# Eating in the 50's



## Marie5656 (Jul 16, 2019)




----------



## RadishRose (Jul 16, 2019)

Marie5656 said:


> View attachment 72738


I can relate to a lot of these. Very funny!!   
We sure didn't have any  in my area of the Northeast growing up.


----------



## Marie5656 (Jul 16, 2019)

I can remember eating my first Chinese food, back when I was 10 or so.  Was visiting Canada with my parents. There were no Chinese restaurants here that I know of..out side of big city Chinese neighborhoods.


----------



## RadishRose (Jul 16, 2019)

Marie5656 said:


> I can remember eating my first Chinese food, back when I was 10 or so.  Was visiting Canada with my parents. There were no Chinese restaurants here that I know of..out side of big city Chinese neighborhoods.


I was lucky here. Besides the scads of Italian restaurants we had a few Chinese places too, The China Inn was the best and we went there often.


----------



## jujube (Jul 16, 2019)

My mother would take a pound of hamburger, chopped onions and a can of tomato paste and turn it into one of two "exotic" foreign dishes:

1.  If she added oregano, it was Italian and we had it over spaghetti.

2.  If she didn't add oregano, but threw in a spoonful of brown sugar, we ate it on buns and called it Spanish Hamburger (the forerunner of Sloppy Joes).

That was as "exotic" as it got at our house in the 1950's.   I think once she gave into our begging and got one of those Chungking or LaChoy Chinese Dinners (the kind that came in three cans stuck together).  We all agreed that we didn't like Chinese food and if THAT was all they had to eat, it was no wonder they hid away on the other side of the world.

Boy, did I have an awakening when I got out into the world and discovered Chinese, Italian, Mexican...…..the "real" stuff.


----------



## RadishRose (Jul 16, 2019)

Gosh, I remember Chun King canned food. It wasn't as good as the well made, delicious food at The China Inn, but they had a very avant garde tv ad for the times:

You see an audience in a movie theater and all of a sudden someone says "Chun King". Then the next person says it and on and on until everyone is yelling loudly, "Chun King". It made no sense, but was very funny; we all loved it. The product was very popular back then.


----------



## Pink Biz (Jul 16, 2019)

Growing up there was a really good Chinese restaurant 2 blocks from the house. We often ate there on week-end nights or ordered in during the week. Eventually the restaurant moved about 15 minutes away and it still exists!

My mom would attempt chop suey at home, even using bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and bok choy. It wasn't bad for what it was, but her seasoning prowess never made it past Worcestershire sauce!


----------



## Marie5656 (Jul 16, 2019)

*One of the few things my mom made that I was not fond of was salmon loaf.  She would buy a can or two of canned salmon (why?) mash it up, put in some seasonings and then form it into a loaf, like meat loaf.  I think it was created for Fridays, when we could not eat meat.*


----------



## JustBonee (Jul 16, 2019)

I lived a sheltered life when I was little ... lol .. I didn't even know that there were restaurants out there in the 50's!   I grew up on my grandparents farm,  and IF  it didn't grow on the farm  or come with the Milkman or other delivery people, it didn't exist!  ..  so when I got to high school and started dating, going to burger joints  on weekends was a big deal.


----------



## Mrs. Robinson (Jul 16, 2019)

Being born and raised just a few minutes south of San Francisco,we had all kinds of restaurants-all types of cuisines. Not as many as there are today,but we had Chinese delivered at least once a month,went out for Italian on a regular basis and as far as fruits and vegetables,I grew up eating avocados,artichokes,asparagus and pretty much every fruit or vegetable you can think of,year `round. The only now common one that I had never seen until I was in my 20`s is kiwis. I remember a friend that I met right after I was married,who was also a newlywed,who had just moved to California from the Midwest,had never even heard of artichokes or avocados-nevermind ever tasted them!


----------



## hollydolly (Jul 16, 2019)

I was still drinking milk and eating toddler food in the 50's


----------



## Mrs. Robinson (Jul 16, 2019)

hollydolly said:


> I was still drinking milk and eating toddler food in the 50's


 LOL


----------



## AZ Jim (Jul 16, 2019)

I was born and grew up in Calif so I developed a taste for fresh fruits and veggies early in life.


----------



## C'est Moi (Jul 16, 2019)

I remember in the late 60's when we got a "Taco Rey" in town.   No one had ever seen a taco, and they were 10 for $1!!   Before that, Burger Chef was the big news.


----------



## StarSong (Jul 16, 2019)

I grew up in close proximity to NYC and was raised by parents with sophisticated palates and a fondness for ethnic restaurants, so I was exposed to all manner of foods from a very young age.  My mother also happened to be an excellent cook.


----------



## Butterfly (Jul 26, 2019)

AZ Jim said:


> I was born and grew up in Calif so I developed a taste for fresh fruits and veggies early in life.



My folks moved to CA right after I was born, and I spent my early childhood there.  They had a farm and I also developed a taste for fruits and veggies -- just about anything you can think of.  I'm glad I did.


----------



## Camper6 (Jul 27, 2019)

There was a Chinese restaurant that we used to frequent and they had entertainment while dining.

A piano player.  Nice conversations with friends.  Those were the days.

One night the owner came by our table and recognized us as frequent customers.  He commented that we always ordered the same dish.  He asked us if he could prepare a meal for us and if we didn't like it we didn't have to pay.  So we went along with it and we tried out some fabulous recipes.

There is one Chinese restaurant in town now that caters to seniors and you can order a smaller portion at a lower price but it's still a filling meal.


----------



## hypochondriac (Jul 27, 2019)

My small town and therefore family never discovered pizza until mid seventies. what a discovery!


----------



## Patio Life (Jul 28, 2019)

My dad was career Army. We lived all over and I ate many different foods from the time I was small. I will taste anything at least twice.


----------

