Late 80s/90s kids - were you allowed to eat beef?

[magicalkitty]

90s kid here and I was not allowed to ever eat beef as a child. This was due to a fear my parents had about mad cow disease so it was never in the house.

I am a vegetarian now anyway, but I think I've only eaten beef once in my life, at a BBQ in my early teens.

Just wondered if other kids were also banned from eating beef, or if my parents were just odd?

No when the CJD scare was going on we weren't allowed to eat beef. I remember the havoc that ensued when we were invited to a Macdonald's party - we weren't allowed to eat chicken nuggets then either

It was probably horse anyway.

Definitely. Mum always made horrible leathery roast beef with Sunday dinner and Christmas dinner for that matter. Had the odd beef burger here and there too. I was never that keen on meat, beef and pork in particular so stopped eating it at 12.

My idiot MIL, now 82, stopped eating beef as she was scared of mad cow disease but happily puffed on 20 fags a day!
I was vegetarian anyway but my husband carried on eating beef.

My parents were sheep and beef farmers, traditional ones who fed their animals in grass and cereals grown on the farm. Tbey know how much it costs to raise good, well treated animals.

We were never allowed to eat cheap meat, even before the BSE scare, and as a consequence ate beef very rarely.

I carry on that attitude these days. I eat the best quality meat I can afford, never buy ready meals and if eating mass catered food I always choose the vegetarian option.

Yes but mum didn’t really cook it as a regular thing, she didn’t object to us eating it elsewhere though. I remember the minister(?) eating a burger on telly to prove it was safe (unless that’s a false memory!)

Yep we were banned and I didn't eat it until I left for uni. Now I only ever buy organic mince.

Born 1981. Had it all the time. We never had beef on the bone until it was banned though!

We didn't stop eating it. I think my parents took the view it was a bit late, and as others said it was cheap (and we were poor). I was really scared about it though. I remember the MP stunt - John Gummer. His son was an MP for a while.

Born in '84 and ate beef all the way through my childhood. Roast dinner every single Sunday, in which we'd cycle through chicken, beef, lamb and pork. I liked chicken, tolerated lamb and beef, HATED pork.
But my auntie and uncle were (and still are) beef and lamb farmers, so I think my parents felt an obligation to support the industry!

My mum wasn't a very good cook, so a lot of the meat we had was badly cooked and flavourless. Often really fatty and chewy as well. For some reason, mum and dad LIKED the chewy fat and raved about that being "the best bit!" whereas my sister and I HATED the fat. Dad would get really cross if we complained about it. So sister just took to swallowing whole lumps of meat without chewing!
I've since learnt to cook, so have got over my dislike of most roast meats. But I don't think sister has eaten roast beef, lamb or pork since moving out!