To ask what did your granny eat?

[PassTheCordialCordelia]

I hear a lot of noise concerning how we ought to eat how our grandparent's/great grandparents did, or something of that description. We know that modern, ultra processed foods are crap, unhealthy and usually very cheap, although many foods from long ago were pretty awful too!

So just in a lighthearted frame of mind - what did yours scoff down on?

Mine were fond of home baking, scones, biscuits, etc. Most meals cooked from scratch, although grandmother was a full time housewife, with a space to grow some fruit/veg. I think the large supermarket chains were still extremely tiny when my GP's were alive, so I have no idea if they might have enjoyed more processed stuff if they had lived to see it.

Tripe boiled in milk 🤮🤢
My other Gran, rock cakes, tablet, Victoria sponge,short bread😋😋

My own granny seemed to survive on rich tea biscuits.
My husband’s granny grew her own fruit and veg well into her 90s, was up at 5 each morning to buy fresh rolls from the bakery (in southern Germany), baked cakes for 11 with coffee, cooked all of her meals from scratch. Made her own fresh spätzle, Germknödel. etc. most days, all washed down with the local red wine.

I don't think my gma on mum's side ate loads but meat, veg, potatoes. Eggs. She had her own apple trees in the garden.

Remember so well Tried it! You couldn’t pay me enough

Proper cooked dinners - meat, veg, gravy.
Stew/panacalty.
Tongue sandwiches.
Corned beef and pickle sandwiches.
Jam and bread.
Coronation chicken sandwiches.
Teacakes with best butter catapulted on.

My grandmother also did not drink tea or coffee, she used to drink hot water with a little milk in it. She would place a sugar cube in her mouth, sip the hot drink and suck on the sugar cube until it dissolved, she'd then pop in another.

Maybe it depends on when amd where the grandparents lived.

Mine were born at the end of the 19th century and first five years of the twentieth. They lived as children through the privation of WWI, the Irish war of independence and civil war, and then the trade war with Britain, the Depression and WW2. In my case, one set of grandparents wouldn't have had anything to eat at all if they hadn't grown it or raised it themselves. The other set also lived in rural ireland and simply didn't have much by way of snacks to buy. They baked cakes, shortbread, and fruitcake. None of them ever snacked even when the Irish economy grew and shop bought biscuits and whatnot became available.

what I remember her eating from my childhood:
porridge for breakfast
soup (scotch broth or ham & lentil) for lunch
teas were mince and tatties, stovies, fish and potatoes, meat and veg, Sunday roas

she loved to bake and there was always some type of cake on the go! My favourite was her banana loaf.
endless amounts of tea and biscuits in the afternoon and always had a whisky & lemonade on a Saturday night!

@mathanxiety wouldn't cakes, shortbread and fruitcake be considered snacks?
A piece of shortbread with a cup of tea that's not at a specific mealtime - is a snack.
(I really fancy some fruitcake now and it's one o'clock in the morning 😂)

Breakfast
Tin of Guinness around 11am.

No lunch

Tea
Ham egg and chips and jelly for "afters"
Or roast dinner at her son's or my mum.

Supper
Bottle of gold label.

I adored my Nan

When did they eat the cakes, shortbread and fruitcake if it wasn’t a snack?