To ask which foods used to be super fancy but are now totally "normal"

[cheesenpickles]

I was chatting to my 3 year old today about how, when I was little, pizza was quite an exciting thing. It's what they ate on American tv shows and there was no way you could get it delivered to your house. Got me thinking about things that are ordinary groceries now which were the pinnacle of fancy/unthought of in the 80s and 90s (and earlier!)

Avocados are another one. My mum would buy one for her and my dad as a special treat to eat with vinegarette from their special "avocado pear" bowls.

Mexican food as well. Old El Paso kits were the height of fancy pants when I was younger.

Halloumi, gets and hummus were things only my family seemed to know about (parents were stationed in Cyprus) and trying to explain squeaky cheese to my friends when we brought a huge brine-filled jug of the stuff back from holiday was hilarious considering it's totally normal now.

Lol. When I said chickpeas, I know that's what houmous is. But I meant otherwise - like chana masala, chickpea stew etc.

Also puy lentils.

And butternut squash didn't feature in my childhood at all.

Ooh, I know a historical one!

Celery was very hard to get fresh for a long time, in the UK and US. At the turn of the 20th century, as restaurants were becoming en vogue with an expanding middle class, all excellent restaurants had cream of celery soup on the menu, usually at a bit of an extortionate rate.

Celery soup and other celery-related dishes, including braised, can be found on the dining menus of the Titanic, as well as other super-luxury liners of the day.

Enta

You make me laugh!😂

Salmon.

When we were kids tinned salmon was a very special treat and fresh or smoked salmon were completely unheard of in our house. The first time I had M&S salmon en croute, I thought it was the poshest meal I had ever eaten.

Mushrooms
Lasagne
Profiteroles
Chutney and poppadoms
Prawn crackers

That's fascinating, Womb.

Cherry tomatoes

Sushi (probably not 'normal' normal now but normal enough not to be unusual to find alongside ready made sandwiches)

Take away coffee (depending how old you are!)

Bet I'll think of more in a bit.

I didnt realise Thai food existed until I hit adulthood! Now I am all about the green curries... my parents still look at it like it's some kind of modern poison though.

Coffee is the big one in my lifetime. When I was a child you just got coffee and in very fancy places they had cappuccinos and that was very special! Now theres a million and one fancy coffees available everywhere, even in Tesco's and petrol stations!

I had my first mango aged 22. Never looked back.

Olives.
Avocados.
Pasta.
Houmous.
Ready made sandwiches.

Incidentally,I didn't eat my first McDonald's until I was 18! (This was in 1981,so they had been around a few years in the UK by then!).

I remember having to go to a health food shop to find quinoa. Now it's in every supermarket.

And even MORE historical ...

Pineapples, when they were first brought to Europe, cost truly incredible amounts. A single pineapple would be the equivalent of tens of thousands of pounds today.

What's more, when people would spend this much on them, they typically didn't even eat them! They displayed them as a table centerpiece from the tropics.

I would guess the few lucky people who got a taste remembered it their whole life. Imagine being able to say you'd eaten a bite of something so extraordinary that the price of a single bite could feed a family for a year.

I also remember freshly baked croissants appearing in supermarkets and everyone being very excited by it

Champagne or sparkling wine. Wine for "everyday" rather than special occasions. Fizzy drinks!
Pate. Hummus. Olives. Flying away on holiday rather than piling into the transit van to tour the campsites of Devon...

Yogurt instead of Angel Delight
Courgettes (my mum grew them you couldn't buy them)

Cous cous!

avocados and prawns.

funnily enough hummus & halloumi were familiar in our house for the same reasons as the op

Thinly sliced cucumber soaked in vinegar.
Lemon meringue.

I was very jealous of my husband when he told me about the panini he had had for lunch.

WombOfOnesOwn Ah! That would be what's known on Mumsnet as the 'Show Pineapple'!

When I was little in the 1970s we had a tiny bottle of olive oil that had been bought in the chemists and was used for earaches

Yoghurt was pretty new and exciting in the UK (Ski with the churn shaped pot)

Ready meals and bought sandwiches from M&S were the bees knees in the 1980s. I was obsessed with the prawn mayonnaise sarnies.

My dad is from the West Indies. We used to make a special family trip to Shepherds Bush market about once a month to buy creamed coconut, black eyed beans, curry powder, mango, pineapple, physalis, papaya, aubergines, okra etc.

I remember when M&S brought out Caribbean and Tropical mixed juices. It was like the nectar of the gods. I don't think I had ever tasted anything so delicious in my life.

Southern fried chicken wasn't really a thing when I was little. Now it's a staple for a lot of people.

Petit Filous!

We devoured them when we went on holiday to France. I think we actually ate them on bread and butter, oddly. Not sure why. Perhaps because it said fromage on the pot.

At least half of everything we eat in our house wasn't widely consumed in our house as i grew up, but I'm not sure how much is availability and how much just a middle-class-lifestyle thing now.

I'm sure in the 80s others had avocados, blueberries, feta cheese, olives, etc, just not us.