To think that Len Goodman was stating a fact about his Nan, not insulting anything or anyone?

[Notjustanymum]

Just that, really. He (at the age of 78) was saying that his Nan had a bigoted view (commonly held in the 1950’s), that any food vaguely “foreign” - including pasta, in the 1970’s, according to my own DF - was muck, which had, in truth, put him off trying it.
He also said that the Coronation Chicken his wife had made was delicious. Why would people complain about that? He was actually disproving his Nan’s statement and saying she was wrong.
I think that too many people try to cancel the views of the past, but it’s totally true that many people of that generation held views that are not acceptable today, and we shouldn’t forget that, as we learn from mistakes.
I really object to the BBC apologising for his statement, as it makes it seem as if he was in the wrong.
So - what do you think?
YABU - we shouldn’t mention past intolerances for fear of offending someone now
YANBU - we should accept that there were intolerances and be happy that people find ways of overcoming these

Absolutely we should talk about past attitudes.

If his nan were alive she would be upwards of 120. It's hardly surprising that someone born in the late 1800s might not have shared modern attitudes. People need to get a grip.

My Nan, born in 1912, had the same attitude, as did my Dad. Luckily, my Mum didn't.

More to the point, the BBC needs to get a grip.

He was quoting his nan from yonks ago.... absolute non story but the news and twitter made a meal of it as per usual.

Agreed. Harmless comment too. People don't have to like things from other places, and that goes equally for other countries not having to love beans on toast (with extra cheese and worcestershire sauce please!). I tend to think, just because I love food from all over, doesn't mean everyone has to, and in her time a lot of it would have been very new and unusual to her.

Great! A BBC bashing thread from the Mumsnet Tories.

My own mother b.1943 told me I was feeding the children too much pasta 🙄I should give them potatoes

my Nan b.1914 would definitely have had Len’s grandma’s view too

YANBU OP

What chance had people born on the cusp of the Great War, living in poverty, as my Nan did, of trying foreign foods? My Nan remembered scavenging to find food as a child. My Dad grew up n relative poverty in the 40s and 50s. As he was born in 1941, food was rationed, and was in the 50s as well. I don't think much in the way of good food came his way until he joined the Navy at 16.

Okay, I’ll bite.
Exactly why are you so shocked and horrified by what this man said?

I care for the elderly and 99% of them wouldn't touch pasta and call it much 😁

Muck*

It’s a non-story. BBC is ridiculous to issue an apology.

He was just stating what what was quite common from the time, as late as the 70s, programmes like Love Thy Neighbour which was full of it were prime time telly.

The only time that my 80 year old Dad would eat that 'pasta muck' would be in a nice tapioca or macaroni milk pudding 🤢😂

I laughed as he said it, because it was such a blast from the past. It's an outdated attitude, understandably given his nan's generation.

I'm surprised it needs apologising for.

It's a xenophobic comment, but hardly one that would cause actual distress to anyone, surely? It was as likely to be about French, Spanish and Italian food as curry.

My mum was born in 1943 and loved pasta, risotto, curries etc. We had a wide variety of food growing up.

My MIL was born 1939 and was very much a meat and 2 veg woman. She moaned about me ruining my babies breath with garlicky food, she wouldn't eat anything remotely spicy, would never touch pasta or rice. We could only go to restaurants that served something and chips for her. All other food was foreign muck.

Maybe the difference is where they grew up? My mum was from London, my MIL from a small market town.

I was born in 69 and I can remember my dad wanting to try the new dish everyone was talking about in the 1970's. It was spaghetti bolognaise, which today is now a staple in most households.

You have remember/realise it was only in the 1970's did package holidays start for the general public and it only when that happened did 'foreign' foods become normal to us.

My grandparents both were born in 1910
they were very northern. They rarely diverted from meat and potatoes and hotpot.
In the 1960s they ended up befriending a young Indian couple from Delhi who had moved to the north. They were hesitant at first but grew to love my aunties food.
my auntie is still alive and makes the most amazing food ever. My grandparents were very much the opposite of most, but I agree we should not be censoring the voices of people who went through 2 world wars and endured rationing!

You are correct - he is highlighting the fact that people had daft opinions years ago. We mustn’t ignore history.

We were the first family in Dundee to eat spaghetti bolognese, my Dad used to eat the occasional Vesta Curry with great ceremony. This was in the 60’s and we had lived abroad.
Actually given that the first foreign food a lot of people saw was probably Vesta curry’s and McCain French bread pizzas, it’s quite easy to see why some people weren’t sold on foreign “cuisine”.

My Grandma born 1913 was always pretty good with new foods- she lived out in the Far East for some periods due to my grandad being in the Air Force. I was surprised when I was at Uni and my friend had her grandparents coming to visit and she was stressing about what restaurant to take them out to as they wouldn’t eat “foreign food”- I assumed this meant spicy things like curry or Mexican, Thai etc but it even meant pasta and pizza! Basically anything but meat and two veg. This was in 2008. I think they ended up going to a carvery.

You are not wrong OP.

On a similar note though, it’s ironic that those generations considered foreign food as muck compared with bland, stodgy traditional British diet, which is the butt of the world’s jokes. Like seriously, why didn’t British traders introduce any of the spices to the British diet they traded lucratively for hundreds of years.

Given that there was such a focus, as there should be, on how society and the world has changed over 70years, which demonstrates the longevity of the queens rule and how much has adapted etc, its a nonsense to apologise for something which absolutely demonstrates that. You can in fact imagine the surprise and perhaps shock when people were presented with the idea of coronation chicken in the 50s, not many people will have had a curry at that time.

My dad for example didnt eat a pizza or even know what it was until the 70s, it was a new fangled thing that his work colleagues took him to.

Its a ridiculous to take umbridge at something that someone said or did years ago which is different to what we do now or how we think now.

He didn’t actually need to bring his Nan and her comment into the conversation though.

Whether or not her comments were representative of the times is one thing, but he didn’t need to repeat them on tv in 2022.

I’d like to think that people understand why referring to “foreign food” as muck is offensive, therefore regardless of the original time and context it shouldn’t be repeated.