The Enid Blyton Society

What might be an interesting new series starts tonight at 8pm.

"A British family experience 1950's life and cooking including a diet of dried eggs, dripping and liver prepared in a very basic kitchen. With Giles Coren".

Some weeks ago - on a different thread - I said that British cooking got a bad name after WW2 which was well deserved until the 80's. I know that some of you disagreed - which is fair enough - but I think that this programme may highlight what I meant. The full-on Enid-Blyton type meals are great but the reality for many people were stodgy veg' and spud meals until the advent of processed convenient food (when things got worse in some ways). Anyway; the series looks interesting; concentrating on a different decade each episode.

I'll watch that, it sounds interesting.

I'm looking forward to watching this tonight. I saw a trailer the other day and my reaction was that my mother managed better than that! I'll reserve further judgement until I have seen the whole thing though.

I've set the reminder, just in case I forget, which I often do!!!

We have it series-linked.

Watched this, thoroughly enjoyed it! I was only a kid of course through the 50's years, but I do remember not having much food!

It was strange having lived through that era, and seeing those youngsters having no idea what it was like!

They even had a TV for the Coronation. We didn't have one until much later. And the fridge and the food mixer, we never had one of those at all!!!!

I watched the programme but found it frustrating that the family moved through the whole decade rapidly in a matter of days. During a period of rationing in the early 1950s they ate their whole week's meat allowance in one day. I'd have liked to see how they'd have coped for the rest of the week (probably having to manage on things like jacket potatoes, bean stew, tinned fish and omelettes made from powdered egg) but we didn't get to find out as rationing ended a couple of days later! I wonder how they'd have fed the dog!

I thought it was very interesting too. I was a bit surprised they couldn't work out how to use that tin opener though. I still have one like that lurking in a drawer somewhere.
While the housewife seemed a bit inept, nobody pointed out that housewives of that era would have grown up during the war and would have learned how to make more of the food than that poor lady managed, having been suddenly deprived of all the mod. cons. as well as any training!
I don't think either that men were necessarily excluded from family life - unless they wanted to be! I remember my dad washing the dishes and we all ate together at tea time, having had a main meal in the middle of the day. I and my sisters never experieced school meals either - we always went home for our dinner being within walking distance. We saw the coronation on a friend's TV set. As a family we were invited to spend the whole day there. I remember being rather bored!
I also remember when rationing finished and we were able to have butter again instead of "Special Margarine" . It took a while to get used to the taste of butter! Sweets came off ration too, but we were still rationed by the amount of pocket money we got!
I look forward to the next one to see what they make of the 60s.

I was a bit frustrated with that too Anita.... I think the other series when a family has spent some weeks in times gone by, has given a fairer and better idea of how people lived.

Yes, that was the only annoying thing about it. The year moved on daily, so we couldn't see how she coped for a full week of 50's rationing.

We too cringed at the attempt to open that tin. What a hash he made of it. We still have one, but never use it of course, they were quite dangerous really.

I never noticed the dog when they first moved into the 50's. The dog appeared just after rationing, so maybe they had to leave him with someone?

I guess they'll rush through the swinging 60's in an hours programme too!

Daisy wrote:I think the other series when a family has spent some weeks in times gone by, has given a fairer and better idea of how people lived.

I've enjoyed some of those series too.

I was puzzled about the dog as well, Julie. The first time I noticed it was when the family went out in the car.

I enjoyed it but like everyone else on here, there were a few frustrations. I remember using those can-openers as a kid so I don't see why the two adults made such a hash of it.

Although she is no Mary Berry, I don't see why the woman had to serve the liver cold (and maybe a bit undercooked). Was it just me or was there no gravy with that meal of left-overs? No wonder the girl described it as the grimmest meal ever.

The school-meal was quite amusing. I guess a lot of kids these days only ever encounter mince in a bolognese, lasagne or Chile. I wonder if it was boiled like my Grandmother used to cook it?

I thought the school meal looked fine. Nothing wrong with mince cooked in a pan like that, I do it all the time, if I don't feel like making a shepherd's pie out of it.

There was no gravy, but then she fried the liver. We used to cook the liver in the oven, slowly and made gravy from the juices. Mind you I don't like liver, never did. It's a dry meat anyway!!!!

burlingtonbertram wrote:I don't see why the woman had to serve the liver cold (and maybe a bit undercooked). Was it just me or was there no gravy with that meal of left-overs? No wonder the girl described it as the grimmest meal ever.

I thought the same. A fresh pan of roast vegetables could have been served with the leftovers (reheated), and gravy made from dripping and flour. If the liver was tough and unappetising I'd have cut it into bite-sized pieces and simmered it in the gravy for a while so people could pop it into their mouths instead of sawing away at it.

I just couldn't believe how scripted the whole thing was! Never mind cringing at the tin-opener - I was cringing at the dialogue while they were battling with the tin opener!
Every conversation they had sounded so 'perfect' and 'contrived' it was as if they were reading it off a piece of paper. Even the bits of conversation that were just bits of banter sounded scripted and forced, it was quite painful to watch!
It was obviously supposed to be unscripted and just following the family in their daily life, but it was quite obviously all scripted because it seemed so wooden and rehearsed.

I found the food side quite interesting but it was just spoilt by the wooden dialogue. If you're making a programme that's supposed to be 'real life' then make it actual real life and just film the family being themselves in the situation instead of giving them a script!