The huge choices in food available now

Around here we also have Spanish, Turkish and Lebanese.
My favourite is Thai, as long as it’s authentic. We used to have a brilliant Thai restaurant nearby - they were all Thais, but alas it closed some time ago now.

My mother used to make curry with leftover meat.
Some of my friends thought she was very progressive!

The first time I ate a Chinese meal was when I was about 17 and a Chinese restaurant opened in our town and spaghetti bolognese when I was 18 when a student friend made it at her flag.

We don't have such a wide range of cuisine here but quite a few, even a Gurkha restaurant not far away.

flag flat.

I'm getting the next train to yours LOL.

Foreign foods wise here - just Italian, unhygienic Indian, a Chinese one I'm not even sure is open and I moved on from Chinese food about 40 years ago anyway. A Middle Eastern outlet has opened recently and I think that's about it here for foreign food.

I've had to do a pivot to as "healthy and local" as possible - as that's the way this area is orienting these days. That's what I regard as an "at home" way of eating suitable for me - so I head for what I can of artisan bread, homemade sauerkraut, homemade goats cheese, homemade honey, what organic local vegetables I can get - and at least it's healthy and local and have that at home.

I grew up with a lot of potatoes, cabbage, some cauliflower and sprouts.

Fish and chips on a Friday, and a lot of Vesta packet meals.

Garlic was unheard of, and we never went to a restaurant.

Chicken was for Christmas only, and rich people had a turkey.

Now I love our great Chinese takeaway, and when we go out, Italian.

I think that one was common when we grew up - ie no meals out. Given my childhood memory is pretty non-existent anyway - but I can literally only remember one meal out over the whole of my childhood (ie a Chinese one). Apparently I'd virtually given up eating/lost interest in my mothers cooking (errrm.....not hard to do on a very restricted diet done by a poor cook LOL) and it was probably my logical thinking father that wanted to check if I was going off food per se and would starve - so we went out to that Chinese restaurant and I ate a normal size meal there no problem. So he realised it wasn't food per se that was the problem and I just didnt like/was bored with my mothers cooking.

Nanna8 - I was wondering what the nasty Chinese was. Was it a Vesta meal or a local Chinese takeaway? When I first had Chinese, around 1970, it always seemed to be sweet and sour pork, which was all fat and no pork, so fat fried in batter with a brightly coloured sauce. I'm still not too keen on Chinese.
Turkish is most common in this area and probably my favourite. I also like Italian and tapas. Most Indian/Eastern can be too spicy for me nowadays.

My early years were lived in central London, my parents were in hospitality.

There was a varied menu available six days a week in the pubs restaurants, so always had a choice for lunch and/or dinner. Sunday was always a full roast dinner.

I remember going out to various restaurants from an early age, Chinese, Italian, French etc.

My lovely Dad served in the Royal Navy in Hong Kong during WW11. He was a young lad working in the galley and he often told us the tale of Chinese chefs deep cleaning the kitchen before preparing a banquet for a visiting dignitaries and how impressed he was with the sparkling cleanliness afterwards.

As a consequence of his time there and also because here in the North West there were many restaurants opened in the 50s by Hong Kong expats, he often took us for a "businessman's lunch" when we were children...3 courses for about 5 bob - does anyone rememberthem?...& we absolutely loved it, not withstanding there was a lot of cornflour in the soup, ditto the chow mein etc and even the custard was made with water, food colouring and, yes, cornflour!

I can also remember with absolute relish my first taste of authentic Italian pizza on honeymoon in Venice in 1971, never had anything like it at 21 years old.

Needless to say, we never looked back and, like most of us on here, have totally embraced the wonderful cuisines that we're lucky enough to have virtually on tap.

I think this is about eating out?

We have mostly traditional pub grub here. We did have a good Indian restaurant but it changed hands after Covid and I haven't been in since.

I love Thai food but finding an authentic Thai restaurant here is impossible.

We have a local Chinese, another Indian that are just average really- mostly it is take-way pizza, friend chicken etc and I never order take-away.

If I go to the nearest town there are international street food stalls which change frequency, but now my favourite is the bento box one.

If you take the train to the nearest city you can get food from anywhere in the world but I wouldn't make the effort just to go for the food...

The first 'foreign' restaurant in my home town was Italian. I'm not sure when it opened but I recall it from at least the late 1950s. We never ate there (too poor for eating out) but through the windows it looked very sophisticated with candles stuck in chianti bottles on the tables. Then a very nice Chinese restaurant in the mid 1960s serving very authentic, delicious Cantonese cuisine (no sliced carrots and strips of green or red pepper in evidence). A quick google tells me that an Indian restaurant opened there in the mid '60s but I don't remember that. MacDonalds came in the mid '70s (I definitely count that as foreign food, won't dignify it with the title 'cuisine )

When I lived in Sheffield in the '70s we had Italian, Chinese and Indian restaurants, the latter so authentic that you didn't get any cutlery unless you asked for it.

Up here in the NE we have Chinese, Indian, Italian, Jamaican, Lebanese, Greek, Thai, Asian 'fusion', sushi, tapas and probably more, but, not living in a city, I don't know what else is on offer.

Stuff from our very local Indian and Chinese takeaways is very Anglicised and not always particularly nice, but we have an excellent Pizza takeaway run by an Italian; much nicer than the usual offerings.

My absolute favourite foods are Turkish, Thai, Indian, Japanese and Jamaican.

I do also love Chinese in the backstreets of Soho, where the locals eat, proper authentic food. My husband lived in Dho for a while whilst we were dating and knew all the small backstreet restaurant, they were authentic and in those days cheap!

Cossy

My absolute favourite foods are Turkish, Thai, Indian, Japanese and Jamaican.

I do also love Chinese in the backstreets of Soho, where the locals eat, proper authentic food. My husband lived in Dho for a while whilst we were dating and knew all the small backstreet restaurant, they were authentic and in those days cheap!

We are lucky to have a wide choice in our area and easy access up to London for an even wider variety (price and quality)

Our village used to have two Indian restaurants, a fish and chips/ Chinese take away and two pubs selling food one if which was excellent, alas thar has closed and remaining pub food is dreadful. Our nearest town offers Italian, Turkish, Chinese and pub grub. The Italian food is good as the town has a large Italian population (a lot smaller than thirty years ago). Many came over from Sicily to work in the brickfields.

If we go to our nearest big city, Milton Keynes you can get almost any foods as it is such a multinational city.

As a child my father had a shop,in Soho next door to a fantastic German Jewish deli. The two brothers who ran it introduced me to so many new foods from dark dark rye bread to smoked salmon or smoked sausage. My mother was a good cook, plain but oh so tasty, I wish I had her skill.

Nannee49

My lovely Dad served in the Royal Navy in Hong Kong during WW11. He was a young lad working in the galley and he often told us the tale of Chinese chefs deep cleaning the kitchen before preparing a banquet for a visiting dignitaries and how impressed he was with the sparkling cleanliness afterwards.

As a consequence of his time there and also because here in the North West there were many restaurants opened in the 50s by Hong Kong expats, he often took us for a "businessman's lunch" when we were children...3 courses for about 5 bob - does anyone rememberthem?...& we absolutely loved it, not withstanding there was a lot of cornflour in the soup, ditto the chow mein etc and even the custard was made with water, food colouring and, yes, cornflour!

I can also remember with absolute relish my first taste of authentic Italian pizza on honeymoon in Venice in 1971, never had anything like it at 21 years old.

Needless to say, we never looked back and, like most of us on here, have totally embraced the wonderful cuisines that we're lucky enough to have virtually on tap.

We had one similar to this in our town where I attended the local college, it was so cheap, the three courses were quite limited, soup or orange juice to start, then a noodle or rice dish, then coffee or tea. It was run by Asians and the food was good and very very chea. This was in late 70’s.

My first couple of years of life were spent in Singapore then Malaysia and my DM told me the girls the army supplied to help my Mum around the house used to take me off to the villages to see their families who spoon fed me their food haha I always say this is why I love rice and noodles

My parents 'bribed ' me to pass my 11 +.
The prize was a new dress and to be taken out for a meal.
Totally unheard of then.
This was 1969.
Thankfully I passed.
However, my mum picked my dress. A bright lime green mini-ish dress.
My Dad took me for the meal out.
It was to a Bernie Inn in Bristol. I was so out of my depth with the whole experience. But I sort of enjoyed, if I remember. I think my dad enjoyed himself as it was probably a big treat for him too.

We've got Nepalese, Indian, Turkish, Greek, Italian and Chinese places nearby, but 10 minutes' drive away has Polish, Egyptian, and Japanese restaurants, too.

My favourite cuisine is Indian. I also like Italian and Greek. The only thing I dislike is Chinese, which I find tasteless and greasy. MSG gives me a migraine.

Food was traditional, vegetables and salads seasonal, and the only seasonings salt and white pepper - and nutmeg (whole, grated as required) was limited to the top of an egg custard tart! What we didn’t have, we didn’t miss.

I love Thai food - we have a couple of very good Thai restaurants here in Sheffield, and also a sensational authentic Indian place. Always booked out weeks in advance. I was seventeen on an end of college night out before I tasted Chinese food. In the early sixties there were only a couple of Chinese restaurants in the city. I can’t say I liked it very much but when I lived in London we used to go to a wonderful Chinese restaurant in Golders Green, opposite the Hippodrome. A friend and I ate our first spaghetti Bolognese in a small restaurant in Shepherds Market. We made such a dogs breakfast of it I didn’t think they'd let us in the door again! After DH and I married, we were globe trotting and tried all sorts of different cuisines.

Sounds fab Cossy what a lovely way to be introduced to different cuisine.

And how good were those lunches on a student budget

keepingquiet

I think this is about eating out?

We have mostly traditional pub grub here. We did have a good Indian restaurant but it changed hands after Covid and I haven't been in since.

I love Thai food but finding an authentic Thai restaurant here is impossible.

We have a local Chinese, another Indian that are just average really- mostly it is take-way pizza, friend chicken etc and I never order take-away.

If I go to the nearest town there are international street food stalls which change frequency, but now my favourite is the bento box one.

If you take the train to the nearest city you can get food from anywhere in the world but I wouldn't make the effort just to go for the food...

I have been known to do so - ie took what I think must have been a 2-3 hour trip back to Birmingham specially (after I'd moved away from there) and then that trip back again. That was because I'd never had a full smorgasbord despite my few months living in Denmark or subsequent time living in Birmingham.

So - back I went - several hours in total for the repeat trip - in order to do so.

There was an Austrian cakeshop in Birmingham too in that era - so early 1970's British cakes of the time left me cold (apart from genuine Devon cream teas) - though I think that was probably a return trip into the centre of Birmingham from the outskirts to try that one out. Nice.....

I'm not interested in Russian or Eastern European food and recoil at the thought of some of what the Chinese themselves seem to eat. But I'll give a lot of different cuisines a go - though my favourite is Middle Eastern.

My paternal grandparents were hoteliers and my dad was well travelled and a good, inventive cook so we had a mix of mum's very traditional cooking and Dad's off the wall stuff.

In our large village we have a not very good fish and chipshop, and Turkish, Pizza, Chinese and Indian takeaways. We have an indian pub/restaurant, a similar Italian one, 3 pubs that do traditional pub grub and one really super restaurant. In the next village we have a Michelin starred restaurant.

I hardly need to cook!🤣🤣

I've heard good Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Korean, Indian, Italian, German, and Mexican restaurants exist in the near market town.

Whilst young I only remember Italian, Chinese and Indian.

We didn't have any spare money when growing up so no meals out. My mother was a very poor cook. She even eventually recognised it and went to cookery lessons when I was 12, afraid to say meals didn't improve. When Vesta curry's first came out I used to quite often treat myself to one out of my pocket money. I thought it was so exotic. If my fiance was invited for a meal he always asked me who was cooking, If it was my Mom he made an excuse if he could.
I must have been in my late 20s before we could afford a takeaway. A meal,out was somewhere like a Berni Inn, When we had a bit more money I had my first Chinese (bliss). I also love Indian and Thai. I am afraid I find Italian food for some reason doesn't suit me.

Allira

My mother used to make curry with leftover meat.
Some of my friends thought she was very progressive!

The first time I ate a Chinese meal was when I was about 17 and a Chinese restaurant opened in our town and spaghetti bolognese when I was 18 when a student friend made it at her flag.

We don't have such a wide range of cuisine here but quite a few, even a Gurkha restaurant not far away.

My DF developed a taste for curry during WW2 - he was with the RN but certainly spent time on and off in Bombay (as it was then). In the 50s and 6os my mother used to make her version of curry, usually with the remains of a roast, diced, with curry powder, and she usually put sultanas in! I always enjoyed it.