Now I never quite knew why my supervisor at the food factory by the Blackwall Tunnel took so strongly against the idea of left overs.
It was a chance conversation during a break and I can’t remember how the topic came up or what followed on but I just remember the vehemence of his comments about never touching the cold meat from the Sunday roast.
That was nearly fifty years ago and I have often revisited the conversation and wondered what it said about his upbringing and the degree to which leftovers featured in his diet over the rest of the week.
Not that there was ever much food left over in our house after a family meal.
But I do remember those hand cranked mincer machines which fastened to the side of the table and which mother used to grind up the cold meat.
And for my parents and grandparents there was never any question that you threw anything including food away. It would all be reused and even the smallest bit would find its way into something.
For most of my adult life I have been less precious about leftovers. Food was cheap and somehow reusing yesterday’s bits smacked of being old fashioned and marked you off as a cheap skate.
Today I am less so, a by product of the rising price of food, an acknowledgment that wasting the stuff is wrong and the influence of the Italian side of the family who never adopted the throw away culture.
Rosa and Simone grew up in Naples during and just after the last world war when food was scarce and have never lost that value you place in everything that comes your way.
In their case yesterday’s evening meal will form part of what is served up as a side dish during the following day or slide into the pot for whatever is being made for the evening.
So, we too will now make a big pot of tomato sauce which lasts until it has run out and is served with pasta or pizza dishes and will be the base for soups casseroles and even the odd curry.
And yes more than a few dollops will end up in a soup using the left over vegetables from Sunday’s roast.
None of which is rocket science and of course is the mantra of many popular chefs but I suppose for those of us who came to ignore the obvious it was a reflection on that period of prosperity when new was good and “make do and mend” was an old fashioned idea to be left at the back door with the rest of the discredited bits of the past.
Of course you can over do it and we still do throw some things away, but more because they are the result of impulse buying usually prompted by that “buy two for the price of one” or tantalizing packaging.
 |
| The meal of the day, 1947 |
That was nearly fifty years ago and I have often revisited the conversation and wondered what it said about his upbringing and the degree to which leftovers featured in his diet over the rest of the week.
Not that there was ever much food left over in our house after a family meal.
But I do remember those hand cranked mincer machines which fastened to the side of the table and which mother used to grind up the cold meat.
And for my parents and grandparents there was never any question that you threw anything including food away. It would all be reused and even the smallest bit would find its way into something.
 |
| And the following meal, 1947 |
Today I am less so, a by product of the rising price of food, an acknowledgment that wasting the stuff is wrong and the influence of the Italian side of the family who never adopted the throw away culture.
Rosa and Simone grew up in Naples during and just after the last world war when food was scarce and have never lost that value you place in everything that comes your way.
In their case yesterday’s evening meal will form part of what is served up as a side dish during the following day or slide into the pot for whatever is being made for the evening.
 |
| Do it yourself in the hedgerows, 1946 |
And yes more than a few dollops will end up in a soup using the left over vegetables from Sunday’s roast.
None of which is rocket science and of course is the mantra of many popular chefs but I suppose for those of us who came to ignore the obvious it was a reflection on that period of prosperity when new was good and “make do and mend” was an old fashioned idea to be left at the back door with the rest of the discredited bits of the past.
Of course you can over do it and we still do throw some things away, but more because they are the result of impulse buying usually prompted by that “buy two for the price of one” or tantalizing packaging.
 |
| Mushroom Ketchup |
Neither of which would have existed for my parents or grandparents. You bought what you needed, never more nor less, and shopped daily if only because in the absence of a freezer or even a fridge anything else was daft.
Added to which there isn’t that much excitement in a brown paper bag which was how most food came home from the shops.
Pictures; from rom Meta Givern’s Modern Encyclopaedia of Cooking, 1948, Chicago and the Food Free Advice Service of the Ministry of Food, 1946, in the collection of Vince Piggott
Added to which there isn’t that much excitement in a brown paper bag which was how most food came home from the shops.
Pictures; from rom Meta Givern’s Modern Encyclopaedia of Cooking, 1948, Chicago and the Food Free Advice Service of the Ministry of Food, 1946, in the collection of Vince Piggott
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