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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 73617" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>The quotes husband found were very US-based. Australia - things were a bit similar, but I do remember back then that the Aussie dollar was worth about A$2. Before 14 February 1966 we had LSD currency - pounds, shillings & pence. I was in Grade 6 at the time. I can still remember the jingle - very sad!</p><p></p><p>We didn't get McDonalds in Australia until the mid 70s. We got Pizza Hut around 1972 and Kentucky Fried Chicken (complete with regular visits from Colonel Harlan Sanders, looking like he stepped off the set of "Gone With The Wind") in about 1968/69. Before that, if you wanted fast food - you could get a home-made burger from a Milk Bar, or a freshly made sandwich. Our favourites especially in summer were the salad sandwiches they made at the milk bar next door to the plant nursery where my mother worked sometimes (and I helped out for no pay). Those sandwiches had everything, including beetroot and sliced Kraft cheese. Not a pickle in sight! A lot of Aussies have adapted to the Big Mac these days but pickles are an acquired taste. We still consider a burger incomplete without beetroot, though.</p><p></p><p>Asian food - it's changed drastically over the years. A lot of Chinese came to Australia in the Gold Rush years. These were miners, not cooks, and they used local ingredients to throw together a Chinese form of beans and hash - they called it chop suey - something you'd never find on a legitimate restaurant menu in China. But Australia accepted this ghastly form of Chinese food as normal, so when the real thing arrived in bulk ini the 70s, we all went into culture shock - and then discovered we LOVE Chinese food, done well. And now we've discovered Thai cuisine (which some argue isn't a cuisine, it's a formula). We're a cultural melting pot and our food reflects this change - new foods, ingredients and ways of preparing it are turning up all the time - and now it's getting ridiculous. Chefs are paying with ingredients in some very silly ways, simply to get a flavour shock into over-stimulated, jaded palates. "Why don't you try my pickled pears with truffle oil and coriander leaf?"</p><p>"No thanks, I want some taste-buds left intact..."</p><p></p><p>When I was a kid, a lot of people smoked. Less than in the US, but on TV we would often see smokers - it was accepted. Kids took up smoking in their teens. My generation were among the first to begin to reject smoking, although husband & I are still a minority in that we never smoked (although I think he puffed on a pipe, once). My father would light up a cigarette while still sitting at the dining table and as I had to sit next to him (the youngest) I could never taste my food once he lit up. I used to beg to be able to leave the table and eat my food in the kitchen but I was chastised for being rude to the breadwinner. He never realised, until he quit smoking, what that did to us all. By then I was in my early teens and had learnt to eat fast to enjoy my food.</p><p></p><p>You never criticised your parents, you never answered back, you never asked for money unless it was something you knew your parents would approve of (such as a school excursion) and even then, expect to be told, "No". Australia was called "the lucky country" because people could move here and start a new life, making a success for themselves. But we were also called "battlers" because life was a struggle. If you wanted more than the basics you were greedy and materialistic. But who needed anything more than a beach, or a sprinkler on the summer lawn, to play in? Until the drought in the 60s, when sprinklers were banned. The old rotary sprinkler is a museum relic now.</p><p></p><p>Guests were to be accorded the ultimate courtesy with no criticism or infringing on their personal freedoms, no matter what they did - my parents kept this up into the 80s when I had to step in to discreetly direct a guest who was smoking, to enjoy the view from the balcony with my father because the cigarette smoke in the house could put both my parents in hospital - but neither would say anything to the guest who had thoughtlessly lit up, confident in their hospitality. </p><p></p><p>We were horrified when fuel prices hit 50c a litre 17 years ago. "The prices will come down when the Gulf War is over," we told ourselves. Hah!</p><p></p><p>We had huge family gatherings with plastic tablecloths on the kids' tables which the kids would poke their fingers through. We would cook a classic English Christmas dinner with all the trimmings - roast pork with crackling and apple sauce; boiled pudding with sixpences in it (the coins hoarded from the pre-decimal days, since the new currency was toxic); lots of roast vegetables, lots of hot, greasy food - when the temperature was well over a hundred in the shade. After we'd eaten enough to burst, we'd load everyone in the car and head for the beach, stopping every 100 yards for another kid to throw up after the lunchtime overindulgence. Or not stopping - after the first kid misses the door, why bother? The sooner we get to the beach, the sooner we can air out the car. The beach is only two hours' drive away... and at the beach, standing and waiting interminably until the shark alarm is called off. Then finding the beach full of bluebottles ("Portuguese man o' war" or Physalia). Sunscreen? What's that? Got a tube of Pinke Zinke here somewhere... of course, it leaves greasy sticky stripes on the towels... and nobody gave skin cancer a single thought. Discovering that the last time you wore your wool or cotton swimsuit, it hadn't been dried properly and now smelled of mildew...</p><p></p><p>We ate whatever was in season and grew it ourselves, looking down on those who had to buy their own vegetables. But somewhere inside we were envious of those who were rich enough to not have to grow their own. We even grew our own meat - I remember having to help my father slaughter chickens, having to boil the feet and peel the skin off. Watching him wash out the gizzard and then taking a plate of giblets to my mother and hoping she wouldn't feed any of it to me... I was virtually vegetarian, from having to watch my father kill animals for food. I told my parents, I wouldn't eat any animal I'd played with. So no goat, no lamb, no chicken, no pork, no beef... for a long time. Lots of eggs from our battery-caged hens. I hated to see them in the cages but my father knew of no other way. He ran those chickens like a business - buy them as chicks, raise them, cage them, collect eggs and then slaughter in autumn of their second year when the days got shorter. The lights were on a timer to stay on for 17 hours total light. My father invented one of the first timer switches but never patented it. A lot of Aussies invented things - and never patented them. other people would patent what they saw, even if at times they'd copied it, and the attitude was, "Well he went to the trouble to fill in all that paperwork - good luck to him."</p><p></p><p>My father in law invented a weed trimmer, only he used an old washing machine motor for the drive - he was the only bloke who could even lift the thing. But it could clear an entire paddock of rough scrub. Knowing father in law, he probably used fencing wire instead of nylon rope...</p><p></p><p>These days we expect things to be instant and to have whatever we want. A higher standard of living? I guess it depends on your standards...</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 73617, member: 1991"] The quotes husband found were very US-based. Australia - things were a bit similar, but I do remember back then that the Aussie dollar was worth about A$2. Before 14 February 1966 we had LSD currency - pounds, shillings & pence. I was in Grade 6 at the time. I can still remember the jingle - very sad! We didn't get McDonalds in Australia until the mid 70s. We got Pizza Hut around 1972 and Kentucky Fried Chicken (complete with regular visits from Colonel Harlan Sanders, looking like he stepped off the set of "Gone With The Wind") in about 1968/69. Before that, if you wanted fast food - you could get a home-made burger from a Milk Bar, or a freshly made sandwich. Our favourites especially in summer were the salad sandwiches they made at the milk bar next door to the plant nursery where my mother worked sometimes (and I helped out for no pay). Those sandwiches had everything, including beetroot and sliced Kraft cheese. Not a pickle in sight! A lot of Aussies have adapted to the Big Mac these days but pickles are an acquired taste. We still consider a burger incomplete without beetroot, though. Asian food - it's changed drastically over the years. A lot of Chinese came to Australia in the Gold Rush years. These were miners, not cooks, and they used local ingredients to throw together a Chinese form of beans and hash - they called it chop suey - something you'd never find on a legitimate restaurant menu in China. But Australia accepted this ghastly form of Chinese food as normal, so when the real thing arrived in bulk ini the 70s, we all went into culture shock - and then discovered we LOVE Chinese food, done well. And now we've discovered Thai cuisine (which some argue isn't a cuisine, it's a formula). We're a cultural melting pot and our food reflects this change - new foods, ingredients and ways of preparing it are turning up all the time - and now it's getting ridiculous. Chefs are paying with ingredients in some very silly ways, simply to get a flavour shock into over-stimulated, jaded palates. "Why don't you try my pickled pears with truffle oil and coriander leaf?" "No thanks, I want some taste-buds left intact..." When I was a kid, a lot of people smoked. Less than in the US, but on TV we would often see smokers - it was accepted. Kids took up smoking in their teens. My generation were among the first to begin to reject smoking, although husband & I are still a minority in that we never smoked (although I think he puffed on a pipe, once). My father would light up a cigarette while still sitting at the dining table and as I had to sit next to him (the youngest) I could never taste my food once he lit up. I used to beg to be able to leave the table and eat my food in the kitchen but I was chastised for being rude to the breadwinner. He never realised, until he quit smoking, what that did to us all. By then I was in my early teens and had learnt to eat fast to enjoy my food. You never criticised your parents, you never answered back, you never asked for money unless it was something you knew your parents would approve of (such as a school excursion) and even then, expect to be told, "No". Australia was called "the lucky country" because people could move here and start a new life, making a success for themselves. But we were also called "battlers" because life was a struggle. If you wanted more than the basics you were greedy and materialistic. But who needed anything more than a beach, or a sprinkler on the summer lawn, to play in? Until the drought in the 60s, when sprinklers were banned. The old rotary sprinkler is a museum relic now. Guests were to be accorded the ultimate courtesy with no criticism or infringing on their personal freedoms, no matter what they did - my parents kept this up into the 80s when I had to step in to discreetly direct a guest who was smoking, to enjoy the view from the balcony with my father because the cigarette smoke in the house could put both my parents in hospital - but neither would say anything to the guest who had thoughtlessly lit up, confident in their hospitality. We were horrified when fuel prices hit 50c a litre 17 years ago. "The prices will come down when the Gulf War is over," we told ourselves. Hah! We had huge family gatherings with plastic tablecloths on the kids' tables which the kids would poke their fingers through. We would cook a classic English Christmas dinner with all the trimmings - roast pork with crackling and apple sauce; boiled pudding with sixpences in it (the coins hoarded from the pre-decimal days, since the new currency was toxic); lots of roast vegetables, lots of hot, greasy food - when the temperature was well over a hundred in the shade. After we'd eaten enough to burst, we'd load everyone in the car and head for the beach, stopping every 100 yards for another kid to throw up after the lunchtime overindulgence. Or not stopping - after the first kid misses the door, why bother? The sooner we get to the beach, the sooner we can air out the car. The beach is only two hours' drive away... and at the beach, standing and waiting interminably until the shark alarm is called off. Then finding the beach full of bluebottles ("Portuguese man o' war" or Physalia). Sunscreen? What's that? Got a tube of Pinke Zinke here somewhere... of course, it leaves greasy sticky stripes on the towels... and nobody gave skin cancer a single thought. Discovering that the last time you wore your wool or cotton swimsuit, it hadn't been dried properly and now smelled of mildew... We ate whatever was in season and grew it ourselves, looking down on those who had to buy their own vegetables. But somewhere inside we were envious of those who were rich enough to not have to grow their own. We even grew our own meat - I remember having to help my father slaughter chickens, having to boil the feet and peel the skin off. Watching him wash out the gizzard and then taking a plate of giblets to my mother and hoping she wouldn't feed any of it to me... I was virtually vegetarian, from having to watch my father kill animals for food. I told my parents, I wouldn't eat any animal I'd played with. So no goat, no lamb, no chicken, no pork, no beef... for a long time. Lots of eggs from our battery-caged hens. I hated to see them in the cages but my father knew of no other way. He ran those chickens like a business - buy them as chicks, raise them, cage them, collect eggs and then slaughter in autumn of their second year when the days got shorter. The lights were on a timer to stay on for 17 hours total light. My father invented one of the first timer switches but never patented it. A lot of Aussies invented things - and never patented them. other people would patent what they saw, even if at times they'd copied it, and the attitude was, "Well he went to the trouble to fill in all that paperwork - good luck to him." My father in law invented a weed trimmer, only he used an old washing machine motor for the drive - he was the only bloke who could even lift the thing. But it could clear an entire paddock of rough scrub. Knowing father in law, he probably used fencing wire instead of nylon rope... These days we expect things to be instant and to have whatever we want. A higher standard of living? I guess it depends on your standards... Marg [/QUOTE]
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