EATING IN THE FIFTIES and SIXTIES.

Derek Barnes · Senior Member

RE: EATING IN THE FIFTIES and SIXTIES.

Bulldozer · Senior Member

I got a whack at the dinner table when we had tripe, and couldn't eat it. Id be sitting there heaving. I finished up going with out. Hated tripe.

Whenarewethere · Guru

My Mum wasn't a cook. A lot of meals, a good percentage I hated. So at the start of the meal I put the worst of the food in my mouth in a size I could swallow in one go. At the end of the meal the better tasting items.

These days other half says regularly that I need to chew. It is difficult to change habits.

msg · Guru

Derek Barnes wrote: "One thing I hate about todays cuisine is that almost everything has to contain garlic, chiili and ginger."

Whilst I don't hate these flavours, I resent them being the gold standard for good tasting food. They taste great for an occasional meal but I couldn't eat them all the time.

Food tastes the best when you can identify what you are eating. Eg. a well grown piece of beef, lamb, pork, fish or chicken. Too much fat in them today. Force fed with chemicals and grown too quickly. Likewise, fruit & vegetables. Made to grow where and how they were not meant too. They are so bad, you have to cover them up with something.

Nowadays, people will not eat food that is not so highly spiced it burns their tastebuds.

Old fashioned Australian Country cooks knew how to cook and make food taste wonderful even if it was simply meat, vegetables and fruit. And the best sweets and cakes. No, the Australian diet was not bland. What about damper with real butter. We ate that regularly because there were no bakeries near us. The biggest issue was the amount of salt used. I wonder how most of us lasted well into our 90's. Think it must have been the hard work on the old farms.

A lot of the rubbish i.e. tripe, offal and lamb hocks were not served. (At least in our family) The dogs had to eat as well. The idea of eating these foods came to Australia via immigrants just like garlic, chilli and ginger.

We need to demand unadulterated basic food, grown without helpers and enhancers. So what, we might grow less but we are only sending it overseas and importing worse stuff back anyway. Greed. It is a disease that has infected everyone. If there was one pollie in this election who said they would drastically cut back on food exports they would get my vote no matter what party. (Not going to happen)

-- Edited by msg on Sunday 24th of April 2022 03:52:40 PM

Derek Barnes · Senior Member

Bulldozer wrote:
I got a whack at the dinner table when we had tripe, and couldn't eat it. Id be sitting there heaving. I finished up going with out. Hated tripe.

I admit that eating tripe was interesting. Sometimes it would slip down your throat before your teeth could catch it. Some pieces were a better texture than others. I remember it being very chewy with a smooth side and a rough side for each square piece of it. I didnt mind eating tripe.

Cupie · Guru

Derek Barnes wrote:
Bulldozer wrote:
I got a whack at the dinner table when we had tripe, and couldn't eat it. Id be sitting there heaving. I finished up going with out. Hated tripe.
I admit that eating tripe was interesting. Sometimes it would slip down your throat before your teeth could catch it. Some pieces were a better texture than others. I remember it being very chewy with a smooth side and a rough side for each square piece of it. I didnt mind eating tripe.

Never had tripe at our place. Perhaps too complicated or time consuming for our cook & Dad came off a property where, like MSG said, offal went to the dogs.

But the lovely 'Old' Lady (German?) across the road would cook us up Tripe & onions, or Crumbed Brains, or Devilled kidneys or Lamps Fry & Bacon for a sneaky mid day lunch.

When Dad was home the order of the day was 'square Meals', no talking, except to excuse yourself from the table when EVERYTHING on the plate was eaten. I can remember sitting there with every one else gone, chewing, chewing, chewing, with tears running down my face until I was dismissed straight to my bedroom under the threat of whack across the bum with a razor strop (which was kept behind the kitchen door). I'd go for my life & probably give Dad a good laugh as I raced out to freedom.

BTW .. In those days Olive Oil came from the Chemist as a medicine like Caster Oil. For a sore throat we would be given a teaspoon of sugar with a few drops of Kerosene. Blue Bag for stings, Frias Balsam for infections, Bread poultices for boils or if that didn't work a hot bottle over the boil to suck it out!

-- Edited by Cupie on Sunday 24th of April 2022 04:25:31 PM

-- Edited by Cupie on Sunday 24th of April 2022 04:27:03 PM

Craig1 · Guru

Tripe graduated into " chicken wheel meat " for a fair while in 1980's and 90's.

Bulldozer · Senior Member

Lambs fry and bacon, A few of us had it as a counter Lunch at the local hotel back in the 70's, Love it, the old Irish lady cooked it, fantastic..Went back to work after a meal and 5 schooners. I worked just across the road as a motor mechanic in a service station. Those were the days..

Buzz Lightbulb · Guru

Bulldozer wrote:
Lambs fry and bacon, A few of us had it as a counter Lunch at the local hotel back in the 70's, Love it, the old Irish lady cooked it, fantastic..Went back to work after a meal and 5 schooners. I worked just across the road as a motor mechanic in a service station. Those were the days..

With that knowledge, I'd be asking for my car to be serviced in the mornings.

Bulldozer · Senior Member

Buzz Lightbulb wrote:
Bulldozer wrote:
Lambs fry and bacon, A few of us had it as a counter Lunch at the local hotel back in the 70's, Love it, the old Irish lady cooked it, fantastic..Went back to work after a meal and 5 schooners. I worked just across the road as a motor mechanic in a service station. Those were the days..
With that knowledge, I'd be asking for my car to be serviced in the mornings.

We only went to the pub for lunch when we never had much work on, and we finished before lunch. Came back after lunch and mop the floors and clean up the benches ect. Normally we were that busy we had only about 15 mins for lunch. I would duck next door to the delicatessen and get a salad roll or one of those Italian sausage sticks. It was a hard gig working in a garage them days before self serve, out there on the driveway serving petrol in the pouring rain. Some would want their oil and water, battery, tyres, including the spare checked..hahaha good 'ol days. 24 pounds in the tyres thank you, and make sure you put distilled water in the battery. Oh yes sir! biggrin

The Belmont Bear · Guru

Cupie wrote:
msg wrote:
A real aussie would not have eaten mutton.
In the 40s & 50's most Sheep meat was sold as Mutton. Lamb was a rare item. These days mutton is never displayed in Supermarket meat sections.
I did read somewhere that lots of Au Mutton is exported.

ps. We sometimes purchased a two toother & butchered it ourselves.

Cupie when I was in the middle east we used to buy Ausssie lamb from the local supermarket butcher - no doubt it was a lamb at some stage in its life but definately not when it was exported. We could have bought lamb and beef imported from places like Pakistan even goat and camel meat was popular over there but we chose to buy the more expensive Aussie/NZ lamb and beef even if the lamb was mutton.

BB

Bulldozer · Senior Member

I can remember jumping in the FJ holden with my Dad on xmas morning and doing the rounds to wish friends and relatives xmas greetings. All the men were into the grog early in the day, with a couple of addresses having a 9 gal keg. Dad had a bear and I had a lemonade at each address.