A BBC article about getting forgotten foods back on the table grabbed my attention. It made me wonder which foods we’ve cast aside, and whether there’s anything from the past we’d like to reheat.
The journalist in the article mentioned black pudding made from fresh blood – they apparently use a dried blood mixture these days as it’s easier to transport.
Others lamented the difficulty of finding foods from their childhoods. Some mentioned ‘Gipsy tart’, ‘cows udders served warm with brown bread and butter’ and ‘proper beef dripping sold from trays’.
Others missed ‘barley port wine gruel’, ‘Titbit brown sauce made by Fletchers’ and ‘Black Bun’; a dense fruit cake eaten on Hogmanay.
Penny sweets – now only £1
It got me thinking about my diet when I was younger. At first, I had trouble remembering what I ate growing up in the 70s and 80s, and I certainly couldn’t remember anything I felt a real nostalgia for. That’s apart from penny sweets; but you can still buy these, even though they no longer cost a penny.
My colleagues told me they missed popping candy, but you can still get this (and it’s a favourite of Heston Blumenthal). They also mentioned ‘Oink crisps’ (hollow pig shaped bacon crisps) as well as other brands of sweets and crisps, potato waffles and Findus crispy pancakes.
Still, much of what we remembered is still around but we just choose not to eat it anymore.
Leave some food in the past
It was actually much easier for me to remember the things I definitely don’t miss – the milk we were made to drink at school that had been sitting around and had a thick layer of cream on the top, or the school dinners of rubbery liver and spam – yuk!
So tell me – what foods do you miss from your childhood and want to see back? And which ones are you glad to see the back of?
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