Fresh food

My mum was always an adventurous cook. She bought little bottles of olive oil from the chemist to cook with. We ate a lot of 'foreign muck' when I was young. Goulash, paella, curries. Also a lot of freshly shot game and fish. I grew up being bored with pheasant and duck, and it wasn't until I was nanny for an aristocratic family in my late teens that I realised what I had eaten as a child was regarded as posh food.

I would like to see a return to more local produce. It tends to have more flavour, but shorter shelf life. We had raspberries at home which were delicious, but you had to eat them within 2 days of being picked. The ones I purchase come from California or Mexico, and last quite long in the fridge, but don't have that delicious burst of taste!

There is a movement for the 100 mile diet, but it does indeed pose challenges (it would be impossible here since we are so far north), but many try to stay true to in in Vancouver and southern BC. It does take dedication , extra work to put food into storage, and knowledge of food storage. Most younger people have never tinned fruit, stored potatoes and apples in root cellars or smoked and dried fish or meats.

Knowledge and farming technology have improved, as have the vast variety of foods we eat. Climate change can bring some benefits to northern areas ability to grow foods not previously available.

I saw the long lineups of trucks on highways on the news, and fear you may have some fresh food shortages in January while gov't works out the supply chain for safety.

I grew some perpetual spinach in a trough this summer as part of my first attempt at veg self-sufficiency. It seems to be soldiering on - hence the name, I guess.

I've been wondering how I can use it creatively as a substitute for lettuce. It's probably too leathery now to eat raw. Also it's a bit ominous that none of my garden critters seem to fancy it!

What the heck, First World problems. Who needs lettuce anyway?

Frozen tomatoes can't be eaten raw in a salad.

And what about olives?

The UK hasn't been self-sufficient in food for centuries. Sorry, but some people are living on a different planet.

As always, there is an economic or geographical reason for different experiences of food. Brought up in the inner city of Manchester in the late 1950s and early 1960s, I remember going with my Grandma to a market at closing time on a Saturday to pick over the left over veg to get some for Sunday and to make soup with during the week. This was food that was waiting to go in the pig bin ( not actually in it!) so quite bruised and wilting. Add a small joint of fatty bacon and that was our meal for Sunday, I still remember retching at being forced to eat the soggy fat from the end of the joint! I refused to eat tripe but did enjoy a casserole of sheep’s heart and onions

I guess if we lived in the country and had a garden or allotment to grow fresh vegetables or if my father had a better paid job, my childhood recollections of the food we ate then would be better. I didn’t go hungry, my mum and grandma were very good cooks with what they had but the quality was not brilliant and certainly not very fresh.

My favourites pudding was Yorkshire puddings served with hot syrup - cheap and cheerful as my grandad worked at Trafford Docks and sometimes managed to “ find “ a tin of syrup - I think from the lorries destined for the Kellogg’s factory but that might just be a family myth!

casadon You can’t grow chilies in the UK in the winter OK but you can freeze them and they are brilliant. I've done that for the past three years.
All the veg you mention can be frozen. Tomatoes and in particular aubergines are no different cooked from fresh than if you roast, freeze then use them in a dish later.

Gardening, and in particular growing veg, really took off during lockdown. I wonder what happened to all that produce. It would be good to hear people have carried on by growing winter veg.

My freezers are full and there are quite a few jars of tasty treats for winter and beyond on the shelf.

I know that not everyone has or perhaps even wants to turn their garden into a veg plot. However, there are a growing number of farm shops and markets.

My daughter, the one near Manchester, has a farm shop about 20 min drive away. Sell fresh caught fish too.

growstuff

Casdon

No, I’m not keen to go back to the British diet of the fifties and sixties thanks.

Neither am I. It was boring and fairly disgusting.

I feel sorry for some of you who had such boring, horrible food when you were young. Our food at home was excellent.
Apart from broad beans, there's always an exception

School dinners were another exception.

Grandma70s

My mother made wonderful winter salads of shredded white cabbage, grated raw carrot (which is very juicy) and sultanas. There were probably other ingredients, but that’s what I remember. We positively never had soggy salads. In summer I particularly remember tomato salad of sliced peeled tomatoes with French dressing and chopped chives.

My mother used to make that too.
I've made coleslaw, similar to that, obviously, but without the sultanas.

The purple sprouting broccoli I planted ages ago hasn't sprouted anything yet but it does have plenty of leaves.

There’s a new programme on Ch5 9 pm tomorrow night called Wartime Christmas (or something like that). Sounds like that excellent Back in time for series. We’ve been watching quite a lot of Ch5 programmes since we started flicking over to watch All Creatures Great and Small. Going back to the OP though we didn’t have a lot of variety, food wise in inner city Birmingham and the only thing we grew was marigolds in our window box. I’ve just ordered lots of freeze dried food to add to stews and smoothies. I’m trying to keep my vitamin intake up without having to go shopping.

I have grown chills all year round on kitchen windowsill for more years than I care to remember ???

www.britishpathe.com/video/yes-we-have-some-bananas

the arrival of the first post-war banana in Bristol dock.

My mother made wonderful winter salads of shredded white cabbage, grated raw carrot (which is very juicy) and sultanas. There were probably other ingredients, but that’s what I remember. We positively never had soggy salads. In summer I particularly remember tomato salad of sliced peeled tomatoes with French dressing and chopped chives.

When I first came to the UK in1972, from the tropics, I had to order my aubergine from the greengrocer. Olive oil was impossible to get... food has improved immeasurably but I don’t see the point of strawberries at Christmas as the English ones are so much nicer. Ditto asparagus out of season, etc.
A great number of salad vegetables are grown under glass in Britain, viz. Thanet Earth.

Also something you could make easily, Russian salad, which we loved and competed for from it’s small dish.

vegansrock

Tinned fruit yuk - all that syrup, ghastly fruit cocktail with those horrible cherries. Salad was wet lettuce and a few tomatoes and a slice of cucumber if you were lucky. I can’t imagine today’s children getting nostalgic about that.

That may have been how salad was presented in your household vegan but in ours it was delicious and included
Non wet lettuce, crisp from the garden, radishes, cucumber,
Tomatoes and chopped spring onions.Always sliced boiled eggs as well in a dish and coleslaw.
Have made myself hungry now!

Casdon

But - no chillis, peppers, avocados, tomatoes, aubergines etc. etc. in the winter, It was so dull compared with the modern diet. Not for nothing did the UK have the reputation of poor food. I don’t understand why anybody would want to reduce choice.

Don't forget olives!

Casdon

No, I’m not keen to go back to the British diet of the fifties and sixties thanks.

Neither am I. It was boring and fairly disgusting.

Elegran

Not bananas for many years, EllenVannin When they first reappeared, many (well, some) people didn't know you had to peel them and bit into them whole - then couldn't understand why they had been so eagerly awaited.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1ngEwqoP5A

Exactly!

Rationing continued for years after the end of WW2. Attlee arranged a special one-off delivery of bananas in 1946 to boost morale.

Tinned fruit comes in its own unsweetened fruit juice as well, no added sugar syrup unless you want it.

Tinned fruit yuk - all that syrup, ghastly fruit cocktail with those horrible cherries. Salad was wet lettuce and a few tomatoes and a slice of cucumber if you were lucky. I can’t imagine today’s children getting nostalgic about that.

Petra there’s no need to be patronising. You can’t grow chilies in the UK in the winter - and it’s ridiculous to suggest importing avocados from Mexico is better for the environment - some of us do indeed need to educate ourselves. I’m hoping to get a grow light for Christmas to grow my own salads.

I’ve always tended to cook using seasonal fruit and veg, mainly because of the weather, winter suits more comfort foods, root veg etc. I freeze a bit of summer veg, green beans, runners, ratatouille, my Mum used to bottle tomatoes and plums. But I like having the option of a healthier diet, it’s balance and I certainly wouldn’t want to go back to the 50’s for anything.

Some of you on here obviously missed the announcement that the uk have signed a tariff free trade deal with Mexico the worlds largest producer of Avocados.
You can grow your own chillies in this country. I would suggest that some educate themselves with the 'new' technology of growing salads in underground hydroponic plants.

Spain?

Ilovecheese
Fresh fruit and different vegetables are now available etc etc
Yes, your right. But at the cost of cheap labour and inhumane living conditions and no workers rights, no health care.
And that's just a 2/12 hour flight from the uk.