Combo

Today

I've just finished my lunch which was toasted crumpets with melted cheese. "Do you know," I remarked to Paul "when I was a child crumpets were always eaten with butter and golden syrup."

In My Day

As children we had a varied and fresh diet, but I think that many foods were served in strict combinations, almost as if it were the law.

The thought that I might put cheese or marmalade or Marmite on my crumpet was unimaginable.

Other regular unvarying food combinations were:

Sauerkraut with frankfurters and sauté potatoes, boiled ham and pease pudding, rissoles with mashed potatoes, carrots and frozen peas, rice pudding and tinned apricots, baked potatoes with winter salad, jelly and blancmange, tinned pears with chocolate custard, liver (always lamb's) and bacon. Even foods like cornflakes were only ever served with milk and sugar, Mamma being very scathing about the serving suggestions that showed fresh or dried fruit being added. I wonder what she would make of pouring yoghurt.

There were probably more and I expect my siblings can add to the list. The food combinations were all perfectly tasty (although David hated apricots and rice pudding and I was, and remain, unconvinced about sauerkraut) and nutritionally sound, but there was a deadly predictability about those meals. The only one on the list that varied was the winter salad to which Mamma liked to add a mystery ingredient - maybe walnuts or oranges.

The results of experiments could be strange, as when Weetabix were eaten with marmalade, resulting in a horribly dry, crumbly and sticky alternative to breakfast. 

Maybe it was because we were more restricted by seasonal availability and a generally smaller range of foodstuffs or maybe we children demanded the safety of tried and tested combinations. Perhaps Mamma's busy life meant that it was easier to rely on the well-known meals that could be put together quickly. She was a good cook and I can't think that the whole thing was down to a lack of imagination on her part.

Cooking is easier these days, with microwaves, induction hobs and freezers. Crumpets can just be bunged under the grill, making the addition of cheese an easy option, rather than having to be toasted over the fire. And there's a huge range of fresh and interesting ingredients at the local supermarket which makes cooking predictable meals almost criminal.

Paul did suggest we put baked beans on the crumpets next time, but I'm not sure whether that won't be a step too far.