To ask what you ate growing up?

[Bature]

And how it compares to what you and your family eat now? Particularly interested in people who aren’t in or originally from the U.K.

I grew up in a west African country and grew up on home cooked everything, lots of fresh veg, minimal animal protein (it was a garnish or flavouring, not the ‘main event’), pretty elaborate meals and lots of spices. Almost no sweets (we ate fruit), limited processed food and very occasional fizzy drinks.

I now live in the U.K. and I’m trying to feed my family similarly. On the upside, my diet is incredibly varied (everything from Vietnamese curries to Swedish meatballs). On the downside, there’s probably more processed food than is ideal, I take the occasional shortcut, and I eat rather a lot of chocolate.

How about you all?

I grew up in the UK in the 80s/early 90s.

My parents rarely cooked anything from scratch. Normal dinners would be 'something and chips' (fish fingers, chicken Kiev etc) and I don't remember ever having veg on the plate! I think I must have eaten lots of processed food and ready meals. I don't really remember anyone spending time cooking anything.

My mum cooked everything from scratch. She wrnt to a butcher and a greengrocers etc
We had lots of meat and two veg type meals- veg with everything.

My mother is a terrific home cook and was a SAHM so we rarely went without a home cooked meal. Stir fry, spag bol, or roast chicken + veg were the three meals on heavy rotation. For a while she ordered meals in bulk from a restaurant supply company - she always felt it was polite to feed our friends - so we did get things like chicken kievs or pizzas. She always cooked for us, though. She doesn't cook as much now that we've all left home - she's vegan, and my father wouldn't dream of eating a lentil!

I grew up in the 70s and 80s amd my Mum cooked from scratch every night. Meat, potatoes and 2 veg most nights. We tried Findus Crispy Pancakes one time and universally hated them. We did have fish fingers sometimes but never any takeaways.
I cook from scratch most nights too. Until recently we were eating pasta dishes, curries, casseroles and sometimes meat, potatoes and three veg but lately it's been salads and lighter meals as my kids are adults (youngest is 16) and aren't interested in a decent tea.

I’m Australian. My mother would always cook and it was usually British things, like roast or shepherds pie or grilled lamb chops with mash and vegetables. A “curry”was a very bland affair.

Then she went through a phase of feeding us mostly vegetarian food. She was very scientific about it, and would carefully balance the amino acids, so we were eating “complete protein”. This was a horrible phase, because there was far more emphasis on nutrition than enjoyment.

We used to have a lot of lovely fruit, though. We would bottle it (also known as canning) when it was in season and have lots of fruit all through the year - peaches, apricots and plums. My mother would also make jam and chutney. She was very much “waste not, want not…”

This was not at all typical for my peers, though.

I think my current family diet sounds similar to your current one. I have 2 DC at university and the eldest has finished, and has moved out. When it’s just me and DH (and FIL eats with us 3 times a week) it’s mostly fairly vegetarian, or with just a little meat. When my DC are home, we eat more meat, because they prefer it, particularly DS.

U.K., but grew up living in pubs. So I was fed anything and everything and ate off the menu a lot
Mum liked cooking and did a sort of ongoing Indian cookery course, we ate a lot from that. Probably fairly traditional meat and veg food, corned beef hash, mince and potatoes, fish pie
We never ate rice. My grandad (mums side) was a POW in Burma and refused to touch it so my mum didn't eat it either

I was allowed to try anything though on the grounds "if you don't like it you don't have to eat it again" and I'm not a fussy eater at all

I cook a lot now and love trying new recipes. My dad grew up with very very plain food and is still suspicious of some stuff but will try most things I cook

I can remember eating cottage pie, moussaka, chilli (with baked beans), Sunday roast. My memory is rubbish though and can't remember other things.

My Mum did the food shop on a Thursday so can remember having nice buffet food that evening. My parents were not rich but we were always well fed.

70's & 80's child in England.

A mix. My mum worked more than most 80s/90s mums, so weeknights were "quick meals" - fish fingers and chips, spag bol, pork chops mash & veg.

She did try to cook from scratch with fresh stuff but she was on quite a tight budget and there was less varied fresh veg than i feed my kids - mostly a rotation of broccoli, peas, carrots. Lots of root veg - potato, swede, parsnip. Veg was often overcooked and just boiled.

She only cooked european food - never anything like tortillas, curries, noodle dishes etc.

Pulses were rarer. No beans or lentils that i remember.

I was born in uk in the late 70s and my diet was atrocious. I don’t think I ate a vegetable until I was in my 20s. No fruit (only apples and oranges and bananas and I didn’t like them). We had packet food, findus crap, Vesta beef curries, potato waffles, beans. Very little fresh. My mum was a boring cook, but she cooked for my dad who didn’t want to eat with us kids (nice) so she fed us oven ready dinners earlier. So that’s what we learned to ‘make’ ourselves. It was only at uni I learned to cook from my flat mates and started to appreciate food and nutrition. I was a very sickly small child and my crap diet must be relevant I’m sure.

so I have been totally different with my family, bordering on obsessive. I always cook from scratch. I wouldn’t contemplate buying a packet of oven chips or a ready meal. We eat varied meals, standards like pasta and roasts but also veggie, curries, Asian, Thai, stir fries etc. it is bloody hard work but my kids know what real food is, and understand both how to cook and about nutrition, and that means so much to me after my awful food upbringing. I probably need to chill a bit.

Forgot to say if was cooked from scratch.

Shepherds pie, steak and kidney pie, meat and potato pie, cheese pie, egg and chips, nearly always beef on Sunday. It’s taken me years to enjoy roast beef after having it so frequently.

Born in the very early 80s in the Uk so not exciting but we ate everything. We went to Indian and Chinese supermarkets and the actual outdoor market to get food, we’d have an exact list to ask the butcher for and how it was to be butchered, we went to the fishmonger and I remember buying living seafood. Things I can remember making at home as a child - tandoori, sushi, prawn crackers, tagine, burritos, shakshuka, pad thai, halva, croissants, lychee salad, pierogi, dhal, gyoza, sauerkraut, bundt, guacamole, as well as all our breads, soups, roasts, stews and curries. We made bread, cheese, jams and chutneys ourselves. But I didn’t know what ketchup was until I left home.

I still cook most things from scratch, most of our bread is homemade, we eat most of the above and far more too. But I draw the line at live seafood. I don’t need to shop in specialist supermarkets because most shops have the items we need now but I do retain the market shopping ethos of shopping daily, if I can, 2-3 times a week minimum for fresh food.

We probably eat out more than we should though. I can only remember eating out three times in my entire childhood and I only remember two takeaways which were a massive deal.

We have ketchup but I still don’t like it.

70’s childhood and we ate a range of stuff. I remember roast chicken, stews and casseroles (cheap cuts), lentils, spaghetti bolognese, macaroni cheese, kedgeree, jacket potatoes, seasonal fresh veg (stuffed marrow) and stewed fruit and custard from the garden, apple and blackberry crumble.

We also ate convenience food like Cornish pasties, dried packet soups, toast toppers, ski yogurt, treacle tart, Beanfeast!, fish and chips was a treat. We didn’t have a freezer just an ice box so fish fingers or peas fitted in there. Dad always bought new things to try when they came along, I remember green peppers and kiwi fruit, and the first time having broccoli!

English. Fishfingers, peas, Heinz tomato soup, penny sweets and halfpenny sweets from the tuck shop.

Became vegetarian aged 10 and just ate frozen pizzas and peas.

A lot of white sliced bread with Nutella thickly spread.

Drank 4 cups of tea a day from early childhood.

Went to a posh university and boyfriend from Surrey introduced me to posh food like avocados. Mostly ate spaghetti.

Nowadays I eat fruit and vegetables but also a lot of pizza and ice cream. Drink tea and beer.

Have always been slim and active, but middle aged now and getting plumper.

Also had a lot of lentils as a child when we ran out of money for food (throughout the 80s) and picked blackberries a lot too.

Grew up in Scotland in the 70s/80s. Lots of soup, stews, tatties and root veg! Not so much fruit but strawberries, etc as a treat. Kiwis were a revelation in the 80s!

Salad was minimal - about 2 round lettuce leaves each that had been carefully washed in salt water " to get the beasties out" and then dried on a clean teatowel. Cucumber served in a small bowl of vinegar. I didn't like tomatoes so that was it really!

The only pasta was macaroni - my mum didn't like cheese sauce so it was just pasta, grated cheese and some milk poured over the top before it went in the oven.

No pizza and definitely no curries or chilli in our house but we did have Chinese takeaway as a treat once a restaurant opened up locally.

Regularly had fish (haddock, herring in oatmeal) but I wasn't too keen, I preferred fish cakes but I did like yellow fish in milk mopped up with bread and butter. Often had a chip shop tea on a Thursday after late night shopping.

My mum worked full time and would spend evenings in the kitchen making big pans of food to reheat for evening meals over the next couple of days while my Dad was out working late . I find myself in much the same situation these days.

Brought up in the 60s in lreland. All homecooked meals. Never had a takeaway except a very odd bag of chips from a chipper late at night. My mum cooked everything rom scratch and did a dessert at each dinner...rice pudding/ apple pie etc. She had studied home economics and everything was cooked as taught. Homemade brown bread baked everyday. Spotted dick for every Sunday. Everything was regular
. We did eat fruit and lots of home grown vegetables from a garden my dad tended meticulously. Porridge every morning for breakfast. My dm was a sahm but had a very large family so l honestly do not know how she did it. Never said l have no energy to cook so eat a sandwich! I didn't take after them as l never enjoyed cooking but l did cook from scratch for my dc as that was what l associated with home life. Never baked as good as my dm.

I think we were quite poor in the 70s when I was a kid. I remember ‘tea’ was frequently mushrooms on toast or poached egg on toast. I was often hungry.

There was more money in the 80s and the first time we had Spag Bol was a revelation. My dad enjoyed cooking curries and meals out of cookbooks so we had stuffed liver braised and baked apples Alaska etc.

I think being hungry as a kid has had a long term impact. I currently have 3 freezers and they are full to bursting. 2 fridges too. I obsess about food for my family and cook most meals from scratch but always a lot of food and tonnes of veg and nice bread. I’m overweight and have yoyodieted for the last 15 years. Kids are healthy weights though and never starving like I was.

I’m not sure I’ve answered the question - I’ve had wine but this stuff bothers me and hence this ramble

I’m in the US and I grew up in the South, so lots of veggies from the garden, very balanced meals with meat and sides. A lot of southern american foods were passed down (appropriated) from slaves, so many of my favorites are originally from Africa. Mustard or collard greens with sweet cornbread and a spicy vinegar poured on top is to die for. Extremely delicious! Especially the seasoning and spices. Anything tastes wonderful with proper seasoning and spice. My best friend’s family were from Pakistan so one of my favorite foods as a child was shrimp curry. The south is famous for heavy foods though, and most people are very overweight. They eat like their great grandparents did, but they don’t do heavy labor like they did. So the weight just packs on. I grew up in the 90’s when fat free was the big trend and my mom went for it. We had a lot of processed foods because of it. They were fat free but very high in sugar. My grandma’s house was the only place I got those healthy meals at that point. She used to get her recipes from a magazine called Cooking Light and I did too once I grew up. The US and UK have very similar issues with processed foods and obesity. Over here there’s still sugar in everything. It’s so hard to avoid so I read labels and try to only shop the fresh food aisles when grocery shopping. We almost never get fast food. We have plenty of treats, but fresh foods are our main thing. I used to make homemade versions of popular snack foods too. I’d use a dehydrator to make veggie chips for example. Covid ruined my health long term and I can’t stand up for more than a few minutes. so I taught my older kids how to cook healthy and that’s working out well. I do miss my grandma’s southern cooking and the recipes passed down from her Italian and German parents though. I need to teach those to my kids. We take a lot of inspiration from the Japanese diet too. So I’ve had a very mixed bag of influences but I educated myself on the subject so I don’t carry on the mistakes to my kids. I think balance & freshness is key, and proper seasoning and spice. You can easily make a homemade traditional meal healthy, just takes some practice. Baking instead of frying, using healthier fats, etc.

Eastern Europe. Im 36.

Lots of soup, made from bone broth that's been cooking all day.

Dumplings. Meat rissoles.

When times were tough we were encouraged to eat lots of bread with everything as it fills you up and is cheap. It was usual to have bread with dumplings, or even with watermelon.

Roast chicken was a real treat, like once a month or once a fortnight.

Never had a takeaway growing up. You couldn't even buy mince - we had to mince the meat ourselves. We had to grow a lot of our own food - not due to the current "farm-to-table" trend, but simply because people couldn't afford to buy food. Or didn't have access to it.

I remember watching American TV shows and seeing a bowl of oranges/bananas just sitting on the lounge/dining table. I used to think that's crazy no one in the family is just eating it - I would love to demolish that. Having fruit was such luxury to me. Mandarins only at Xmas!

I still think that when I look at my fruit bowl in the kitchen.

I grew up abroad and mum cooked from scratch. By her own admission, she wasn't a great cook. Her own mother scolded her for cooking in her kitchen and never encouraged her. My mum attended multiple cooking classes in the late 1970's to improve her skills. Meat and 2 veg was the norm, but chicken in apricot sauce was common too.

In the mid 1980's, we moved to the Middle East where mum learnt a rice dish which was amazing! She now cooks a wider range of things, but mainly from me showing her and broadening her cuisines.

I was lucky to travel from a young age and had the opportunity to try various cuisines. I cook mainly from scratch and from fairly diverse countries. Typical 'British' roasts, fish pie, cottage pie, but also Vietnamese summer rolls, Pho, multiple Thai dishes, tagines, South American, scandi meals, Chinese, Indian dishes, Singaporean, Indonesian and more.

I grew up in the UK in the 70s. We had a large family and a large vegetable garden, Food was all cooked from scratch. We didn't have any takeaways or processed foods, but my dm did make puddings regularly - fruit crumble & custard etc, so there was a fair amount of sugar.

I cook everything from scratch, no takeaways or ready meals. Lots of veg, less meat, more fish, and fewer puddings. If ds needs dessert, he has fruit or a cereal bar.

Grew up in the 80s and 90s.

Both my parents were good cooks and made everything from scratch (including sweets and booze). Our diets were very varied and full of fresh ingredients. They were like something out the Good Life, especially my dad who was a gardener for a living.

My parents divorced (mid 90s) and neither could be bothered after that. My oldest sister took over cooking and we just ate stodgy rubbish, lots of bubble and squeak and yellow mash (my sister loved turmeric so put it in the mash. I don’t advise it. It’s vile).

I try my best with ds to have a varied and wide ranging diet. Not too much meat or processed food and plenty of fruit and veg.

We grew up on lots of meat and vegetables and I pretty much raise my children the same. I rarely give them filler calories like bread or pasta. My dads father was German so we had alot of sausage and cabbage as that's what he grew up on.