2 weeks Ago
Recently, we posted about the food norms and unwritten rules from back in the day that older adults grew up with. As a millennial, I sure learned a lot about how people ate way back when. So, here are a few more dining habits commenters shared that kids today would probably think are verrryyyy strange.
2. "A trip to the grocery store was to shop for ingredients to cook with, not prepared foods, which hardly existed. We'd buy as much meat, fish, and vegetables as we could afford.
Our parents were born in the 1920s, so our meals reflected the eating habits of the years they grew up." —Anonymous 4. "Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s in Brooklyn, New York , we NEVER went out to eat.
No water bottles for us or no soda with supper. Except for my mom, all of the adults smoked. In the summer, you could not stay inside if it wasn't raining, and you were in the house once the street lights came on.
We went to the 'playground' and drank from the water fountain when thirsty." — bougiesnail824 6. "All the meat products back then were always overcooked to ensure all harmful bacteria were removed from the meal to make it safe to consume.
" —Mike, 71, California 8. "One of our favorite 'special' dinners that we requested was what we called goodie trays. It was basically a charcuterie board before we knew the term charcuterie.
It was rolled-up lunch meats, a few different types of cheese laid out in small slices, and a bunch of veggies like carrot sticks, celery, black olives, pickles , etc. All of this was laid out on a round pizza pan, and we got to pick whatever we wanted to eat and have our ranch dressing on the side." — bestsquid207 10.
"Spices were rarely used except for special occasions, like sage in stuffing for turkey, or allspice in cakes or cookies. For regular meals, salt and pepper were seasonings used sparingly AFTER tasting the food to determine if it needed 'spices.'" —Anonymous 12.
"We had a salad with dinner every day or fruit with cream cheese and walnuts when lettuce was out of season." —Anonymous 14. "Fish on Friday! Always, for many years.
It was usually frozen mass-produced fish sticks, not baked filets or something good." — psychicelf40 16. "My dad hunted; we lived in the suburbs, so he'd go to his sister's farm 50 miles away along the Kankakee River.
He brought home pheasants, and my mom cooked them, but we'd have to spit out the lead shot pellets sometimes. My sister and I could roll them around the plate after we finished. Can you imagine the horror today of finding lead in your food?" — icymug343 18.
"A meat grinder was a standard kitchen appliance. When you enjoyed a hamburger, it was from a piece of chuck or sirloin, not processed from up to a hundred different cows." — happypunk995 Were there any traditional food habits or rules you grew up with way back when? Tell us about them in the comments or fill out this anonymous form .
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity..
