To ask what you ate growing up?

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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?

Child in the 60s, teenager in the early 70s, brought up on a farm. We ate eggs (from our hens) and chips (from our potatoes), Sunday roast, eggs and bacon for breakfast (with bread and 'dip'), although this changes to cereal in the 70s. Poached eggs on toast was a light meal when were were ill. School dinners (meat veg and potatoes with a stodgy pudding) and sweets were staples throughout my childhood.

One of the biggest differences between then and what I have observed now is that families would sit down together to eat.

90s/00s UK here, born to a Scottish mum and Middle Eastern/Mediterranean dad who got divorced early on so two very different sets of cuisines on offer!

At mum's usually traditional, hearty meals like jacket potato with beans and cheese, roast chicken and trimmings on Sundays, pasta bakes, bangers and mash etc but always made to eat a lot of (bland!) veg like peas, carrots and broccoli too.

At dad's a LOT of rice, almost with every meal including breakfast (with ful medames beans on top - still love it!), lots of peppers/tomato based dishes, molokhia on sundays, quite often we'd pop out to a local Lebanese cafe when he couldn't be bothered to cook too.

It's meant that as an adult I am open to eating almost anything and try to eat as wide a range of cuisines as possible 🙂

Grew up 70s and 80s

Now I wasn't a food fan but my mother met step,father when I was 7 so she turned into a stepford wife for a few years tho I left home the day I turned 16

She did things like lasagne, curry, tuna pasta bake, I remember fray bentos pies with veg, spaghetti bolognaise, a roast on Sundays ,corn beef hash, braised sausage, lamb hotpot, fry up (so full English breakfast) every Saturday night, corned beef and chips, egg and chips, salads in summer with cooked ham , that kind of stuff

My nemesis was stuffed marrow, hated it , like trying to eat warm mushy cucumber with mince in the middle

As I got older I did more and more of the cooking until I left at 16 so was perfectly able to cook for myself

I initially lived with my sister who did lovely things like veggie burgers in buns with salad , stir fries, stuff I'd never had .

80s/90s child here. Single parent family, mum who hated cooking. There was a few core meals she would make occasionally; spag bol, cottage pie, 'curry' (this was minced beef with that Chinese curry powder and peas) and she was fond of those Chicken Tonight casserole sauces. We used to have a Sunday roast each Sunday which was a stressful experience as, with her hating cooking, she hated doing it. And we hated eating it. Other than that it was oven chips with mini kievs, pizza, turkey drummers etc. Lunches were often toast with toast toppers or meat paste sandwiches. We often had crisps for breakfast once we were old enough to get our own breakfast. We very rarely had fruit and veg. It's a wonder we didn't have scurvy.

It couldn't be more different to my diet now. I love cooking and have adventurous tastes. Most meals are cooked from scratch and have lots of veg and salad. My mum loves coming to my house and trying our food. She still hates cooking. 😂

70s/80s - Mum was a very good traditional cook. We had typical home cooked British food, meat and 2 veg, stews, roast on Sunday, occasionally mild curries with sultanas in. Never pasta or anything spicy. Tasty puddings on a Sunday. I don't think there was much processed food and takeaways.

I make home cooked varied food most nights but we do have things like crisps in the house. I do have a certain nostalgia for a roast type meal which my Mum was so good at (I think her gravy was excellent).

Grew up 80s/90s.

Grandparents made home cooked meals - we were round Nans for roasts, sunday in summer would be seafood platter from the seafood van with salad and bread rolls. Lots of cakes. Nothing spicy, very meat and two veg. Adults ate offal like hearts. Meat was cooked within an inch of its life. Wasnt until my 20s did I realise roast beef wasnt meant to be grey. Vegetables would sit simmering for hours waiting for the men to return from the pub so we could eat.

Most of our meals were freezer food with home made chips in the vat of oil left on the side, and eggs. Burger egg and chips. Sausage egg and chips. Ham egg and chips. Only home made meals I remember were spag bol and sunday roast.

We never had breakfast foods, too expensive. We had a biscuit tin and a cup of tea on the sofa before school.

For birthdays I had cereal as a treat with cream instead of milk, and some strawberries.

DH was the other side of poor growing up - his family are from Australia so had land to grow veggies so his parents did most things from scratch - grew a pumpkin, would be every meal for a week. They never had fast food or junk food,

Its given us both the same type of disordered eating which I find interesting.

DH does all the cooking and its a combination of from scratch (he cant abide shop brought pasta sauce as he knows he can make a massive batch for cheap).

New Zealand-born, raised in the 80s. My mum was raised with a poor diet so she went in completely the opposite direction with me. Everything organic, brown rice and mung beans type of thing. I didn't taste ice cream until 9 years old and had white bread for the first time at 12 years old during one glorious lunch at a neighbour's house.

Mum was a sole parent and a terrible cook (she really did the best she could though, she just wasn't given the basic skills) so I thought I it was just our weird food that tasted so boring but it turns out that fresh, healthy food is actually quite lovely, you just need a bit of know-how to make it sing!

Foraging was quite common too, especially for shellfish and wild greens.

I didn't really understand packaged foods so I still don't use them much, although frozen peas have been a game-changer... no need to pick them, wash them, and shell them every day, amazing.

I thought I it was just our weird food that tasted so boring but it turns out that fresh, healthy food is actually quite lovely

DH thought he just didn't have much of an appetite as a child. Turned out nobody in the family knew how to cook..

This thread makes me feel a bit bad - like I’m not doing enough. I grew up with mostly home cooked food - some from scratch (bolognaise, chicken curry) and some a hybrid of freezer and fresh (fish portion with new potatoes and veg for example). We’d have pizza occasionally but with baked potato and salad.

I try but I hate cooking (work FT and find life hard). Money not an issue. My children have 3 home cooked dinners (dahl, kedgree, pasta and veg, chilli etc) per week, 1 freezer meal and then 3 nights bits and pieces (Hummous, pitta and veg dippers etc). It’s not perfect but I find it tips me over the edge going anything more than this. We don’t eat meat at home (only fish).

What is very different for my kids - as I mentioned above, I grew up in the Soviet Union, the northern parts. No fruit. Not because we didn't like it, there wasn't any. Yes sure strawberries and apples, but only when in season or stored over winter in your own basement. Occasionally watermelons. Oranges, only at xmas time and usually limited to 1 kilo per person. So we were all absolutely nuts about fruit and I had the biggest fights with my sister over who got the biggest half of a clementine.

This has clearly scarred me and my fruit baskets (plural) are overflowing. Just counted that I have at this very moment 11 different kinds of fruits and berries at home. My kids like fruit, but they won't go absolutely bananas (pun intended) over it, as it's always available.

Seems to be a common trend that we all buys lots of what we were not able to have when we were younger! I know I spend a big chunk on berries now.

Yes and vice versa. There were always plenty of chocolates and sweets available and we had free access. Couldn't care less, still don't.

Chicken veg and potatoes about three times a week, or else stew, the rest of the time burger, sausage or fish fingers with chips or waffles. Tea was boiled egg and toast or beans on toast, breakfast was weetabix except on holidays, no fizzy drinks, crisps or sweets except on occasions (I wish we did that here!) but we had an apple tart or scones most weekends! We all ate tons of fruit and lunch was usually a sandwich and yoghurt or soup. I’m 43 if that helps!

My mum was quite traditional British. Cottage pie, steak pie, and I remember chops a lot!
My family eat similar dinners but I feel I balance it more and we eat healthier snacks and breakfasts.