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.

When the first McDonalds opened in London, we made a special trip to sample the exotic fare.

I had never heard of, seen or tasted a butternut squash until I worked at a Sainsburys check out aged 15. I had to ask a customer what it was and then I got the eye roll, tutting and them saying “God, now you’ll be asking me what this is” pointing to some asparagus.

Coffee
Avocado
Pomegranate
Sweet potato
Dark chocolate
Tea infusions
Veggie crisps

When I was a kid, sandwiches with fillings like ham or cheese were luxury and you'd be lucky to get them at a birthday. Normal, everyday sandwiches were jam/peanut butter/Marmite/salmon paste.

fresh orange juice was guarded like the Crown jewels and you got walloped if you were caught sneaking a slurp. Ditto milk.

Interesting about pineapples. I always leave mine on the side to ripen and it makes me happy looking at it there.

Pot noodle! We got one a year as a holiday treat. My mum used to take a flask of hot water out one picnic and we made them up. It was so exciting.

Olive oil as in a tiny bottle and kept in the medicine cabinet ( well bathroom cabinet ) for ear ache ! ( 70’s)

It’s always interesting to me that pasta, pizza etc was unusual for people growing up. My mum is from an Italian family so we grew up on pasta in the 70s and 80s. Spaghetti with butter and cheese was my Mum’s go to quick meal and my Nan used to make fantastic pizzas for family get togethers. My DH thought I was terribly exotic when we met, he grew up on meat and potatoes.

In a reverse ‘posh to normal’, oysters used to be peasant food until the supply became scarce and only rich people could afford them.

My MIL has very conservative food tastes. She once pointed at something in my kitchen and asked what they were - cherry tomatoes. She also recoiled in horror at some ‘worm things’ we had left in a cupboard at her holiday home - bog standard pasta spirals to you and me.

When I was little (in the 60s) fresh cream was super posh and very expensive. Eggs were also a treat, only my grandad was allowed a boiled egg for breakfast and we GC were allowed the treat of taking turns to eat the top of the egg. We also took turns for the rind of his bacon- chewy AND tasty. And the poshest thing I ever ate was shop coleslaw from a tin when we visited a rich Aunty. I didn’t taste steak until I was about 22.

Grapes - Only if you were in hospital.

Any fresh fruit that wasnt apples, bananas or pears (satsumas only Christmas)

Ice creams that weren't either from a big plastic tub or cheapy choc ice (so no magnum type things). I remember when Haagan Daas came out and it was height of cool. We never had that at home. We'd only be allowed cheap lollies if out, never a cornetto. A Feast if boat bring pushed out.

Bernard Matthews Turkey Breast roast thing.

Avocados, mangos, pineapples and cherry tomatoes or tomatoes on the vine were considered very fancy and only purchased for special occasions.

When I was growing up (1980s), broccoli was actually relatively uncommon too. We had it now and again but everyday vegetables were cabbage, peas, carrots, swede. Green beans and runner beans from the garden, Summer only.

We never had butternut squash, sweet potatoes or blueberries until at least the late nineties. Strawberries and raspberries only in season, either from the garden or PYO.

Early 80s growing up in South Africa. Tinned asparagus with salad cream was the height of posh. Yogurt and ham and cheese were very special treats rather than everyday items.

Olive oil used to be sold only in chemists.

My Dad can remember his first taste of a banana, after ww2.

Any pasta.
Any rice.
Any garlic.
PEANUT BUTTER WITH JAM SANDWICHES were the best ever.
Olive oil - it was for ear infections.
Onions - OK, we grew them. We grew most veg, including potatoes as well.

I was born in the early 80’s and can’t think of many things other than asparagus 🤣, I remember when kiwi fruit appeared but I was quite young. We visited a few countries so things like pineapple (fresh) and mangos were not new to us.

I remember eating in Whimpy for a friends birthday and it was the first fast food chain I had eaten in, I then expereance Burger King on a visit to Jamaica along with my first gherkin.

Things like duck and salmon were a special treat.

Olive oil. It was for ear wax and sold in chemists.
Mushrooms. Only eaten on birthdays.
Asparagus. My mum would eat it on her birthday.
Muffins. I grew up with fairy cakes.
I didn't eat an avocado, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, peanut butter, mayonnaise, poached eggs or olives until I was an adult.
Broccoli. Didn't eat it until the 90s.
Pizza was treat food.
Different varieties of fish, I only ate, haddock, plaice or once kippers. Cod was with butter sauce in a boil in the bag, when my parents had curry.
Savoury curry. My mum would only make curry with apples and sultanas in it.

Not in my lifetime, but bananas. My grandmother likes to talk about sharing one with her younger sister, and their uncle instructing them to take a small bite of banana followed by a BIG bite of bread - and alternating like this

I’m old enough to remember when fresh orange juice was served as a starter.

I'm from Hull, which had a large Chinese population but very few people from India or Pakistan etc. so my first proper curry was when I was about 16 and it blew my tiny mind. Now I live in Leeds, curry in its many forms is so normal to me.

Any Indian Food

Any chinese food

Any "foreign" food.

I remember the first time my mom made spaghetti bolognaise. We were amazed!

Mayonaise was posh. Everyone I knew ate salad cream

And my parents would buy a bottle of wine maybe 5 times a year

A small glass of orange juice was a starter!

I am so old that I remember yoghurt as a thing hippies bought at health food shops.

Then Ski flavoured yoghurts became more widely available and were advertised on tv.

Pesto! We were working class 90s kids with fairly sheltered eating habits so probably missed a lot of stuff due to that rather than it not being a 'thing' but we ate loads of pasta, never ever pesto though.

I also remember my grandad's first time eating pizza, when they were looking after us. He got a bit obsessed for about 6 months, bless him!

@winsinbin

Your story about grandads egg made me smile. Do you eat conservatively now or do you eat 4 eggs a day with wild abandon?

Melon- only as a starter.
Yoghurt - was a really exotic, when I was at school- my boys had it as their after school snack.
Museli .