Fresh food

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.

Elegran is right ev. The import of bananas was actually banned in 1940.
“ On November 9, 1940, the Minister of Food, Lord Woolton, ordered a complete ban on the import of bananas. The tropical fruit had to be transported in refrigerated ships, which were needed for the war effort. The sudden dearth of soft, sweet tropical fruit was a devastating blow to Britons. Wartime songs memorialized the elusive banana. Dance hall favorite Harry Roy belted out “When Can I Have a Banana Again?,” London’s Tin Pan Alley endlessly covered the American revue hit “Yes We Have No Bananas,” and the novelty song “I’ve Never Seen a Straight Banana” got regular airplay”
From www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.atlasobscura.com/articles/banana-substitute.amp
Hunter Davies entitled his memoir of growing up in Carlisle in the 40’s “The Co-op’s got Bananas’ - it was such a momentous event.

We still bring fruit and tomatoes, cucumbers in from South Africa.

Don’t forget we had the Banana boats coming into Southampton Docks in the 1950s.

With all that fruity largesse, my favourite thing was tinned pears

We always had tinned fruit, didn't we! I liked peaches best.
With evaporated milk.

"That's Australian Gold, my friend, and don't you forget it"

Perhaps eating what is in season in the climate where we live might be better for us.

Just a thought.

Growing up in the 50’s we always had a fruit bowl as did all the relatives, full of apples, pears, oranges and bananas, no shortages then. In Summer, blackcurrants, redcurrants, gooseberries and raspberries grown in the garden, and a rhubarb patch.One Grandfather even had a vine in the greenhouse.
With all that fruity largesse, my favourite thing was tinned pears?

My father grew our fruit and vegetables in the 1940s and 50s. We had apple trees (I remember picking an apple in the morning for the mid-morning break at school), and a pear tree with hard fruit that needed to be cooked. We had lovely raspberries. I don’t remember having bananas when I was child.

Surely going back to the 1950s was what the brexit vote was all about?

EllanVannin, regarding your post at
19:22, I am not aware of in which country you live but here in Britain throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s and many other countries through Europe, there was severe food shortages due to the continuation of wartime rationing.

I was born in 1943 and can well remember my mother wondering how she could create a meal for the four of us with what coupons she had left in her ration books. It was not a case of what you would wish to have but more a case of what would be available to have in the shops even if you have the coupons.

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

I don't remember any shortage of fruit and I was born in 1940. We had bananas, apples, oranges and tangerines-----not mass produced then and certainly better quality than now. In fact everything was better quality with far more taste to it.

I'm sure many will join me in saying that we suffered few ills given the difference in diets of then and now.

People grew their own produce, including salads. I don't remember being deprived of anything as regards food in the 1940's . It was mainly fresh food as there was no frozen stuff and the only tins we had in the pantry were those of fruit, beans and processed peas.

My own diet hasn't changed much over the years, replicating meals from my former years. I wouldn't thank you for fancy restaurant food.

No, thank you. While I do think we should be doing more manufacturing in this country, I see no benefit or value in reducing variety in our diet.
Fresh fruit and different vegetables are now available all year round and that is a good thing for the health and wellbeing of us all.
I just wish that all our citizens and particularly our children were able to afford it, without recourse to charity.
What on earth is the point of deliberately restricting our diet for the sake of it. Just silly.

I'm not a fan of foreign strawberries so we only have them in the summer, British crops and lots from our own garden. Same with raspberries too.
I agree on the salads in winter too but I do recall mum getting celery, but I could be mistaken.

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

But, it was boring! Sorry, I agree in principle but there was often the option for the exotic, at a price, which was a real treat.

Yes, a few tangerines at Christmas, plus some ‘Eat Me’ dates.

Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions, radishes in the summer, often home grown.

Never heard of peppers, avocados, kiwi fruit, mangoes, passion fruit to name just a few.