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Post by ripper on Aug 10, 2021 18:36:49 GMT
Ripper, the diet you describe sounds indescribably horrific, though I have to confess to being a big fan of chocolate shortbread. We had similar fare in the school cafeteria in elementary, middle and high school (I don't know how that matches up with the "form" system in the UK). The food for the most part was really horrible. I remember being ridiculously grateful for the occasional day when we'd get a square of cheese "pizza," which was probably served with some green beans and sweet corn, or similar. I feel compelled to share a memory from long ago and far away. As a child and to this day, I had and have a strong aversion to a popular US food called coleslaw (according to the interwebs, the word coleslaw comes from the Dutch koosla, meaning "cabbage salad"). I think it was the mayonnaise which I couldn't stick at all--until a few years ago when I learned what real mayonnaise actually involves, and tastes like (and it's a delightful food that most definitely requires some flair to bring off--the Two Fat Ladies episode on that was excellent, and of course, Jennifer showed us how to make it properly). One day, a bossy, possibly terminally constipated 2nd grade teacher named Mrs Patrone, whose stock in trade was terrorizing small children, was making a pass through the cafeteria and spotted the fact that my coleslaw had remained untouched (they served it in these ugly little paper receptacles). No doubt she said something to me along the lines of "Child! You will not waste that food! There's a starving boy in Biafra who would be very glad to have that! Eat it! Eat it NOW!" In that awful era, I could easily be intimidated into obedience, so I attempted to spoon a bit of the goopy liquid into my mouth and down my unwilling gullet. I immediately began to retch and gag and some of the effluvium dribbled out of my gaping mouth back onto the plate. I think that actually put paid even to Mrs P's domineering stance, and she fled. I have NEVER forgotten that childhood torture/humiliation. Life in a US grade school in the 1960s wasn't for the faint of heart. Or stomach. cheers, H. We have coleslaw here as well. I can't say that I am a big fan of it. Pizza? Never saw a pizza at school in my school dinners career. Occasional salads and stews, and the odd...very odd...approximation of what we call here a sunday roast. Cheese? Maybe, but it must have been on high days and holidays. Chips were served at least twice per week, maybe three times. Sponge pudding...treacle pudding, spotted dick or some other type of sponge again twice per week or sometimes three times. Rice pudding, tapioca, both served with jam so you mixed it all up and made it a pink colour. It was basic food, made to fill the stomachs of growing boys and girls. Quality-wise it was okay. As I said, I am sure it would send shivers down the spines of modern-day champions of school nutrition, but that was what it was like back then. We had a monitor system. Each day you sat at the same table with the same group of kids. Two per table were dinner monitors and it was their job to fetch the food from the serving hatch, together with plates and cutlery. The food was in large containers and maybe there were 8 kids per table. I was a dinner monitor and had to put the food on each kid's plate. When everyone had finished we had to collect the plates and cutlery, return them and then fetch the dishes and pudding. It was quite a bit of work for ten year olds. If I recall correctly, the monitors were always older kids...ten or eleven, with the others on the table being younger. Drinks-wise there was water. I think apple and rhubarb crumbles were quite popular as well, served with custard of course. I remember being baffled reading the menu and seeing that one of our puddings was going to be served with mock cream. I knew what cream was, but mock cream? Best school dinner for me was Chips, fish fingers and beans, followed by that wonderful chocolate shortbread with green mint custard. Oh, and the teachers sitting at their own tables, some puffing away on cigarettes and our deputy head on his pipe--those were the days! Yet there was little obesity as we would be running around the playground at break times, not glued to phones. |
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Post by ripper on Aug 10, 2021 18:44:00 GMT
I love 'slaw. There are many other American foods that I find questionable, however. Like root beer. Once, many years ago, I took a young Italian lady, fresh off the boat from Naples, to a Roy Rogers restaurant, as we were desperate for food of any kind and it happened to be right there. When asked what she wanted to drink, she said "Beer," not understanding that this was a family-friendly establishment that did not serve alcohol. The cashier interpreted this in the only way that made sense to him. Her reaction when she took the first sip was priceless. My wife bought a bottle of root beer a few weeks ago. I had heard of it from endless mentions on US films and TV but had never tasted it before. Very odd taste. To be honest, the smell of it reminded me of a rubbing liniment that my old mum would buy to ease painful muscles. |
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Post by Swampirella on Aug 10, 2021 19:33:06 GMT
I love 'slaw. There are many other American foods that I find questionable, however. Like root beer. Once, many years ago, I took a young Italian lady, fresh off the boat from Naples, to a Roy Rogers restaurant, as we were desperate for food of any kind and it happened to be right there. When asked what she wanted to drink, she said "Beer," not understanding that this was a family-friendly establishment that did not serve alcohol. The cashier interpreted this in the only way that made sense to him. Her reaction when she took the first sip was priceless. My wife bought a bottle of root beer a few weeks ago. I had heard of it from endless mentions on US films and TV but had never tasted it before. Very odd taste. To be honest, the smell of it reminded me of a rubbing liniment that my old mum would buy to ease painful muscles. I don’t mind root beer now and then but don’t understand how anyone can like spruce beer.
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Post by Dr Strange on Aug 10, 2021 21:16:40 GMT
My wife bought a bottle of root beer a few weeks ago. I had heard of it from endless mentions on US films and TV but had never tasted it before. Very odd taste. To be honest, the smell of it reminded me of a rubbing liniment that my old mum would buy to ease painful muscles. Deep Heat - that is what I was reminded of the one and only time I tried it. Turns out they both contain oil from the wintergreen plant, and that's what the smell is. |
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Post by Swampirella on Aug 10, 2021 21:35:45 GMT
My wife bought a bottle of root beer a few weeks ago. I had heard of it from endless mentions on US films and TV but had never tasted it before. Very odd taste. To be honest, the smell of it reminded me of a rubbing liniment that my old mum would buy to ease painful muscles. Deep Heat - that is what I was reminded of the one and only time I tried it. Turns out they both contain oil from the wintergreen plant, and that's what the smell is. You have my sincere admiration for giving it a try! |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Aug 10, 2021 23:54:36 GMT
Ripper, the diet you describe sounds indescribably horrific, though I have to confess to being a big fan of chocolate shortbread. We had similar fare in the school cafeteria in elementary, middle and high school (I don't know how that matches up with the "form" system in the UK). The food for the most part was really horrible. I remember being ridiculously grateful for the occasional day when we'd get a square of cheese "pizza," which was probably served with some green beans and sweet corn, or similar. I can confirm that US school cafeteria food had not changed by the late 1980s. I avoid all mayonnaise-based foods, but to each their own. My wife bought a bottle of root beer a few weeks ago. I had heard of it from endless mentions on US films and TV but had never tasted it before. Very odd taste. To be honest, the smell of it reminded me of a rubbing liniment that my old mum would buy to ease painful muscles. I don’t mind root beer now and then but don’t understand how anyone can like spruce beer.
I drink root beer occasionally, too. I've also tried birch beer but never spruce beer, which does sound awful. There's probably a Swampirella/sarsaparilla joke in there somewhere, but I'll leave it alone. |
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Post by 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr on Aug 11, 2021 0:00:32 GMT
 Oh my! There are men in here! Quickly Helrunar...  Release the Kraken!   |
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Post by Swampirella on Aug 11, 2021 0:10:57 GMT
Ripper, the diet you describe sounds indescribably horrific, though I have to confess to being a big fan of chocolate shortbread. We had similar fare in the school cafeteria in elementary, middle and high school (I don't know how that matches up with the "form" system in the UK). The food for the most part was really horrible. I remember being ridiculously grateful for the occasional day when we'd get a square of cheese "pizza," which was probably served with some green beans and sweet corn, or similar. I can confirm that US school cafeteria food had not changed by the late 1980s. I avoid all mayonnaise-based foods, but to each their own. I don’t mind root beer now and then but don’t understand how anyone can like spruce beer.
I drink root beer occasionally, too. I've also tried birch beer but never spruce beer, which does sound awful. There's probably a Swampirella/sarsaparilla joke in there somewhere, but I'll leave it alone. Birch beer sounds pretty disgusting too; I've never heard of it before. I just found out why; the only province in Canada it's available in is Newfoundland, along with several odd Crush flavours. Why they inflicted such suffering on such a great bunch of people, I don't know.
I may have tried sarsaparilla as a child, I'm not sure. I gather it tastes like root beer; thanks for not trying to find that joke!
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Post by helrunar on Aug 11, 2021 0:37:15 GMT
I like birch beer, especially the variety that is made without syrup and looks like seltzer water. Again, to each their own. I phased out all sodas years ago for health reasons; the only one I still drink is ginger beer (which is non-alcoholic, despite the name), and then only as an occasional treat.
H.
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Post by helrunar on Aug 11, 2021 0:41:17 GMT
Princess, you really are amusing. But my dear, you need to choose your words carefully. Some of the MEN in the room may interpret the phrase "release the Kraken" with an action which I fear would result in your bolting, shrieking, for the safety of the Ladies Lounge. Where there really are NO MEN allowed, not even Helrunars; the Wardress of the Lounge sees to that, and she's armed with a pair of ceremonial nut-crunchers that of old featured in a rite to Goddess Magna Mater Cybele--an object that has made many of the MEN in these unhallowed halls emit shrieks of their own. (There's a thread about that apparatus in one of the Ghost & Scholars sequences, but I can't recall which one at the moment.)
Thoughtfully,
Helrunar
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Post by 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr on Aug 11, 2021 0:43:25 GMT
I'll be offline for a few days, my dearios! But it's no use ticking like jojo, as I will return, which is bad news for you obviously, but not for me, as I'm sure I will have lots to say when I get back!
I hope men can keep out of this tea room, but I somehow doubt it, as they are a terrible lot, and even a top notch kraken won't stop them I fear!
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Post by Dr Strange on Aug 11, 2021 8:37:51 GMT
I phased out all sodas years ago for health reasons; the only one I still drink is ginger beer (which is non-alcoholic, despite the name), and then only as an occasional treat. There is an alcoholic (4%) ginger beer over here made by Crabbies that is delicious, if maybe a bit too easy to drink. |
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Post by ripper on Aug 11, 2021 9:23:41 GMT
My wife bought a bottle of root beer a few weeks ago. I had heard of it from endless mentions on US films and TV but had never tasted it before. Very odd taste. To be honest, the smell of it reminded me of a rubbing liniment that my old mum would buy to ease painful muscles. Deep Heat - that is what I was reminded of the one and only time I tried it. Turns out they both contain oil from the wintergreen plant, and that's what the smell is. That's the liniment I was trying to remember. Glad to hear that it isn't my nose being a bit dodgy and root beer does have a connection to rubbing liniment. |
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Post by ripper on Aug 11, 2021 9:37:41 GMT
I like birch beer, especially the variety that is made without syrup and looks like seltzer water. Again, to each their own. I phased out all sodas years ago for health reasons; the only one I still drink is ginger beer (which is non-alcoholic, despite the name), and then only as an occasional treat. H. Not having tasted root beer before, I had it in my mind that it was actually what Americans called ginger beer. My aunt and uncle, sadly both passed away many years ago, had a ginger plant from which they made their own ginger beer. They would use 2-litre plastic pop bottles and stored it in their garage. They must have had about 40 to 50 litres of the stuff in there at any one time. I don't know why but the bottles started to swell and explode. After three or four went off, they were forced to open the remaining bottles, not easy as the pressure had swollen the bottles so that the screw tops were really tight--and pour it all away down a soakaway they had, but that area reeked of ginger for weeks afterward. |
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Post by samdawson on Aug 11, 2021 14:49:11 GMT
Not having tasted root beer before, I had it in my mind that it was actually what Americans called ginger beer. My aunt and uncle, sadly both passed away many years ago, had a ginger plant from which they made their own ginger beer. They would use 2-litre plastic pop bottles and stored it in their garage. They must have had about 40 to 50 litres of the stuff in there at any one time. I don't know why but the bottles started to swell and explode. After three or four went off, they were forced to open the remaining bottles, not easy as the pressure had swollen the bottles so that the screw tops were really tight--and pour it all away down a soakaway they had, but that area reeked of ginger for weeks afterward. It's what ginger beer does: it tries to escape. That's why glass bottles with internal screw stoppers are recommended: that said, even they sometimes burst under pressure and I remember a news item from the 1970s about a bomb disposal squad being called out because of multiple explosions in a garden shed. They turned out to be bursting ginger beer bottles. I also remember aged about three sneaking into the pantry to have a proscribed swig from one of the bottles my mother was culturing and having the contents jet out uncontrollably all over the place when I opened it. You can't even use large plastic bottles, I've discovered, as the pressure forces them out of shape and you come down in the morning and find them lolling all over the kitchen floor. It is a very easy drink to make though (I've tried root beer and didn't enjoy it, and US cream soda was way too sickly for me, while the UK variety is rather a treat, especially if you use it to make an ice cream float). I do tend to drink a fair amount of ginger beer as on all family holidays in the UK and all trips in the country for lunch I, being a Dad, always drive (don't ask me why it's the rule, it just is). Since I can't have a cider, drinking a ginger beer tends to feel right in a really nice traditional rustic pub in the way, say, a diet coke wouldn't. there are a wealth of different companies making ginger beer, a hangover from the time when every town, and many villages, had its own ginger beer manufactory, leaving us all those lovely examples of localised stoneware bottles. I'm afraid I find Crabbie's too sweet, and Fevertree a bit too hipsterish. Old Jamaica and Schweppes are OK and there are many small scale makers you seem to find only in out of the way pubs. My favourite is Palmers of Dorset, a king among ginger beers, which you find in some West Country pubs. It's so good that I have twice bought a crate of it from their wine store. There, a whole discourse on ginger beer that I never expected to write and I'm sure you didn't expect to read. On the subject of school dinners I second all that has been said, except for the bit about chips, which we never were lucky enough to have had. For completeness sake I will throw in 1960s spam fritters with bright pink meat (I consider these delicious, my brother would rather die than eat one again), and a special assembly in that decade where it was announced that we were going to have a meal with rice (shock) and peanuts instead of meat (double shock). I think this was during a seamen's strike. |
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