Thread: Grandma's cooking - how times have changed.

Recently I had cause to think of Grandma who died back in the 1960s. I had just watched a woman on the TV saying grace before a meal: “May The Lord make me truly thankful”. The scene reminded me that Grandma Kate always said grace before the main meal of the day. It was the thing to do in those days. We never pray together in our house these days.

Almost 50 years later, three modern mothers were complaining that the typical analysis of the chemical composition of a pre-packed ready prepared food as stated in micrograms on the packaging was inaccurate. The ladies believed that the levels of fat, sugar and salt were thought to be far higher than the values indicated. Having been involved during my working life with chemicals, I knew all about the problems of typical analysis. Put quite simply the chemical composition of food must by nature vary with the source and the age of the ingredients. Indeed if the ingredients are of natural origin the analysis figures will vary because only synthetic ingredients made in a food chemical factory can be manufactured to a constant and tight specification. For example, naturally produced potable alcohol is far too impure and too variable to be sold as vodka. Alcohol sold for drinking often has a basis of synthetic ethanol, which is made from ethane, which has been diluted with “purified” water, since tap water is too impure. Synthetic alcohol can be refined to levels of 99.9% purity but if sold at that concentration would be deemed to be poisonous to man.

One of the biggest problems for today’s confectionary baker is to ensure that the cookie will fit into the packaging. As a result the baker adds chemicals to control the degree of “rise” and expansion of the cookie. The producer of tinned carrots adds carotene dye because otherwise, during the high temperature canning process, the carrot will lose its typical colour. Cola contains phosphoric acid in order to enhance the taste. Incidentally cola originally contained small quantities of a coca derivative in order to make it addictive and thereby increase the demand from addicts. The modern housewife seeks the convenience of food always tasting exactly the same, looking the same and in accordance with the ratio of the ingredients listed on the packet. For that reason she will have to accept that the food chemist must add preservatives, synthetic colourants and other additives to achieve constancy of appearance and colour. The taste will incidentally tend to be bland since strong flavours have a tendency to offend the palates of many customers. The picture on the packaging is more important than the flavor of the food. It is fair to say that most pre-prepared foods are the product of food chemistry. I ask myself if the modern young mum really believes that Jamie Oliver cooks in his kitchen all of the Sainsbury’s prepared meals which he is prominent in advertising on the Tellie. Which reminds me, even in 1965 Grandma did not own a television set because the house was not connected to the electricity supply until after she had died.

Grandma never allowed to be eaten in the house any packaged foods, even if she could have afforded to buy them. She would have been worried as to how they had been prepared and how pure the ingredients were. No “shop bought” cake would be fit for her tea table. Her ingredients were always fresh and mostly bought from the local corner grocery shop on the day of consumption. She did not have a fridge although she did have a cool, fly proof larder in which to store food. As for buying shepherd’s pie in an aluminium foil tray ready for heating and eating - well, that would have been heresy. She also followed other philosophies too. She bought Gold Top milk which had a visible head of cream in every bottle and for which the milkman charged top price. Margarine was deemed to be inferior stuff and Kate only ever used butter which came from a cow. Beef dripping was used for frying whereas vegetable cooking oil was fit only for foreigners. Grandma was a true housewife. As a young girl before she met Grandpa she had worked as a kitchen maid and after she married she never went out to work again. So she had plenty of time to prepare Grandpa’s dinner for when he arrived after cycling home from the gas works.

It is just as well really that Grandma was a wholesome cook, because those were the days before Mr Tesco had his chain of hyper stores. Back in the old days of J Sainsbury & Sons, butter was taken from a big carton and beaten down into a small pat which was hand wrapped and sold in ounces at a price until 1971 charged in Pounds, Shillings and Pence per ounce. Neither credit nor receipts were ever given by the grocer. Grandma walked home carrying the groceries in one wicker basket. Times have changed. She was not at all concerned about the fat levels or calorific values; she was worried that the food she had cooked tasted good.

So perhaps, with fond memories of Grandma in mind, it might be appropriate nowadays for me to recite:
“For whatever we are about to eat, may we be truly thankful. We know not from whence it came.”

As always, from you, a delight.

Your account of your Grandma reminds me of an incident in the U.S. State of Georgia some 20 years ago. I had gone to visit some friends, and they invited me to come with them to their elderly grandmother's house for lunch. I was assured she always cooked more than enough and that setting one more place at table was no hardship.

The Grandmother lived far out in the country and though she had electricity and all the modern conveniences, her philosophy was much that same as your Grandmother's. Everything had to be fresh and natural. She wanted nothing tinned or packaged. Most of her vegetables came from her own garden and she raised her own chickens.

One of the dishes she served that day was a delicious chicken casserole. I asked her about the recipe, expecting her to tell me she had created the dish herself or that it was something handed down from her Grandmother.

'It's in the book that came with my new microwave oven', she said.

The son of a friend of ours was in the house moving business, and helped us move house nigh on twenty years ago when we came here. When we were all in the Missus cooked Sunday dinner and he was invited over, His comment, "Wow, grandmother's cooking". Not sarcastic, serious, his mother worked and the only time he got fresh food was when he visited his Gran. Is it coincidence that now he is in his forties with kids of his own he is experiencing weight and health problems?

Our house generally eats very healthily, there is the odd occasion, like the night we get home from holiday, we have something quick and easy. The big change for me is the formality of the meal, we didn't pray, but there was always a table cloth, napkins, place mats, a cruet, serving spoons, water and glasses. Now the meal often arrives served on the plate and if there is something interesting on the TV I find myself alone at the table. TV was never on during meals in my parent's house, and I can remember my Father apologising for not wearing his jacket on a hot summer's day, and commenting on how informal things had become, he always addressed his father as "Sir".

I can get by without my grace, my Gold Top, my napkins and my cruet, but I absotively refuse to give up my serving wenches.

Divus, kudos. This was so cute and very well done. I even loved the punchline at the end.

Excellent read. It brought me back to me waking up to the smell of homemade bread every Saturday morning. Lovely, lovely.

I'm 39 and have recently put myself on a low chemical vegetarian diet and its the best thing I ever did to my digestion system. I dont digest tap water, I dont buy much processed foods and the ones I do buy are the ones which only have a small amount of tap water as an ingredient, I dont use fluoride toothpastes, I wont eat meat unless a rare occasion, I dont do caffeine or artificial sweeteners, I dont do soda and only buy fruit juice which is 100% fruit juice, not the crappy fruit juice mixed with tap water they sell as fruit juice. I dont do chocolate, sweets or alcohol, and I wont buy biscuits and cakes, if I want something sweet I'll make it from scratch with proper natural ingredients. I dont eat breakfasts cereals as most are processed with tap water and i dont drink milk, its a baby food and for calves, not humans. Humans are the only species on this planet who eat baby milk all their life.

I also eat a lot of raw fruit and vegetables.

Within 3 weeks of putting myself on this diet my migraines ceased, migraines I'd been suffering 32 years, and I've never had any stomach pains since either. Industry and govts are poisoning us and most wont investigate to what extent they are doing these things to us. The National Health Service only offered me painkillers for migraines and not one word as to what was causing such, it was Youtube that taught me high chemical diet causes migraines and headaches.