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 I never realized that avocados could be seen as a middle class food, never mind, eating them being a barrier to home ownership. Lol

I think there are two things here. One is that avocados are relatively expensive here. Here is not Mexico. They are still fancyish here.

The house buying thing is that people were eating out spending money on that rather than a house deposit. Avocado toast and lazy brunches got used as a shorthand for that.
Now, nobody is going to raise a London deposit just by giving up brunches out and Pret coffees. £50 a week would mean saving £2600 a year. £26000 after ten years. Not much of a London deposit and £50 a week is on the generous side. BUT there are definitely a set of people not on the breadline who are spending 'too much' on fun stuff and not saving enough. Of course there are! It's human nature.

I did try hummus once - vile

For example, oysters used to be very cheap and food of the poor. Now they are something you buy as a celebration food, to demonstrate wealth or treat someone.

I think it's the same for lobster. Used to be fed to prisoners.
I think oysters afe back to cheap-ish. 75 in Tesco

75p

We still have a fab Persian store nearish that sells fresh fruit, veg, herbs, rice, pickles, sweets and honey, grains and dried herbs, cheese and... 😋😋😋 I love coming home with huge bags bursting with lemons and limes, huge bunches of herbs, aubergines, bread... on yum.

I think “where’s the hummus mummy?” Is the most mc thing my children have ever said in public.

But why do you think that? It's not expensive, it's not rare, is it because it's not English & so somehow more "exotic" or diverse?

To be fair lemons are fairly expensive for what they are. 30p each or summat, for summat you eg squeeze over some fish for a sharp flavour. It's the same price for a whole bottle of malt vinegar. You can see how a squeeze of lemon over fish when you have fish and chips, for example, can seem "posher" than shaking vinegar over it all.

G&T: again, seems fairly wasteful to use a whole fruit just to flavour a few drinks. If I'm having plain gin with tonic I do like lemon in it. But if I have flavoured gin I just put ice in, no fruit. I guess the flavoured gin saves money. So to me, flavoured gin seems less "posh", since it doesn't need any additional ingredients.

Everyone eats pesto. Don't think it's been on the Wanky List since 1992.
People should eat the food they like the look of and stop worrying if it's too wanky or not wanky enough.

£1 for 6 in my local...

I think lemons are quite expensive. I usually buy lemon juice in a bottle!

Lemons are considered middle class imo because they're an ingredient that enhances rather than being an actual item to eat on its own. Therefore it's an optional extra and flavour enhancer that for many won't be considered worth buying

I meant to add, if this were a Mediterranean climate and everyone had a lemon tree in their garden like they do there, then lemons would be seen as peasant food, no doubt. Dirt cheap, or freely available for nowt.

@buttermutt

I think “where’s the hummus mummy?” Is the most mc thing my children have ever said in public.

But why do you think that? It's not expensive, it's not rare, is it because it's not English & so somehow more "exotic" or diverse?

It does sound a bit 'overheard in Waitrose'

I grew up in a very WC household (and now have one of my own) and we always had lemons in the fruit bowl - we had chippy dinner every Friday and had to have fresh lemon on battered fish!

All the moms I knew baked when we were growing up, too, so I've always seen that as a working class thing - it was cheaper to bake than buy. Which is why I bake a lot, too.

I'm 37, so not exactly from the dark ages!

Oh, not like the Guardian publishing articles like that... I mean, who writes this drivel. They are part of the problem.

No wonder we have a country full of snobs, upper class snobs, middle class snobs, and working class snobs.

I think there are two things here. One is that avocados are relatively expensive here. Here is not Mexico. They are still fancyish here.

Are they? you can get one for the same price as a bag of crisps

@SidSparrow

Oh, not like the Guardian publishing articles like that... I mean, who writes this drivel. They are part of the problem.

No wonder we have a country full of snobs, upper class snobs, middle class snobs, and working class snobs.

Did you read the article?

@StrychnineInTheSandwiches

Everyone eats pesto. Don't think it's been on the Wanky List since 1992. People should eat the food they like the look of and stop worrying if it's too wanky or not wanky enough.

No. No they don't. It's still on the Wanky List!

I am 50 and have never tried it in my life, neither have a lot of the people I know (casual conversations).

But agree that people should just eat what they want but not necessarily be so try hard and pretentious about it

Go wild, try some pesto then.

@CurlyhairedAssassin

To be fair lemons are fairly expensive for what they are. 30p each or summat, for summat you eg squeeze over some fish for a sharp flavour. It's the same price for a whole bottle of malt vinegar. You can see how a squeeze of lemon over fish when you have fish and chips, for example, can seem "posher" than shaking vinegar over it all.

G&T: again, seems fairly wasteful to use a whole fruit just to flavour a few drinks. If I'm having plain gin with tonic I do like lemon in it. But if I have flavoured gin I just put ice in, no fruit. I guess the flavoured gin saves money. So to me, flavoured gin seems less "posh", since it doesn't need any additional ingredients.

Slice your lemon and keep it in the freezer for your G&T. Or dry it. So you can make one lemon last for several drinks.

@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

I’m from the UK , of white working class background though now more middle class in terms of education, profession, income, area lived in, etc. I wouldn’t have thought of a lemon as a class thing, we always had loads for cakes, lemon meringue pie, in drinks etc. We weren’t on the breadline, though.

I agree with the article that it’s nuts that things like quinoa and lentils are viewed as ‘middle class’ foods here, but I think it’s true that in some quarters they are.

I meant to add, if this were a Mediterranean climate and everyone had a lemon tree in their garden like they do there, then lemons would be seen as peasant food, no doubt.

But on the other hand if someone in the UK could go into their garden & pick their own produce many would see this as the epitome of mc.

@DappledThings „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„

That‘s exactly what I thought!

I find it odd to see lemons as being described as middle class even in the UK. Lots of cheap British food uses lemon as a flavouring (bread and butter pudding etc) and they keep for ages without a fridge, so they used to be pretty central to working class cooking.

Most of these 'x is middle class' are very outdated.

In 1980s Yorkshire we had asparagus growing in our garden but we didn't eat it because we didn't know what to do with it.

But now most people eat most of the foods mentioned and few are expensive compared with other foods and are often cheaper.

We had lemon juice in the plastic lemon for pancakes

Fresh lemons for making honey and lemon when we had a cold but nothing else

I always buy lemons and limes now use them all the time