British Food ... A salute to all mothers on this the American Mother’s Day!

I'm excited to introduce the very popular Hilary Melton-Butcher as our special guest today! She has a wonderful blog where you always learn something new, and her sunny personality is sure to cheer you up. I was blessed to have her on Tina's Terrific Team for the Challenge. Please give her a warm welcome!

During April and my A – Z posts on Aspects of British Cookery, Marks and Spencer released some information which reveals how over the past century British shoppers received some of the foods we now take for granted with bemusement, scepticism and, occasionally, outright horror.

I remember my father coming back from Waterloo Station with new fruits – the Ugly stands out for me ... a very thick skin and a cross between grapefruit and orange. 

I stand corrected ... it is an "Ugli" – a tangelo (grapefruit, orange and tangerine) coming from Jamaica ... as I note it is a fruit with 'a bit of a complex'. 

The 'Ugli'

They certainly aren’t much more popular today, than when bought by my father from a barrow at the station on his way home to the back of beyond – as west Surrey was in those days ... not the urbanised sprawl of greater, greater, even Greater London that it is today.

We did not have an M+S in Woking in those days ... so we did not experience some foods til we knew how to eat them ... but apparently M+S had to educate the British housewife on how to eat and what to do with these exotics ...

• Avocado pear: peeled, stewed and served with custard?!  Yes – but the lady, who complained ... was politely told ... preferably serve as a starter with vinaigrette or lemon juice!

• Pistachios: the dentists enjoyed a resurgence!  M+S had to include instructions: ... please first take the shells off - then eat!

• Chicken Kiev: the Chairman of M+S (1972-82), Marcus Sieff, who revolutionised the company’s food, personally vetoed Chicken Kiev, saying the British were not yet ready for garlic!  He admitted later ... that he couldn’t have been more wrong – it sold everywhere.

I do remember the clerks serving my mother from her list of groceries ... but when the new “self-service” shops came in they were so disorienting for shoppers that M+S had to publish a leaflet explaining how the “experiment” worked.

Some early "self-service"  M+S stores had personal shoppers accompanying the housewife, as she was considered incapable of choosing for herself – being advised that this product is very new ... we’ll show you how to do it!!

It’s fascinating to think back on how much has changed ... M+S’s food technology department, founded in 1948 while produce was rationed and the economy languished, was given the job of lifting the dismal high street.

Their first forays were into cakes .... we always made ours at home – but again my mother was a brilliant cook ... yet like us many families turned their noses up at a bought cake ... but now, by the 1950s, the M+S advertorial would tempt these aspiring ladies to give bought cakes a try.

The horizons of everyday households broadened, no doubt spurred on by the ‘gossip’ of town and village life ... as women shared, or competed with each other to try new things ...

Look where we are today ... mass marketing, mass catering – yet artisanal foods, farmer’s markets, farm shops are being founded to offer creative and home made selections of foods.

The M+S advertorials, the in-house (back then) staff magazines, the rise of the cookery writer, cookery magazines, articles in newspapers all gave the aspiring, more affluent housewife the impetus and encouragement to try new recipes ...

... we are now a nation of gourmets celebrating the joy of fine food!

I hope today around the world on Mother’s Day, even though in Britain we keep the custom of Mothering Sunday (usually in March), we give our mother bunches of wonderful flowers, prepare a special meal for them and their family ...

... remember their tough times guiding their families through those early years, then celebrating all their achievements and love for their family and with life itself ...

I give thanks to all mothers today - for this Mother’s Day!


Please visit my own blog where I celebrated Aspects of British Food during the A - Z Challenge ... for a wrap up post on the way we eat now ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

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