Why do some foods become fashionable?

Grammaretto

I often wonder how my city dwelling ancestors survived. ROMILO
The family records show a couple of cow keepers in Stepney in the 1800s.

But my DH ancestors had a smart looking greengrocers just where the Usher Hall is now in Edinburgh and there are bananas in the window. This would have been c1900.

I'm sure all kinds of exotic foods were available even in 1900. They would have arrived by boat rather than plane. My point was what happens when the supply chain is interrupted. I can remember my Mother saying everyone rushed to the local co.op when oranges reappeared after the war. If we don't have enough home grown fruit and vegetables what do we eat?

Must make a gooseberry crumble tomorrow!!

I have found it easy to buy rhubarb but not gooseberries or blackcurrant so resorted to plant a bush of each in my garden. The other plant I have found difficult to buy fresh is Jerusalem Artichokes. I guess I'm going to have grow my own too!

I laugh because I have so many digestive ailments that I just need to look at a menu and burst into fits - a poke bowl with avocado, edamne beans, lentils, chick peas, rocket, raw this and that, chili. If I were to actually eat one I would be ill for the next few days. Give me some good old fashioned traditional English food and my system is as happy as can be.

I often wonder how my city dwelling ancestors survived. ROMILO
The family records show a couple of cow keepers in Stepney in the 1800s.

But my DH ancestors had a smart looking greengrocers just where the Usher Hall is now in Edinburgh and there are bananas in the window. This would have been c1900.

Very funny Primrose 😄

One thing that comes from this thread is how much we all enjoy foods from all over the world with the exception of the love/hate relationship with avocado's.
Perhaps we should just stop a while to wonder what would happen to our diets if the international food supply chain was threatened with interruption as the oil supply is being threatened now.
Soma you of
So much of our home production has disappeared unable to compete with factory sized greenhouses and 'free' heat. Flavoursome but slow growing fruit that takes too long . Land that makes far more money as building plots than it does producing food. What would we eat?

Just seen James Martin on TV cooking battered samphire. Not sure why he has to mess about with what is a delicious food.

I have been picking samphire since I was about 5 and the way we locals cooked it was very simple. Rinse thoroughly, leave stalks on. Boil and then simmer for about 8-10 mins. Drain and eat from stalks. All we add is vinegar and a bit of pepper and maybe a few dots of butter.

Emeraldforest

I have to turn off some of the cooking shows these days.Raw a d barely cooked meat and someone served a rabbits eye the other day. Smoked butter,smoked water, goats cheese ice cream ...I'm a bit basic,sorry!

A rabbit’s eye? Euuuuugggghhhhh!

I have to turn off some of the cooking shows these days.Raw a d barely cooked meat and someone served a rabbits eye the other day. Smoked butter,smoked water, goats cheese ice cream ...I'm a bit basic,sorry!

Let’s try this one from Catherine Tate. Gazpacho

youtu.be/hfVYRHHSt0U?si=dR7AfGIEV4mILkTh

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

We have heaps of avos but then they grow here so it is what you would expect. I just bought a big bagful for $5 as they are in season. Use in salads, guacamole etc. I don’t actually like them smashed on toast particularly. You can use them instead of butter in a sandwich.

mae13

Primrose53

I enjoy food and like trying new things but smashed avocado on sour dough bread 🤮🤮🤮. It tastes of nothing.

I have just enjoyed a fresh dressed crab from a local fisherman. Alongside that I had a very tasty vine tomato and a supermarket tiger roll with butter. Plain, simple and delicious.

I don’t enjoy food that has been messed about with or stacked up in a pile because I can’t stop thinking about whether the chef had clean hands.

Yes, it was Lily of the Valley.

What was Lily of the Valley? 🤔

Totally agree with Romilo. Bought some lovely rhubarb yesterday and going to stew it laced with honey.

You can visit the Rhubarb Triangle in Yorkshire and listen to the rhubarb growing .

And I thought babies came from under a gooseberry bush 😂

Beetroot seems to be the latest fad. It supposedly helps lower blood pressure. Our local cafe does a spectacular beetroot latte.

Primrose53

I enjoy food and like trying new things but smashed avocado on sour dough bread 🤮🤮🤮. It tastes of nothing.

I have just enjoyed a fresh dressed crab from a local fisherman. Alongside that I had a very tasty vine tomato and a supermarket tiger roll with butter. Plain, simple and delicious.

I don’t enjoy food that has been messed about with or stacked up in a pile because I can’t stop thinking about whether the chef had clean hands.

Yes, it was Lily of the Valley.

When we went to NZ in 1990s everywhere we went we were given Kumara aka sweet potato. We hadn't tasted it before.
It was definitely a fashion but at least it grows there. Now it's on every supermarket shelf here in the UK but afaik it's imported.

An interesting video is doing the rounds about the 7 vegetables grown and eaten in medieval Britain, full of goodness and easy to grow but no longer eaten because they don't suit mass marketing.

I immediately tried to buy seeds of Good King Henry and Skirrets from heritage producers but they were sold out!
The influencer effect in action.

dragonfly46

Pomegranate like grapefruit does not go well with certain medicines. I cannot eat either.

Yup. This is something that needs to be boosted. Check your meds against your favourite foods.
Sometimes they conflict badly.

Greyduster

It’s not only Mac’n’Cheese that has become “gentrified” but beef short ribs too. The butcher used to throw them at you when I was growing up and, braised slowly in the oven, they were a cheap midweek meal. Then some celebrity chef made them trendy and suddenly they cost a fortune. I bought four (very meaty) pieces recently and it cost me nearly eighteen pounds.

Add to that chicken wings.

dalrymple23

I cook everything from scratch, so am not of the "can't be bothered" brigade. We have gooseberries and blackcurrants in the garden but having to top and tail the fiddly little things, completely puts me off.

Oh my goodness, topping and tailing fruit for my mother and grandmother to make jam.. Loved getting to taste test the "is it set enough?" phase.

Hated cleaning up afterwards.

One time my husband had been gifted a shit-ton of strawberries and his mother decided that she ''really really" needed to visit us that weekend and was shocked I was making jam because she didn't know how to do it and therefore it was an esoteric rite forbidden to mortal souls.

Frogs

LucyAnna5

To be fair - sometimes ‘trendy’ foods can be related to health research. So avocados are good for you, similarly wholewheat or sourdough bread, so these foods are promoted. Ditto blueberries and kiwi fruits ( good for constipation).

I’m not sure I trust health research anymore. At one time they told us not to eat too many eggs cause of the high cholesterol but that seems to have been discounted now. I’m sure there has been other things 🤔

As both science and technology changes, so does the social acceptance of their results. I remember Tomorrow's World in the mid-1980's being less than enthusiastic about what became the WorldWideWeb.

They wrote it off as something for "the superpowers" not for your everyday Jane or Joe.

And now, we have a device that Star Trek could barely comprehend in our pockets or handbags.. the sum of the majority of human knowledge a few clicks away.