and Ice cream can only be eaten during birthdays or special occasions.

 

[JamesCalifornia]

~ Octopus . A delicacy we never had. Snails were also absent from the menu.

 

[DownTheLane]

We had a very limited diet when I was young. We never had noodles or rice, it was always potatoes. Luckily that has changed, because I've grown to absolutely detest boiled potatoes. We didn't have a lot of vegetables either, just the ones that my dad liked and my mum could deal with. And we never had alcohol in the house, only one or two cans of beer before a birthday, and that hasn't changed.

 

[Norachan]

Shop bought cakes or cookies. My mother did all her own baking and you were dead to her if you so much as looked at a Mr Kipling.

 

[Mia6]

We very seldom has fish nor seafood so I would usually have that in restaurants.

 

[Mia6]

My three brothers used to go through my cereal like a swarm of locusts.

ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[debbila]

We didn't keep soda in the house. Dad would bring some home on the weekend for a treat to have with potato chips or when we had subs/hoagies.

 

[gilmargl]

It's taken some time for me to work this one out. Living at home in the middle 1940's till early 1960's, there wasn't nearly as much choice as there is today and most things such as Italian, Chinese or Indian food was unknown except perhaps in restaurants in Soho (London), which was way out of our shopping area.
Spaghetti came in tins (like baked beans) and I think we ate it on toast!
But, getting back to the question: there were things available which, for some reason, we never ate.
Mushrooms - not even mushroom soup! I only found out that my mother hated mushrooms when she moved into a care home and complained to me whenever mushroom soup was served.
Leeks - no idea why these were avoided
Rice was only served as dessert
Noodles: perhaps in soup
Olive oil
Cherries, grapes, peaches were far too expensive for a family of 8
Veal
Duck
Game
The more expensive fish: we always had either cod, smoked haddock or tins of salmon, herrings or sardines
The more exotic cheeses - we only ate Cheddar or cream cheese (individual triangular portions)

But we had a healthy diet: everyday there was meat, fish, chicken, eggs or cheese (in small portions); bread, potatoes, porridge or cereal (usually the unsweetened varieties); 2 vegetables; milk and fruit. In the summer we also made salads (lettuce, tomatoes, celery, beetroot, spring onions but nothing exotic). On Sunday, there was usually a bottle of some fizzy drink for the children, half a bottle of wine for my father and a family block of icecream.

We knew how to share and grew up knowing how to divide a cake or block of icecream into 5, 6, 7 or 8 pieces depending on who was expected to turn up to eat. This is a talent which is hardly needed in these days of plenty!

 

[margecat]

The only foreign food we ate was spaghetti. We never had Chinese, etc.