To miss the simple tasty Christmas food of my childhood.

[NotSoGloriousFood]

I'm old enough to remember Christmas family gatherings when mum didn't have the option of going to Iceland or M&S and everyone pitched in.
Simple but tasty spreads of homecooked meats, cheese, uncle Kens legendary pickled onions, Aunty's Gloria's beetroot chutney, Mary's green tomato chutney and pickled red cabbage, cheese (usually cheddar and Caerfilly) and homemade pasties and sausage rolls. Crisps were ready salted.
It was tasty, wholesome and real.
Desserts were all homemade. chocolate cakes, mince pies, trifle, Christmas cake.
Simple food shared together......no-one could forsee then what food would become.........ultra processed with long lists of ingredients.
I watch some of the Christmas food adverts with a heavy heart and wonder what we have done to food.

No one’s making you have anything different, OP — just focus on what you want and never mind what anyone else is eating. Problem solved.

Just because convenience alternatives exist, it isnt a legal requirement for you to use them... 🤨

YABU because you can still have that now if you want it.

YABU. Don’t buy the processed rubbish. Make your own pickles and chutneys - they’re not hard to do. Buying stuff from Iceland isn’t obligatory.

We still do it. Nobody buys the ready made things in my family. We all make something and bring it with us; I do the pudding, piccalilli, sloe gin, chutney. I make the mince pies usually.

In most families "everyone" didn't "pitch in" - one woman or the women did all the work of Christmas. If you want to do that then knock yourself out, nobody's stopping you.

Do your own jesus 😴. It's not even difficult

All those things still exist mate, no one is making you eat ready meals for Christmas dinner

We still do that! Same traditional dinner and sauces and gravy as the oast 50 years 😂

I know what you mean, it’s not just the food, it’s the connection to the people and community that has changed. I feel the same.

We all muck in to have proper home-made food at Christmas (and the rest of the year). Even if nobody makes chutney or pickles you can buy them from a farm shop, specialist cheese shop or market stall.

Have you been making any chutneys recently, OP?

Well, it must be nice to have families willing to chip in I guess. Most people nowadays work FT, usually until fairly close to Christmas and then understandably want to relax. Making absolutely everything from scratch alone doesn’t sound like much fun so I’ll stick with shop bought dips and Doritos as a treat!

How old are you? I’m a child of the 80s and we ate all sorts of processed crap.

My Nanna was a good home cook but very plain. Victoria sponge with just a thin layer of jam as a filling. I didn’t get excited about that as a child. I was more into the Mr Kiplings.

I was born in the 60s and remember supermarkets being filled with Vesta Ready Meals, tinned vegetables, Angel Delight and Wonderbread..

We didn't eat that stuff then and we don't eat it now.

Meanwhile, pickled onions and cheddar cheese are still on sale, as are the ingredients to make mince pies and chocolate cake.

YABU.

This feels like one of those faux-nostalgia AI things you get on Facebook.

Yeah, you grew up.

Make the food, then.

Huh? If you want these things make them, no one is forcing you down Iceland.?

No streaming movies had we then,
Our favourite present was a pen,
Pickled onions from Uncle Ken,
And yet we loved our Christmas when
Women cooked and all the men
Went to the pub till half past ten.

I too think that the law banning people from making their own chutneys was actually a mistake in hindsight. Aunt Gloria deserved better from the nation that she had served so jammily yet also so pleasingly sharply.

Yes. I have a stock in my larder, green tomato, spicy apricot, marrow and chilli jam.
I don't buy ultra processed food, my dd doesn't either......but its everywhere.
I went to an event last night, lots of people brought food, the homemade items were eaten first.

I love a mooch up the festive aisles in m&s as much as the next person, but it is still relatively easy to eat simply at Christmas, especially with all the super cheap veg options nearer the big day. Local butchers are quite good if you’re lucky enough to live near a market or a reasonably priced one (I am aware that some are extortionate and sell imported meat though). It does require more of a conscious effort these days . And I must admit my idea of Christmas food varies considerably from the teenagers in my household who fully expect frozen party food and glittery trifles so there does tend to be a bit of that too but generally I keep it fairly simple where possible.

You should have grown up with me - my mother was a crap cook AND it was the 60s and 70s, so few alternatives existed in any case!

But my partner and I cook all our meals from scratch, so we have fantastic food at Christmas.

Ingredients are still available, you can invite people for Christmas and ask them to bring their speciality but chutneys and pickles generally aren't as popular these days. A great thing about being older and being in charge of your own meals is that you can suit yourself.