AIBU to wonder how the fuck is LEMON a "MC food"

[Wazzzzzzzup]

amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/02/food-choices-proxy-class-britain

What the hell, people😂 What. The. Hell.

I think it is.

Not sure of your point OP - are you agreeing or disagreeing with the thrust of the article?

I think it is a bit mc too. We were poor growing up and all food was accounted for. Endless fruit bowl with lemons for G and T was for richer relations. I think if your poor you’d just have a bottle of lemon juice left over from pancake day and substitute that instead.

You can be working class and not poor You can be MC and not touch fruit. We are so much more fluid these days.

I am gobsmacked that something as basic as lemon is considered a class thing.

I am not from UK so am still discovering the class obsession here

I’m poor but I regularly buy lemons. All my WC friends also buy lemons.

So they are saying that anyone who has say, an Italian parent, ME heritage, been veggie since the 80s, lived in an area where there is a high % of people from one part of the world where you can get decent bagels/felafel/grains/herbs etc from the local street market...

The Gruniard really is a lot of rot.

@Wazzzzzzzup

I am gobsmacked that something as basic as lemon is considered a class thing.

I am not from UK so am still discovering the class obsession here

Sounds more like you’re the class-obsessive one then? Most people I know would roll their eyes and not even open that article. I only opened this thread because I didn’t know what MC in your title stood for.

@KittenKong no. Clearly they are saying ‘in general’

Sounds more like you’re the class-obsessive one then? Most people I know would roll their eyes and not even open that article.
I only opened this thread because I didn’t know what MC in your title stood for.

Wrrrm. We are on MN where I've seen more class mentions than anywhere else. I also do know hamdful of people who keep talking about being WC in a way like it is part of a character? Ao obviously it is out there

I'm clearly not the right demographic. I opened the thead thinking "wtf have Macdonald's added to their menu that would have lemons in it?"

If you read the article the writer is actually against assigning class labels to food

OP don't try to understand class in the UK, it's very complicated. I don't know any other country where you can be working class and own a portfolio of houses and have lots of money. It's just different here.

@FlamingVictoria

I'm clearly not the right demographic. I opened the thead thinking "wtf have Macdonald's added to their menu that would have lemons in it?"

Me too! I thought McDonald's were trying to claim lemons as some kind of branded item and couldn't see how that was possible

@dreamingbohemian yes that's very confusing!

😂 at maccies. I like your thinking!

Did you read the article? He is disagreeing that lemons are MC. That said, growing up we never had lemons apart from a jif lemon for pancake day.

For those who haven't read the article, or read it but didn't understand it, the article is specifically saying that the use of cheap European staples as markers of "MC" food, and indeed the "classing" of food in general, is politicised bullshit.

Yeah I know he is disagreeing, bit to be able to disagree means that there is somewhere the opinion that lemons are MC food and that food is a class thing.
I remember couple of years ago a thread about hummus and olives, if I am correct. Which confused me. Because my poor arse family in EE always had jar of olives at home 🙈

I must be middle class after all then.

@FlamingVictoria

I'm clearly not the right demographic. I opened the thead thinking "wtf have Macdonald's added to their menu that would have lemons in it?"

Lemon meringue pie?

Tbf, the article isn't saying they are middle class, it's saying someone on Twitter said they were.

To me, buying lemons does mean you're probably going to be doing some sort of cooking/ baking with them - but is that really middle class?

I do think lemons might be argued to be middle class, because of what they signify. They aren’t a food in themselves. No-one eats a lemon like they would another piece of fruit. They are used in drinks, as a garnish and in recipes when one is “cooking from scratch”. It might be argued that those uses of a lemon are somewhat “middle class”. I’m not saying exclusively so, just that I can see the argument and I am not surprised at lemon being on the list.

Gin is not a middle-class drink

We usually have a lemon or two knocking about the place somewhere - it's handy for making honey & lemon drink if you're unwell, we often shove a half a lemon up a roasting chicken's jacksy, and you can use some lemon slices in a bowl of water to clean the microwave. Stick it on full for 2 minutes and the microwave is full of lemony steam. Makes it easy to wipe the crud off.

@Woeismethischristmas

I think it is a bit mc too. We were poor growing up and all food was accounted for. Endless fruit bowl with lemons for G and T was for richer relations. I think if your poor you’d just have a bottle of lemon juice left over from pancake day and substitute that instead.

Agree totally with this poster.

Lemon is usually unnecessary in recipies and a lot of the time it's used as a garnish. My mum wouldn't have ever spent 0.30 pence on one, all her budget was for the essentials.

So on that basis, yes, lemon is middle class.

I'd hazard a guess they aren't used in food banks.

No-one eats a lemon like they would another piece of fruit.

My friend's middle eastern DH eats lemons like apples... Like actually eats them with the skin if they are a certain type, standard from shops he usually eats just the inside. I am still shook from when i saw him taking a bite😂

No, this article is saying that it's a mistake to associate lemons with middle classness. It is quoting someone who did and arguing against the notion. It argues that in fact lemons, garlic, polenta, houmus it gives many examples are international peasant foods and to rhetorically assign them to the middle class is to erase the reality of working class lives, histories, and culture in Britain.

So you are all agreeing with this article in fact.