Voice of Byron regular, Gail Casey, came across this nostalgic but amusing piece about eating in the Bay more than half a century ago.
Gail wrote:
EATING IN THE 1950’s – BYRON BAY STYLE
- Pasta was not eaten in Australia.
- Curry was a surname.
- A takeaway was a mathematical problem.
- A pizza was something to do with a leaning tower.
- All potato crisps were plain; the only choice we had was whether to put the salt on or not.
- Rice was only eaten cooked in milk, as a pudding.
- Calamari was called squid and we used it as fish bait.
- A Big Mac was what we wore when it was raining.
- Brown bread was something only poor people ate.
- Oil was for lubricating, fat was for cooking.
- Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves. These were never green.
- Sugar enjoyed good press in those days, and was regarded as being white gold. Cubed sugar was regarded as posh.
- Chicken didn’t have fingers in those days.
- Eating raw fish was called poverty, not sushi.
- None of us had ever heard of yoghurt.
- Healthy food consisted of anything edible.
- People who didn’t peel potatoes were regarded as lazy.
- Indian restaurants were only found in India.
- Cooking outside was called camping.
- Seaweed was not a recognised food.
- “Kebab” was not even a word, never mind a food.
- Prunes were medicinal.
- Muesli was readily available; back then it was called cattle feed.
- Water came out of the tap. If someone had suggested bottling it and charging more than petrol for it, they would have become a laughing stock!
- But the two things that we never, ever had on our table in the sixties? Elbows or phones.