Mincemeat...

[Caroline Brown]

There are many culinary aversions that form from the dreaded school food dished up during the 1950's and 1960's.
Brussel sprouts, cabbage, (over boiled and horribly distasteful), tapioca, semolina, liver (of liver and bacon fame..so hard you needed a circular saw to cut it..often pigs liver..which can be most distasteful anyway), not to mention the old favourite..rice pudding( that really tasted vile when over cooked).
All of the above, to this day, causes me to politely decline the offer of eating such things. The cabbage, by the way; was a particular type of cabbage which according to my friend's greengrocer father, was rarely sold as it was too bitter to sell. Even though it was also dirt cheap.

I've heard that school prunes causes aversion for some..though memories of "tinker, tailor, soldier, spy" counting prune stones and lining them around the edge of the desert dish remain in my mind.

Re suet...about 20 years ago I walked into the last remaining local butcher here in town and asked to buy some. The owner, an elderly gentleman, asked me if I was English. When I replied in the affirmative he said,
"In 50 years I've only ever sold that twice. Both times to Englishmen. What is it about you English that you have to make food out of the most awful of animal parts? Steak and kidney pie? Dumplings? (He had heard of them)
You lot must have strong stomachs is all I can say!
Still..you haven't gotten as bad as the French..horsemeat. "

He shook his head and I left without any suet..he had none that week. These days you have to ring the slaughterers in advance to get some. Ahh..Norway...land of the worst cheese in the world. (.look up 'pultost'..it smells..literally..of vomit)

Edit* I forgot to mention the pink custard.....
though spam fritters were lovely!

Phil

Goodness, Phil, that took me right back to the highs and lows of school dinners! I loved that pink custard and the spam fritters [not on the same plate though ]. I also loved semolina, which was served with a decent shortbread biscuit and rose hip syrup. But the tapioca was vile - we used to call it frog spawn.

I remember one poor boy who couldn't stand the school mashed potato. He was so afraid he'd be forced to eat it that he scooped it - gravy and all - into his blazer pocket.

I loved the third of a pint bottles of milk we used to get at morning break time - especially ice cold in the winter. If other kids didn't want theirs I'd always try and help out.

Love,

Caz
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[Robert Linford]

I was 11 before I ever tasted a school dinner (because my second school was too far from home to get back for a meal). I quickly realised the school dinners weren't a patch on my mum's, except for the jam tart and custard.


Then my mum found out that she was paying a week's dinner money every Monday, but I was playing chess all lunchtime instead of eating. So she gave me packed lunches instead.


I didn't always eat those - it depended on the lunchtime chess and football situation.

[Gary Barnett]

Goodness, Phil, that took me right back to the highs and lows of school dinners! I loved that pink custard and the spam fritters [not on the same plate though ]. I also loved semolina, which was served with a decent shortbread biscuit and rose hip syrup. But the tapioca was vile - we used to call it frog spawn.

I remember one poor boy who couldn't stand the school mashed potato. He was so afraid he'd be forced to eat it that he scooped it - gravy and all - into his blazer pocket.

I loved the third of a pint bottles of milk we used to get at morning break time - especially ice cold in the winter. If other kids didn't want theirs I'd always try and help out.

Love,

Caz
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Very nostalgic. I'd forgotten about the rose hip syrup. I loved that and was liberally dosed with it at home. I was less keen on Parish's food and cod liver oil.

Each table was set out with a jug of water and several Duralex water glasses. It was the duty of the first boy to sit down to empty the contents of the salt cellar into the water jug.

[Sam Flynn]

Fondly remember the pink custard, which was lovely with the squares of chocolate sponge they used to serve. Less fondly remembered is "cheese pie", a strange concoction of very bitter tinned tomatoes with a layer of what I presume was egg, topped with cheese. Also "savoury pie", which as far as I could tell was just a slab of pastry dotted with mixed herbs.

[Gary Barnett]

Fondly remember the pink custard, which was lovely with the squares of chocolate sponge they used to serve. Less fondly remembered is "cheese pie", a strange concoction of very bitter tinned tomatoes with a layer of what I presume was egg, topped with cheese. Also "savoury pie", which as far as I could tell was just a slab of pastry dotted with mixed herbs.

Off the top of my head, the only savoury thing I can recall from the school menu is shepherd's pie, which was quite delicious. By the time I'd reached secondary school, school dinners were abandoned in favour of the local cafes, chippies and pie and mash shop. Half a small loaf hollowed out and filled with chips was a particular favourite.

[Robert Linford]

Delrosa was delicious.


When my sister was born, I kept asking for a taste of her gripe water.


Heinz chocolate pudding - oh the heaven!

[Gary Barnett]

Delrosa was delicious.


When my sister was born, I kept asking for a taste of her gripe water.


Heinz chocolate pudding - oh the heaven!

After swimming lessons during the 'summer' term a large arrowroot biscuit and cup of hot Bovril restored the feeling to your limbs.

[Robert Linford]

I can't say if I've ever had an arrowroot biscuit, but I know I used to go to the park pool and splash around in the shallow end solely to work up an appetite for ham and chips in the park café. I never learned to swim and indeed set my face against it.

[Gary Barnett]

I can't say if I've ever had an arrowroot biscuit, but I know I used to go to the park pool and splash around in the shallow end solely to work up an appetite for ham and chips in the park café. I never learned to swim and indeed set my face against it.

Imagine a very dry Rich Tea - the size of your head.

http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/biscuits/previous.php3?item=42

[Robert Linford]

Ah, a very sturdy biscuit.

[Anna Morris]

I don't mind Christmas, it's all the hype about Pancake Day that gets me down. I was in the supermarket only this morning and they've already got eggs and flour on sale.

Is Pancake Day really a noted...uh...sort of holiday? I know what it means but didn't think it was important enough to affect advertising, etc.?

[Anna Morris]

After swimming lessons during the 'summer' term a large arrowroot biscuit and cup of hot Bovril restored the feeling to your limbs.

That's interesting. I had to look up Bovril. That's a lot better than the ubiquitous graham crackers and grape juice we always got as kids. I like the crackers but my tummy was never fond of grape juice so I wondered why teachers said it was so good.

My first swimming lessons were in Payette Lake and the first part of the class was learning how to warm up in arctic temperature water. I never learned to swim in that cold water but came closest to understanding the process in warmed up shallows beside the Salmon River. (Eventually I learned to swim in an actual heated pool.)

[Sam Flynn]

Is Pancake Day really a noted...uh...sort of holiday? I know what it means but didn't think it was important enough to affect advertising, etc.?

I was having a bit of fun, Anna - of course, one can buy the ingredients to make pancakes all year round

That said, TV adverts for Jif lemon juice used to (still do?) come out in the run-up to Shrove Tuesday, with the slogan "Don't forget the pancakes on Jif Lemon Day".

[Sam Flynn]

Imagine a very dry Rich Tea - the size of your head.

I've never had a sweet tooth, so I used to love fairly bland biscuits like Rich Tea, Marie, Sport Biscuits, Malted Milk and Digestives... lovely, and perfect for dipping in tea.

[Caroline Brown]

When my sister was born, I kept asking for a taste of her gripe water.

I did the same when my brother was born! These days I find Kummel tastes very much like an adult gripe water.

Heinz chocolate pudding - oh the heaven!

It was always Heinz treacle pud for me - with lashings of golden syrup poured over it.

Love,

Caz
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