Reading this thread reminded me that we used to call two of our 60-year old dinner ladies at school 'Tapioca' and 'Semolina' both spoken in a ridiculous voice. Absolutely no idea why.
Tripe. My sister 7 and me 10 after a mouthful wouldn't eat it for lunch and were sent to our rooms. Our Gran presented again for tea and we refused again, didn't speak to her other than to demand to go home to parents. She relented but sad that is my most vivid memory of her.
Reading this thread reminded me that we used to call two of our 60-year old dinner ladies at school 'Tapioca' and 'Semolina' both spoken in a ridiculous voice. Absolutely no idea why.
Can’t remember what’s it called, it’s yellow fish and my mum had it cooked in milk sometimes. Stunk the house out, probably why I’m allergic to fish especially the smell, kippers make me run out the restaurant.
I generally liked school dinners and ate the lot, but there were three stand out revolting puddings in reverse order of disgustingness as follows:
Semolina pudding - bright bleached white, utterly vile, the only edible bit was the spot of red jam in the middle. This always created the dilemma of whether to stir it in making the whole thing slightly less unpalatable, or save until the end to remove the taste of the foul white muck.
Gypsy tart - inexplicably popular with most other kids, this was a foul whipped moussey dessert tasting only of sickly brown sugar, intolerably sweet even to my eight year old self, served in a flaccid pastry case. Its redeeming feature was that I had no trouble swapping my full bowl for an empty one.
Macaroni pudding - pasta as a dessert. WTF?!?!?!? In the same white filthy sauce as the semolina, without the saving grace of jam, but with slimy lumps reminiscent of those big larvae you sometimes find under logs in the garden in springtime. Just remembering it has put me back into therapy.
Feel like flagging you for the gypsy tart comment. It's still my favourite dessert. You can't buy a decent one though, so I make it myself. If it's any consolation I have introduced this southern delicacy to the north of England.
Strawberries - The family went strawberry picking on the occasional visit to the Kent countryside. As a kid I loved strawberries and of course I stuffed myself full of them. Only took myself five minutes on the journey home for me to be spewing them everywhere.*
Lemonade - Or rather the liquid contained in a lemonade bottle in the toilet. Turned out to be some kind of cleaning agent. I survived thanks to much spewing and a stomach pump. In my defence I think I was only 2 or 3. The safety caps were clearly designed for me.*
* These are merely snapshots of my childhood. It may have been the seventies but our family life was not a scene from The Exorcist played out on daily basis.
Can’t remember what’s it called, it’s yellow fish and my mum had it cooked in milk sometimes. Stunk the house out, probably why I’m allergic to fish especially the smell, kippers make me run out the restaurant.
Semolina was joked about as being disgusting then I saw it was on the menu as a school dinner, so I gave it a go. Always been fairly adventurous when it comes to food.
Yep it was disgusting
Tripe is for dogs, I can taste and smell shit from it
The ultimate though was slimy liver and onion. I honestly don't know how anyone can keep that down
Can’t remember what’s it called, it’s yellow fish and my mum had it cooked in milk sometimes. Stunk the house out, probably why I’m allergic to fish especially the smell, kippers make me run out the restaurant.
Smoked haddock?
Yes the the stuff, absolutely awful. Had to have windows open for days.
Witchettey grub and Kangaroo penis, but then I was raised by the Leealowa tribe of the Northern Territory...
Once the club is taken over by the Aussies all you will only be able to get is kangaroo cock and fosters. Thinking about it, we might as well relocate to Cockfosters.
That comment almost makes up for the ludicrousness of not liking lamb. Deserved a better reaction than my one, solitary LOL...
My mum used to serve up hearts, not stuffed, just a whole, disgusting, heart. She was very much old school when it came to dinner. Chops (lamb or pork) with boiled spuds, gravy and two veg, chicken breast with boiled spuds, gravy and two veg, meat stew with boiled spuds, and two veg. liver with boiled spuds, gravy and two veg. I think you get the picture. Her Sunday roasts were okay, but Dad's were better. Only veg I didn't like were sprouts and spinach.
As you can imagine after four days of that, I used to long for Friday when we had fish n chips from the chippy.
I didn't taste pasta until I was 17, at a mates place. Never had pizza, McDonalds were not invented, went for a Chinese twice a year, never tasted curry apart from... (See * below).
That was at home during the school holidays, in term time I used to have sarnies for tea (thank fook) and have school dinners. Many of which introduced me to things I could not face for many years. Hungarian Goulash - fatty as fuck with overcooked veg; *meat curry with sultanas - fatty as fuck with overcooked rice, didn't help that a bully called John Chesum gobbed in it once and then the staff forced me to eat it. Could not face a curry until I was about 23. Boiled liver with tubes, lumpy mash and overcooked veg. When the veg was swede it was lumpy and vile. Spam fritters were an absolute godsend after that shit - served with baked beans (anyone who does not like baked beans needs to see someone about it... ) and, glory-glory upon the highest... CHIPS! Yeah!!!! Again when they served up a roast that was okay, despite the overcooked veg.
Semolina with jam was the inedible pudding, the rest were okay, although their Bakewell tart put me off marzipan for years. I also had a dodgy pork pie "out" once when I was about 5, and was violently sick later that night. Didn't have one for years after.
But... I grew up. I was an adult, with an adult brain and palate, so eventually I revisited these childhood horrors, and you know what, cooked properly, they are all absolutely fine. Some of them I love - curry, goulash, sprouts, spinach, swede (sublime with butter and pepper). I tolerate marzipan, I like pork pie. Liver and onions is fantastic. I admit I have never been offered hearts or semolina as a grown-up, but I would give them a whirl if I was.
Try anything, use you brain to get over your childhood prejudices, once you have given it a try, you might find a whole new world of taste opens up in front of you. Your 13 year old palate is nothing like your 35 year old one, even if in some cases, your brain is...
My mum used to serve up hearts, not stuffed, just a whole, disgusting, heart. She was very much old school when it came to dinner. Chops (lamb or pork) with boiled spuds, gravy and two veg, chicken breast with boiled spuds, gravy and two veg, meat stew with boiled spuds, and two veg. liver with boiled spuds, gravy and two veg. I think you get the picture. Her Sunday roasts were okay, but Dad's were better. Only veg I didn't like were sprouts and spinach.
As you can imagine after four days of that, I used to long for Friday when we had fish n chips from the chippy.
I didn't taste pasta until I was 17, at a mates place. Never had pizza, McDonalds were not invented, went for a Chinese twice a year, never tasted curry apart from... (See * below).
That was at home during the school holidays, in term time I used to have sarnies for tea (thank fook) and have school dinners. Many of which introduced me to things I could not face for many years. Hungarian Goulash - fatty as fuck with overcooked veg; *meat curry with sultanas - fatty as fuck with overcooked rice, didn't help that a bully called John Chesum gobbed in it once and then the staff forced me to eat it. Could not face a curry until I was about 23. Boiled liver with tubes, lumpy mash and overcooked veg. When the veg was swede it was lumpy and vile. Spam fritters were an absolute godsend after that shit - served with baked beans (anyone who does not like baked beans needs to see someone about it... ) and, glory-glory upon the highest... CHIPS! Yeah!!!! Again when they served up a roast that was okay, despite the overcooked veg.
Semolina with jam was the inedible pudding, the rest were okay, although their Bakewell tart put me off marzipan for years. I also had a dodgy pork pie "out" once when I was about 5, and was violently sick later that night. Didn't have one for years after.
But... I grew up. I was an adult, with an adult brain and palate, so eventually I revisited these childhood horrors, and you know what, cooked properly, they are all absolutely fine. Some of them I love - curry, goulash, sprouts, spinach, swede (sublime with butter and pepper). I tolerate marzipan, I like pork pie. Liver and onions is fantastic. I admit I have never been offered hearts or semolina as a grown-up, but I would give them a whirl if I was.
Try anything, use you brain to get over your childhood prejudices, once you have given it a try, you might find a whole new world of taste opens up in front of you. Your 13 year old palate is nothing like your 35 year old one, even if in some cases, your brain is...
That all sounds very familiar. Maybe one of the reasons for the spread of the British empire was the quest for something tasty to eat.
Can't believe some of the culinary delights on here that I'd forgotten! I also ate everything put in front of me and enjoyed it all, as my waist line shows to this day!
Can’t remember what’s it called, it’s yellow fish and my mum had it cooked in milk sometimes. Stunk the house out, probably why I’m allergic to fish especially the smell, kippers make me run out the restaurant.
Could be smoked haddock. Seems the charltonkerry and cherryorchard households had a similar culinary repertoire. I can still picture the pig's trotters sitting on the plate complete with hair!
My father called me into the kitchen one day when I was about 8 and told me to open my hands and close my eyes, he then put 2 pigs eyes in my hands from the whole pigs head he was preparing for dinner
The stuffed hearts and the liver , kidneys etc I could handle
But my old man used to make this lamb thing where it was rolled and had stuffing in it , the meat was so fatty and chewy I used to litteraly bite and swallow no chewing
That and this sausage stew where it seemed as if the sausages only got boiled in this stew never seeing a pan they where the most anemic looking things , everytine that meal was on the boil I went to bed sick and hungry as I wouldn’t eat it
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And my grandparents would put condensed milk in tea. My life!
Strawberries - The family went strawberry picking on the occasional visit to the Kent countryside. As a kid I loved strawberries and of course I stuffed myself full of them. Only took myself five minutes on the journey home for me to be spewing them everywhere.*
Lemonade - Or rather the liquid contained in a lemonade bottle in the toilet. Turned out to be some kind of cleaning agent. I survived thanks to much spewing and a stomach pump. In my defence I think I was only 2 or 3. The safety caps were clearly designed for me.*
* These are merely snapshots of my childhood. It may have been the seventies but our family life was not a scene from The Exorcist played out on daily basis.
Yep it was disgusting
Tripe is for dogs, I can taste and smell shit from it
The ultimate though was slimy liver and onion. I honestly don't know how anyone can keep that down
As you can imagine after four days of that, I used to long for Friday when we had fish n chips from the chippy.
I didn't taste pasta until I was 17, at a mates place. Never had pizza, McDonalds were not invented, went for a Chinese twice a year, never tasted curry apart from... (See * below).
That was at home during the school holidays, in term time I used to have sarnies for tea (thank fook) and have school dinners. Many of which introduced me to things I could not face for many years. Hungarian Goulash - fatty as fuck with overcooked veg; *meat curry with sultanas - fatty as fuck with overcooked rice, didn't help that a bully called John Chesum gobbed in it once and then the staff forced me to eat it. Could not face a curry until I was about 23. Boiled liver with tubes, lumpy mash and overcooked veg. When the veg was swede it was lumpy and vile. Spam fritters were an absolute godsend after that shit - served with baked beans (anyone who does not like baked beans needs to see someone about it...
Semolina with jam was the inedible pudding, the rest were okay, although their Bakewell tart put me off marzipan for years. I also had a dodgy pork pie "out" once when I was about 5, and was violently sick later that night. Didn't have one for years after.
But... I grew up. I was an adult, with an adult brain and palate, so eventually I revisited these childhood horrors, and you know what, cooked properly, they are all absolutely fine. Some of them I love - curry, goulash, sprouts, spinach, swede (sublime with butter and pepper). I tolerate marzipan, I like pork pie. Liver and onions is fantastic. I admit I have never been offered hearts or semolina as a grown-up, but I would give them a whirl if I was.
Try anything, use you brain to get over your childhood prejudices, once you have given it a try, you might find a whole new world of taste opens up in front of you. Your 13 year old palate is nothing like your 35 year old one, even if in some cases, your brain is...
Ratatouille too.
Worst thing I ever had though was a bubble and squeak, when I thought it was just normal mash. Made me retch (quite like it now though).
Loved semolina as well, but it was the tinned ambrosia stuff, which sounds nicer than the school stuff.
I also ate everything put in front of me and enjoyed it all, as my waist line shows to this day!
Also kidneys. Awful.
But my old man used to make this lamb thing where it was rolled and had stuffing in it , the meat was so fatty and chewy I used to litteraly bite and swallow no chewing
That and this sausage stew where it seemed as if the sausages only got boiled in this stew never seeing a pan they where the most anemic looking things , everytine that meal was on the boil I went to bed sick and hungry as I wouldn’t eat it