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Original poster

Things you didn't know weren't normal

1000 replies

Applescruffle · 08/08/2023 18:43

What are things you thought every one or every family did until you became an adult or entered a new relationship?

I'll start. I thought that everyone ate the leftover yorkshires after a roast dinner as desert eg: fill them with cream and fruit or custard or something, basically use them like you would a pancake... no?

I thought everyone peeled mushrooms, I didn't know that not only do people not peel mushrooms, lots don't even know they have peel!! 😱

I'll probably think of more.

Nb: I'm not meaning to trigger anyone's childhood or relationship trauma, I just mean lighthearted things x

OP posts:
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RicherThanYews · 08/08/2023 19:32

@Switcher I discovered that Australian delicacy some years back on an ASMR vid! The lovely gent who made it called it Fairy Bread? Apparently no kids party is complete without it and the adults often love it too.

Farahpascalmoges · 08/08/2023 19:32

Every night for late supper my Dad would make us fried cheese with crispy bacon and a bread roll to dip. We thought everyone had it but I realised I have never met anyone who has had this or even knows what it is. It was so delicious. He was from Newcastle with Irish roots.

stiltonbriecheddar · 08/08/2023 19:32

Applescruffle · 08/08/2023 19:00

I didn't know what a bellend was until I was 28.
I wrong to school in the 90s when "bellend" was the insult everyone was using for each other and I didn't know what it was. I asked my parents round the dinner table and they refuses to tell me, told me to stop being stupid in front of my little brother and sister.

So I decided for myself that it must be a foreskin, not sure why.

Anyway, years later my son was circumcised (medical reasons) and I casually mentioned to my sister that "he doesn't have a bell end". She helpfully drew me a diagram.

🤣🤣 this has brightened my day

Somethingsnappy · 08/08/2023 19:33

Also love butter and peanut butter!

ladycarlotta · 08/08/2023 19:33

DropCloths · 08/08/2023 19:11

Having butter and peanut butter on toast. Totally normal in my family, every time I've done it in front of someone else they've reacted as if I'm eating like late era Elvis.

my partner is a 'butter AND peanut butter guy' and I was utterly scandalised when I first discovered this, but actually the butter does serve a practical purpose in softening up the toast before the pb goes on. Also it's delicious. I am converted.

user556378 · 08/08/2023 19:34

Switcher · 08/08/2023 19:18

At children's parties in Australia, it was traditional to serve white bread with the crusts cut off, liberally spread to the edges with butter, and covered in 100s and 1000s. It was one of the things I was most excited about at my kids 5th birthday and not only did nobody eat them, all the parents were absolutely horrified and looked at me like I was a heathen!! Oh well.

Fairy bread Smile

LT2 · 08/08/2023 19:34

Manchestermummax3 · 08/08/2023 19:31

I believed until last year (mid 30s) that Scotland Yard was in Scotland.
I always wondered why when they did press conferences they weren't Scottish & seemed to only cover stories that happened in London 🤦‍♀️

Wait, what!?😄

Original poster
Applescruffle · 08/08/2023 19:35

I have heard of fairy bread before.

I love Australia and Aussies, I really do. But they do some horrific things to food.

OP posts:
pamplemoussemousse · 08/08/2023 19:36

BarelyLiterate · 08/08/2023 19:10

Not wasting perfectly edible food.

I was brought up to avoid waste, because as a family we simply couldn’t afford to waste food. Whenever I see people binning food which is completely fine just because it has hit its ‘best before’ date, or because they have eaten the breasts of the chicken but don’t want the leg meat (yes, really!) I am appalled.

Mostly, I manage to bite my lip, but I did say something when I saw someone about to bin a pack of avocados because they were ‘out of date’. They weren’t even ripe, never mind being off!

This isn't even an affordability thing for me, it's a common sense thing. Best before means exactly that, it's best eaten before the date as after that the quality will diminish.

Use by, well I refuse to believe that something I could eat at 1 minute before midnight on the use by date would suddenly become inedible at 1 minute past midnight. I should probably have been born in the 1950s 🤣

I also have never had food poisoning or given anyone food poisoning, I'm sensible about it.

RicherThanYews · 08/08/2023 19:37

@Farahpascalmoges My beloved late Bampy would cover a baking tray with grated cheese and onion then roast it, that was one of his favourite meals (No Irish roots, he was full blood Welsh)

AmberGer · 08/08/2023 19:39

I always peel mushrooms and enjoy doing it too. It's so satisfying 😌

Senorfrijoles · 08/08/2023 19:40

SpanielsMatter · 08/08/2023 19:02

Culture shock

Beetroot on burgers (horrible)
Sausage rolls that contains watery frozen style vegetables ( kiwis do not understand decent sausage rolls)
’Bring a plate’ had to be explained that you also bring food on the plate to a social gathering 🤭
Beef/ Pork ‘flavoured’ sausages with painted on lines and made from … well we won’t go into that one - wouldn’t feed them to the dogs.

If you rent you don’t pay council tax
insurance not compulsory for vehicles and a LOT cheaper for fully comp
Being able to grow the majority of your vegetables year round
Neighbours talk to you, and are helpful. Strangers say hello on walks
Parking for free on the high street - spent ages looking for a pay and display the first time

And I didn’t know till very late that mushrooms should be peeled ( washed, always peeled, no).

"If you rent you don't pay council tax"...

That's not correct, unless you are a student, a lodger or live in a HMO. Tenants pay council tax if they rent the entire property.

Quinque · 08/08/2023 19:41

I didn't know that you could get fresh apricots or peaches in the UK. We only ever had them tinned. When I went on a school trip to France and had fresh apricots I was so excited and said I wish we could get them at home only to be told that you could! Our corner shop only sold brown bananas and bruised apples.
Also, my grandmother always told me she couldn't play with me because she had a bone in her leg. I thought it was an illness. I was a very gullible child.

Farahpascalmoges · 08/08/2023 19:41

RicherThanYews · 08/08/2023 19:37

@Farahpascalmoges My beloved late Bampy would cover a baking tray with grated cheese and onion then roast it, that was one of his favourite meals (No Irish roots, he was full blood Welsh)

Oooo that sound like the nearest thing to it - I am going to try that right now! Thank you so much (I love "Bampy")

CaptainHammer · 08/08/2023 19:42

My family always spread lemon curd on cold left over Yorkshire’s. DH thought it was the grossest thing ever till he tried it!

FatCatatPaddingtonStation · 08/08/2023 19:47

Butter and peanut butter for me, I find the PB claggy without butter.

My partner grew up with cold crumble, I was horrified and make her warm it. Also, her Christmas presents were not wrapped just piled under the tree and she could go down alone whenever she woke up to see them and start playing with them.

We had afternoon tea every day and I thought everyone did so. Breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea in the sitting room at 4pm sharp; pot of tea and milk for the children, home made wholemeal bread and honey. Cake on Sundays only. And then dinner (my dad called it supper) at 7, after my dad watched the evening national and local news. I was quite shocked when I realised not everyone did this.

Nowthenhere · 08/08/2023 19:48

Dad's doing housework without having instructions?
Dad's parenting without it being called "looking after" their own.
Dad's knowing how to put their daughter's hair together before school as a little?
All the dad's I was surrounded by took their parenting decisions on 100%.
"No, dad will pick us up from dance if your mum or dad takes" was pretty normal.
And school work wasn't mum or dad specific, some mums were great at maths and others helped with English homework. "My dad helped me learn my timetable over the weekend" etc wasn't all mum.

Seeing my dad hand out the washing mum had loaded was normal to me. There were no gender roles, I saw mums help with fixing bikes for their children and dad's cleaning grazed knees.

This is less spoken about now if it's still a thing.

Crazywork · 08/08/2023 19:50

Not me but my G'dad was convinced mushroom stalks were poisonous.

HeddaGarbled · 08/08/2023 19:50

I thought when you got home from holiday you had to describe every day in detail to people who enquired: “On Monday we did x and then had lunch at y, and then we went to z etc)”, because that’s what my mum always did (at length). The shock when I heard the following: “How was your holiday?” “Lovely, thanks”. End of conversation 😮

SlatternIsMyMiddleName · 08/08/2023 19:51

Ahem - what is a bellend? I truly wish I didn’t have to ask this.

pacifictime · 08/08/2023 19:54

SpeedyMackechnie · 08/08/2023 18:55

I thought that the Little Chef would only give you a lollipop if you cleared your plate.

Didn't realise that this was actually my mum and dad's rule until I was in my mid 30s and half way through telling someone at work about it. As in - Little Chef only gave you a lollipop if you cleared your.... HOLD ON.
Slightly embarrassing 😁

I think this was the rule!!

anotherside · 08/08/2023 19:55

Peeling mushrooms is perhaps the weirdest thing I’ve heard this year.

BarrelOfOtters · 08/08/2023 19:55

I thought mushrooms were poisonous raw and had to be cooked. Till a university boyfriend served me raw mushrooms in a salad.

Calistano · 08/08/2023 19:56

Just realised I have never in my life that I recall watched the queen's speech Shock. Maybe my parents were fervent anti royalists and I didn't realise.

shivbo2014 · 08/08/2023 19:57

My mum always had me peeling the mushrooms for the bolognese. Loved that job!

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