Why was a glass of orange juice a starter?

[NutellaEllaElla]

I learned this recently. Is it true? What don't I know that might help me understand this?

Yes definitely in the 70/80s. Meals out were a once a year treat.

Soup, orange juice or prawn cocktail

Steak, plaice, chicken

Various sweet s from the trolley

Melon balls!

The whole point of the dessert trolley was you could have a bit of everything.

Has anyone told young OP about the exotic wonders of Vesta dehydrated meals? My first experience of curry. And there was a Chinese-style one with dried noodles that puffed up like Quavers when fried... We thought they were wonderful.

My drink of choice in hunt early 80's was Malibu and pineapple juice.

That’s them @Puzzledandpissedoff. No idea why I thought they were Swedish 😂.

Oh I remember that as a child of the 80's. I was a very fussy eater and the fresh orange was 1. Such a treat and 2. A great way to avoid having to eat soup.

Fresh orange wasn't a thing we had at home, far too expensive. My Granny did have it for breakfast when hosting but we're talking a tiny dash in a little glass.

I love treating myself to the occasional pint of not from concentrate fresh orange now!

My gran ran a pub in the 60s/70s and she used to have scampi and chips in a basket on the menu.

It was standard in my oxbridge college in the 90s every evening but I always assumed it was there as an alternative for those who didn't want a 3 course dinner who could therefore have a nice drink with their 2-course dinner rather than having more food than they wanted but maintaining the same set price.

Think I'd prefer an orange juice to many common starter options, to be honest.

@OchonAgusOchonOh you were sophisticated!

Birds Apeel, Surprise peas, Lift Lemon tea, Vesta curries. The Seventies was the decade of adding water to dried food - I think we all thought we were living like astronauts.

Yes! Holidays staying in a guest house in Blackpool, offered starter of soup or orange juice. Us kids always chose orange juice as it was a treat! Think parents wanted you to have soup to fill you up!

The height of exotic eating in the 70s!!!

I've just been given a menu for a formal meal in attending next weekend.....and this was one of the starters! Along with others, including prawn cocktail. 🤣 I didn't realise fruit juice was 70s too!

😆😆😆. I used to love the Vesta curries as a child and I thought they were SO exotic. I used to be fascinated by the little noodles that puffed up to a ridiculous size with the Chinese meals. I was talking about them around this time last year and got a craving when I found out they were still made. I managed to track a supply down and bought three beef curries. I was so excited when they arrived but I think it was probably the most revolting thing I've ever tasted! The other two are still at the back of the cupboard 😆😆😆

I think my all time favourite food as a child were a Bird's Eye rissoles. I suspect they wouldn't taste as delicious as I remember them now!

My in laws still served a slice of melon with the cherry as a starter for Christmas Day well into the 2010s. Prawn cocktail was also offered as an option some years.

Dining out back in the 80s/early 90s as a kid I used to love all the ice cream desserts, banana split, Peach Melba, Knickerbocker glory ...always had a paper umbrella on top and sometimes a sparkler 😁 Wish they'd bring those desserts back!

Orange juice used to be a luxury. So starters in the 80s would be orange juice, melon, prawn cocktail or soup.

They certainly were.

It's still one of the starter options in hospital. That or soup.

Good Lord no!
Fruit juice (choice of orange or tomato) or soup was Sunday lunch or cafe fattening.
Once you got into prawn cocktail as an option there was usually a wedge of melon (with ginger), a slab of pate with toast, and soup with croutons. Fancy!! 😀. I feel so old!

@Puzzledandpissedoff oh look! The model type of the glass was called Sweden! Odd what your childhood memories retain!

I have a distant cousin whose name is Libby Orange.

Ah the 70s.

We had a (glass) bottle of del monte orange juice ONCE a year as a test for my mother's birthday.

Can hardly believe it now, my two swig it like there's no tomorrow.

Remember a slice of melon as a starter but not orange juice.

As for 70's nights for food, not the way they used to cook it, everything was overcooked! Ick

A good duck a la orange is delicious but I didn't realise that until I was grown because 70's duck was like shoe leather