Cookit Homepage

Cookit is published by e2bn

History Cookbook

‹ Back Postwar / Modern Homepage Life Food Facts Health Facts

Postwar/Modern Picture Gallery Food

1		In Britain, the end of the war did not mean the end of rationing. This happened gradually between 1948 and 1954. After the war, the amount of produce available to buy actually fell. Bread was rationed in 1946 and potatoes in 1947, neither having been restricted during the war itself. More On 19 May 1950, rationing ended for canned fruit, dried fruit, chocolate biscuits, treacle, syrup, jellies and mincemeat. In June 1953, everyone was allowed an extra pound of sugar and 4oz of margarine, for the Queen's Coronation and, in September 1953, sugar rationing ceased. Butter rationing ended in May 1954 and finally, in July 1954, restrictions on the sale and purchase of meat and bacon were lifted.
2		The post-war years saw a huge change in all aspects of food production and consumption This included how food was grown, processed, packaged, obtained, cooked and eaten. More The post-war years saw battery farming and intensive agriculture through the use of pesticides, the mass freezing and pre-packing of food and the growth of supermarkets. It also saw many people eating their evening meal in front of the TV screen, rather than with the family at the meal table.
3		There were also great changes in the types of food eaten. More meat, sugar and fats became available and the healthy diet that people had been forced to eat during the war and post-war years came to an end. However, from the 70s onwards, although more meat was eaten, more people also became vegetarians. More Cakes again became popular and new dishes came on the scene which contained levels of meat and fat that people had not been able to get under rationing. For example, “coronation chicken”, invented at the time of the Queen’s coronation in 1953, became popular. This was made of cold chicken pieces saturated in curry-flavoured mayonnaise.The 1970s also saw the first vegetarian cookbooks and restaurants catering for people who would not eat meat.
4		The number of people growing their own food declined sharply. In the late 40s and early 50s, many people continued to grow their own food. Vegetables were grown on allotments or in people's gardens, if they were big enough. In 1950, there were 1,200,000 allotments being used. This declined quickly throughout the period. More By 1968, there were 600,000 allotments and, by 1980, many allotments were being sold off for other uses, including the building of houses or industrial estates.
5		Foods became less seasonal, more could be purchased all year round. In the early post war years, the vegetables and fruit being sold were mostly those in season. As freezing techniques improved and more and more food was imported, people were able to buy a greater variety of fruit and vegetables, as well as get them out of season. More Imports of bananas and oranges started soon after the war, followed by tins of pineapple and other foreign fruits and vegetables.
6		Self-service shops and supermarkets became common. In Britain in 1947, most goods were purchased separately from different types of shops - the grocer, greengrocer, butcher and baker. There were only about 10 self-service shops in Britain. The idea of self-service grew and developed into supermarkets. More The growth of supermarkets meant that people could do all their shopping under one roof, rather than go to a variety of shops for different ingredients. There were about 50 supermarkets by 1950, 572 by 1961 and 3400 by 1969.
7		Food gradually became pre-packaged and easier to prepare. In the early post-war years, food was bought fresh and wrapped on purchase. Fresh meals were prepared each day. People started wanting food that was easy and quick to buy and tinned and pre-packaged food became popular. More In the 1950s, the children were often the ones who would ‘pop to the local shop’ for a missing ingredient in a meal. By the 1980s, it was more likely to be a once-a-week (or even month) shop carrying the goods home in the family car.
8		Refrigerators, then freezers, became ‘essential items’. Refrigerators meant that people could keep food fresh for much longer and did not need to shop so often. Freezers soon followed in the late 60s and frozen peas became the most popular vegetable. More By the end of the 70s, 2 out of every 5 households had a freezer and most homes had a fridge.
9		With more women working, convenience foods really took hold. Convenience foods were already popular in the 60s (1962 saw the invention of instant mashed potato). With more women working in the 70s, the use of convenience foods increased greatly. Everything from fish-fingers to ready-made cheesecakes and TV Meals could be bought. Much less fruit and veg was being eaten. More In the 1980s, health foods became fashionable, though many turned out to be just fads and often did not address diet or health issues. People, however, did begin to think more about diet.
10		The time spent cooking also declined. Food preparation was quicker, although in 1980, the average length spent preparing the main meal of the day was still an hour. Pressure cookers were popular as they reduced cooking times and the microwave had also become a fixture in some homes by the 1970s. More Kitchen appliances changed a lot between 1945 and 1980, with more efficient stoves with timers and other helpful devices. Pressure cookers only needed a small amount of water and the high temperature caused by the pressure in the sealed pan caused the food to cook around 70% faster. The food also kept its colour and vitamins better than when boiling or simmering. Microwave ovens also began to be seen in some homes. They used microwave radiation to heat water and other polarized molecules within food. Microwave ovens heat food quickly but do not brown or bake food and, so, are more suitable for some foods than others.
11		New kitchen gadets became seen as essential. The 1950s, 60s and 70s saw many more kitchen gadgets. There were electric can openers, coffee makers, hot plates, automatic teamakers, non-stick pans, electric food mixers, liquidisers and portable food slicers. More Despite these time-saving devices, there was still much to do in the home. During the 60s and 70s, men carried out few household tasks even in families where the woman was working full time.
12		The fast-food outlet was first seen in Brtiain. In 1954, the first ‘Wimpy Bar’ with a fast food selection opened at the Lyon’s Corner House in Coventry Street, London. In the 1970s, fast food really took off. The first McDonald's restaurants appeared in the 1970s and hamburgers became a favourite fast food. More Their popularity grew rapidly and, soon, over 2 million Britons visited a McDonald's every day. Other brands such as KFC also became established.
13		More and more carbonated (fizzy) soft drinks were purchased. Throughout this post-war period, the purchase of fizzy drinks increased. Aluminium cans with pull-ring tabs made their appearance in the early 60s, followed shortly by soft drink vending machines and, later, plastic bottles. More Plastic bottles were first used for fizzy drinks in the early 1970s. By that time as well, health practitioners were worrying that the consumption of a lot of fizzy drinks could aid tooth decay and increase hyperactivity in children.
14		The TV chef and cookery programmes became popular. In the post-war era, TV chefs were very popular, just like today. Philip Harben was followed by Marguerite Patten and later by Johnnie and Fanny Cradock, who would cook in full evening dress! More Later in the 60s came Graham Kerr, the Galloping Gourmet. The 70s brought us Delia Smith, aiming to get people back to cooking again, demonstrating basic techniques.
15		All kinds of foreign foods became 'the rage'. Soon after the war, some people were beginning to want to cook something a little different. TV cooks introduced food from all over the world, whetting people's appetites for more unusual ingredients. The ability to import more foods saw a wide range of foreign foods become popular. More Elizabeth David’s ‘A Book of Mediterranean Food’ became very popular in the post-war years. Another famous TV cook of the late 70s and early 80s, Madhur Jaffrey, first introduced Indian cooking to British kitchens, with her book ‘An Invitation to Indian Cooking'.
16		New foods challenged traditional favourites. Tastes were changing in other ways. Coffee was becoming as popular as tea and the Sunday roast was now as likely to be chicken as the traditional roast beef. More After the war, chicken was a scarce meat. At this time there were no factory farms and usually it would only be eaten at Christmas or for an occasional, special meal. By the 1980s, chicken had replaced beef as the nation's favourite Sunday roast, and coffee almost caught up with tea as the preferred non-alcoholic drink.
17		Takeaways also grew in popularity. In the early 1950s, usually the only takeaway was the fish and chip shop – and Fridays was its big day! Then a few Chinese takeaways were opened in the London area and quickly spread throughout the country. More By 1980, most people had access to a wide variety of takeaways, which also delivered to the door.
18		Eating out became more affordable. As more people had 'disposable income' (money available to spend on leisure pursuits), the number of people eating out increased. An increase in migration saw more restaurants offering ‘foreign’ food opening throughout the 60s and 70s and there was an increasingly wide range of choice when eating out. More New restaurant 'chains', such as Wimpy, Steak House and Little Chef spread quickly across the country (although many of the restaurants seen in today’s high streets – Bella Italia, TGI Friday and so on, didn’t appear until the 1980s or later). As well as restaurants and pubs selling traditional British food, there were Italian, Greek, Indian, Chinese and other foreign restaurants.
19		The dinner party became very popular. There were a range of aids for entertaining guests in your own home. Soda streams, fondue sets and ‘hostess trolleys’ became 'must-have' items among the better-off. Tupperware parties also became a great favourite. More In the 1970s, a dinner guest would sit down to a three course meal. Prawn cocktail was a popular starter. This would be followed by something considered a little 'exotic' like Boeuf Bourgignon or Moussaka. Cheesecake was a very popular dinner party sweet.

Clean 5 or 6 jam jars very carefully and dry themPut all the dried fruit into a large mixing...

More calendar recipes