THOSE were the days – a time when even though they partook of cheese nibbles at Abigail’s Party, women were so light they could be easily lifted in the basket of the Nimble hot air balloon.
We were a lot thinner as a nation back in the 1970s, a time of Ritz Crackers, Spam and tinned peaches with Instant Whip, but why?
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So-called “convenience” foods had already made inroads into our lives but comparing the average daily menu from 30-odd years ago with today’s fare perhaps gives a taste of why obesity rates are rising faster than you can say “Yes” to chocolate atop of your takeaway latte.
It might seem unfair that we pay such attention to our fat and sugar intake these days – alerted by the comprehensive tables on the packets – and yet increasing numbers are as fat as a space hopper.
Are we really eating that much more compared to those long-ago days when it was (high-fat) butter or bust, when olive oil-enhanced spread was the stuff of science fiction and low-fat margarine was regarded as a dieter’s fad?
Comparing the menus of yesteryear and today, it seems clear that the current fancy diet may encompass the flavours of the world but it is doing us no favours when it comes to keeping us on the straight and reasonably narrow.
Because even though we are sipping semi-skimmed milk in our coffee, it’s alongside a high-fat, sugar-laden blueberry muffin (straight from across the Atlantic but who’s blaming the Americans?)
And even though we are forking up a green Thai curry with rice, as opposed to meat and mash, today’s meal is redolent with all the extra sugar, salt and fat – not to mention the preservatives – that make up a ready meal. Add to that the “one glass” of Chardonnay – with wine so accessible and cheap is it any wonder people take more than one tipple – and you’re probably looking at far more (nutritionally-redundant?) calories than the meat and two vegetables supper of old.
It’s that little sprinkling of something extra that we have given ourselves in an age where people want rewards “because you’re worth it”.
They work hard and want to play hard but have so little time in which to do the latter, why not treat yourself to cornflakes with that extra nutty crunch as opposed to the bog-standard version (which come with less sugar)?
And why have a Rich Tea – surely the fodder of old people who would refer to them with the no-nonsense moniker of “plain biscuit” – when you could have a cosmopolitan muffin, like something straight off the set of Sex And The City.
Sandwiches used to be straightforward affairs. Take two pieces of buttered bread and stick something in between. These days – as illustrated by the lunchtime menu – it’s wraps and baguettes and pitta and panini – and why have plain old butter when you can add lashings of mayonnaise?
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And while we’re at it, to sate our salt-hungry palates – exacerbated on by the salt-laden ready meals – add a packet of crisps (but make them sound a cut above junk food by labelling them “sea salt”).
Lunch in the 1970s was sweetened with a humble Club biscuit, making today’s midday meal seem virtuous with its addition of a fruit salad.
But come four o’clock, modern-day eaters are munching on a Kit-Kat – and a Chunky one at that. If it isn’t a chunky Kit-Kat, it may well be one of the other jumbo-sized products that have become so prevalent on supermarket shelves.
Forget the normal Mars bar, go for the king-size one instead. And skip the normal Dairy Milk, go for the eight-chunker.
Then there’s the 24/7 mentality – the fact food is literally available round the clock. Feeling peckish at midnight? Take a trip – in the car, of course – to your all-night Tesco.
Add to that the way in which the fast-food takeaway industry has taken off and you have ingredients as explosive as the mish-mash of artificially-flavoured food swilling around in our guts!
It’s also a long-held theory that people were slimmer when they had enough time to do their own cooking, not least because home-made food tends to have less of the sugar, salt and fat found in today’s cook-chill meals.
Drive – not walk, of course – by any restaurant offering “two-course lunch and coffee for a fiver” or an “all-you-can-eat” menu, which people tend to see as a challenge, not an invitation, and you’re looking at a king-size community.
The 1970s weren’t exactly The Good Life, even though Tom and Barbara have let the era go down in history as a time of growing your own vegetables and boasting activity-related rosy cheeks.
But with their tinned rice pudding, soda syphons and black forest gateaux, they seem like halycon days of the simple stuff compared with today’s list of drinks on the blackboard of any Starbucks.
The French seem to have held on to something of the 1970s in their eating habits with the adage of “a little of what you fancy”. British women come back from Paris moaning about the injustice of it all – French girls smooth a good helping of butter on their croissant and yet why don’t they get as fat as us? That would probably be because they don’t then have a Kit-Kat and one for luck in the afternoon slump. They eat three defined meals – which was also more the case in the 1970s when families sat together at the table – and stop there.
Today there is more money, more choice and more access. Add to that the fact that many in today’s remote-control society travel by car, not foot, and you’ve got your reasons why people are getting fatter by the minute.
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Page 2 – The fashion of food … then and now
The fashion of food … then and now
The 1970sBreakfast: Scrambled eggs on white toast with butter, or a bowl of Corn Flakes with full-fat milk, orange juice concentrate, cup of tea with full-fat milk
Elevenses: Cup of tea and a Rich Tea biscuit
Lunch: Home-made ham, cheese, tomato, cucumber and lettuce sandwich made with white bread and butter, an apple, a chocolate Club biscuit, a glass of water, another cup of tea
Four o’clock snack: More cups of tea
Supper: Lamb chops with potatoes, carrots and mint jelly followed by a pear, tea and water
Today Breakfast: Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes with semi-skimmed milk, cup of tea with semi-skimmed milk, freshly squeezed orange juice
Elevenses: A large latte made with semi-skimmed milk and a blueberry muffin
Lunch: An over-stuffed chicken and avocado wrap with lashings of mayonnaise and a bewildering array of baby lettuce leaves, a packet of sea salt crisps, a pre-packed exotic fruit salad, another huge latte.
Four o’clock snack: Chunky Kit-Kat and a cappuccino
Supper: Ready-made Thai green curry with rice, followed by a low-fat chocolate mousse, a large glass of Chardonnay
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHY
