Yes I still say dinner which confuses my kids although they do say tea in the evening. I loved my mums meat and potato pie but have never been able to replicate it and still have red cabbage with any pie. I also loved knuckle and trotters but don’t eat pork anymore. Thank you for the post which brought back so many memories
I grew up in Cheshire with Mancunian parents and I still call it dinner and tea, as does my husbot, who grew up in Leicester. Maybe someone could draw up one of those little maps (like the one about names for woodlice) showing what people call the midday meal.
Thanks Julie. Nice to read your mum's memories and her Ancoats sayings. My mum used to tell me to stop standing like Piffy on a rock (a bun was never mentioned). I wonder where it came from? And my dad has so many relatives called our so and so. I don’t know half of them. My gran used to say ‘put wood int hole’ when she wanted me to shut the door and the other saying was ‘you’d make a better door than a window’ whenever I was standing in the way!
I grew up in the 70s and 80s in a working class family in Southampton, raised by a Man of Kent (not a Kentish man – apparently very different!) and a Maid of Kent. We ate tea at 5pm each day.
Lots of meat and pastry (beef in thin gravy and a slice of pastry, with carrots and potatoes), mince and onions with boiled potatoes, corned beef pie, toad in the hole, egg and chips (homemade chips, with tinned ham if you were lucky!) and often a roast chicken for dinner on Sundays. Oh and bread and dripping with salt and pepper on it sometimes for tea! I miss having that!
Me and my sister were in our late teens/early twenties (this would have been the 1990s) before we came across mayonnaise. We'd only ever had salad cream until then (I don't miss that – sorry!).
I enjoyed your post. It was interesting to see what was similar and what was different in working class life in the north and the south.
Thanks for the kind words Emma and interesting that dinner and tea wasn't just a Northern thing. I was the same mayonnaise and I only had a strange thing called pasta for the first time when I went abroad on a football trip in my teens!
It was always Breakfast, dinner & tea-Supper was what posh people had.I was Cheshire born so the terms are not just Manchester related.I hated liver cos it was always very rough pigs liver-couldn't afford lambs liver-which I now love.Sheeps heart was another disgusting item as was ox tounge-but we survived-& it's STILL breakfast-dinner & tea😁
Devonian here. Dinner was the main meal of the day, whatever time it happened to be. So school 'dinners' in the middle of the day, and tea or supper later, but if the main meal was in the evening, that was dinner, and a smaller midday meal (soup or something on toast perhaps) was lunch.
i'm from london so we were strictly breakfast / lunch / dinner. yet we had dinner ladies at school. i am happy with all names for all meals, except when someone invites me round for supper, in which case i invariably make my excuses.
lol At your not wishing to be invited for supper (relatable). I grew up (in Southampton) eating 'tea' in the evening, mostly eat 'dinner' now (unless I'm tired and revert to my childhood habits) but live in a 'supper' eating area (I'm easily the poorest person here... 😅).
Thanks everyone for the comments, which have brought back a lot of memories for me. I'd forgotten about the spare ribs which my mum used to make, boiled in a big pan. Thinking about it, I can almost smell them now, cooking away on the gas hob. Can you still buy ribs at the butcher's? You never see them in the supermarket where meat is really expensive now. I went to buy some stewing beef the other week for the ash and couldn't believe it was priced up at over £7. I can well imagine what my Nan would have said about that. I didn't buy it anyway.
Hi Dean. There used to be a story went the rounds of The Labour Party of the smart young lad from North London looking for a safe Parliamentary seat in the Manchester area. He was invited by a Constituency Chairman to “…come round for dinner on Sunday and have chat. “ The smart young lad suitably arrived at the Chairman’s house (with a good bottle of wine of course) at about 7:50 in the evening; only to be told by the Chairman when he opened the door “… that round here dinner on Sunday was at 3 o’clock, but he was welcome to come in for a brew if he wished”
As a kid I seem to remember that Sunday dinner would be about 3 o’clock. Now though it’s all about going out for ‘Sunday Lunch’.
Times change and sometimes we change with the times.
Great story Phil. Reminds me a little bit of when Peter Mandelson is supposed to have gone to a chip shop in Hull and thought the mushy peas were guacamole.
Thanks Julie. I'd forgotten about the spare ribs. I used to love them, although I can't remember what we had them with. It must have been potatoes? I seem to remember having the juice they were cooked in as well.
In Oldham it has always been dinner and tea and bread rolls were muffins, not the blueberry type you have with a cup of latte, but a flat oven bottom one big as a dinner plate, I believe in Manchester the ponsy name is barm cake. Cake is for afters!
I lived in Moss Side until I was 9 years of age. Barm cakes weren't flat and big. They were like rounded buns about 4" in diameter. Flat bottom and risen tops.
We had ash at least once a week (with lots of bread), never had a crust on it though ?
We also ate sugar butties and buttered weetabix. I don't know if that was because we were poor ? I know once a week we would get the bus to my grans and she would give us tins of food to take home so maybe we were ?
Also, Christmas dinner....... Who ever eats Christmas lunch ? 🤣
I've had jam butties but not sugar butties Alan. Was the bread buttered before the sugar was added? And yes, definitely Christmas dinner, not Christmas lunch!
We were given lettuce and sugar sandwiches. Not a favourite. And though born and brought up in North London, and in Suffolk via Brighton, Somerset and France, the evening meal will always be 'tea' in our house!
I'm always surprised to hear of tripe being cooked, as a kid we ate it 'raw' with vinegar in the honeycomb. Did others do that? I were we posh eating tripe 'sushi'
We called dinner dinner and always will be dinner, even over the border in Yorkshire. And tea is tea.
I was spared cow heel and my parents even let me off the weekly tripe and onions, tripe simmered in milk though sometimes Dad would have tripe with vinegar.
A favourite tea was sweetbreads on toast, I haven't seen these in the shops for years.
Cold slices of tongue was one of my favourite food stuffs for sunday tea as a child.
Was until the day my mother showed me the whole cow tongue she'd just bought from the local butchers to cook. Shamefully I'd not made the connection before and my reaction was a real URGH!
I feel the same about tongue. It was nice on a butty until you found out what it was. I do like liver and onions though although its an odd thing to look at on your plate.
Yes I still say dinner which confuses my kids although they do say tea in the evening. I loved my mums meat and potato pie but have never been able to replicate it and still have red cabbage with any pie. I also loved knuckle and trotters but don’t eat pork anymore. Thank you for the post which brought back so many memories
I grew up in Cheshire with Mancunian parents and I still call it dinner and tea, as does my husbot, who grew up in Leicester. Maybe someone could draw up one of those little maps (like the one about names for woodlice) showing what people call the midday meal.
Sunday, Mum turned 90 she was born in Ancoats, George Leigh Street.
As well as looking at her life we revisited some Manchester sayings, thought I’d share.
Being nesh….was being cold
Scrikin.. was crying
Stop Mithering me….was stop bothering me
Mardy was MOODY
Our Faye …was a term of affection for a family member
To mooch….to wonder aimlessly
If something was bobbins it was bad
Daft apeth….a silly person
Give your ed a wobble …was to have a rethink
Standing like piffy on a rock bun….stop being useless
Thanks Julie. Nice to read your mum's memories and her Ancoats sayings. My mum used to tell me to stop standing like Piffy on a rock (a bun was never mentioned). I wonder where it came from? And my dad has so many relatives called our so and so. I don’t know half of them. My gran used to say ‘put wood int hole’ when she wanted me to shut the door and the other saying was ‘you’d make a better door than a window’ whenever I was standing in the way!
Boy, I love these ongoing conversations about family history told through food. Bring it on!
Thanks Barbara. I’ve been thinking of making a cookery programme.
I grew up in the 70s and 80s in a working class family in Southampton, raised by a Man of Kent (not a Kentish man – apparently very different!) and a Maid of Kent. We ate tea at 5pm each day.
Lots of meat and pastry (beef in thin gravy and a slice of pastry, with carrots and potatoes), mince and onions with boiled potatoes, corned beef pie, toad in the hole, egg and chips (homemade chips, with tinned ham if you were lucky!) and often a roast chicken for dinner on Sundays. Oh and bread and dripping with salt and pepper on it sometimes for tea! I miss having that!
Me and my sister were in our late teens/early twenties (this would have been the 1990s) before we came across mayonnaise. We'd only ever had salad cream until then (I don't miss that – sorry!).
I enjoyed your post. It was interesting to see what was similar and what was different in working class life in the north and the south.
Thanks for the kind words Emma and interesting that dinner and tea wasn't just a Northern thing. I was the same mayonnaise and I only had a strange thing called pasta for the first time when I went abroad on a football trip in my teens!
I'm pretty sure pasta (apart from tinned spaghetti) didn't exist in the UK until 1996. lol
It was always Breakfast, dinner & tea-Supper was what posh people had.I was Cheshire born so the terms are not just Manchester related.I hated liver cos it was always very rough pigs liver-couldn't afford lambs liver-which I now love.Sheeps heart was another disgusting item as was ox tounge-but we survived-& it's STILL breakfast-dinner & tea😁
Thanks Tom. I never had sheep's heart but I'd heard it mentioned. I like liver too but I've never cooked it myself.
Devonian here. Dinner was the main meal of the day, whatever time it happened to be. So school 'dinners' in the middle of the day, and tea or supper later, but if the main meal was in the evening, that was dinner, and a smaller midday meal (soup or something on toast perhaps) was lunch.
Thanks Anne. Nice to hear of dinner depending on when the main meal of the day was eaten. It makes more sense that way!
i'm from london so we were strictly breakfast / lunch / dinner. yet we had dinner ladies at school. i am happy with all names for all meals, except when someone invites me round for supper, in which case i invariably make my excuses.
Thanks Simon. We used to have supper occasionally but it always seemed to be tinned pea and ham soup while watching a film on TV on Saturday night.
lol At your not wishing to be invited for supper (relatable). I grew up (in Southampton) eating 'tea' in the evening, mostly eat 'dinner' now (unless I'm tired and revert to my childhood habits) but live in a 'supper' eating area (I'm easily the poorest person here... 😅).
Thanks everyone for the comments, which have brought back a lot of memories for me. I'd forgotten about the spare ribs which my mum used to make, boiled in a big pan. Thinking about it, I can almost smell them now, cooking away on the gas hob. Can you still buy ribs at the butcher's? You never see them in the supermarket where meat is really expensive now. I went to buy some stewing beef the other week for the ash and couldn't believe it was priced up at over £7. I can well imagine what my Nan would have said about that. I didn't buy it anyway.
Hi Dean. There used to be a story went the rounds of The Labour Party of the smart young lad from North London looking for a safe Parliamentary seat in the Manchester area. He was invited by a Constituency Chairman to “…come round for dinner on Sunday and have chat. “ The smart young lad suitably arrived at the Chairman’s house (with a good bottle of wine of course) at about 7:50 in the evening; only to be told by the Chairman when he opened the door “… that round here dinner on Sunday was at 3 o’clock, but he was welcome to come in for a brew if he wished”
As a kid I seem to remember that Sunday dinner would be about 3 o’clock. Now though it’s all about going out for ‘Sunday Lunch’.
Times change and sometimes we change with the times.
Regards Phil B Doyle
Great story Phil. Reminds me a little bit of when Peter Mandelson is supposed to have gone to a chip shop in Hull and thought the mushy peas were guacamole.
Wow cheese and bacon something we had, also ribs and cabbage.
Ribs and cabbage...wonderful.
Thanks Julie. I'd forgotten about the spare ribs. I used to love them, although I can't remember what we had them with. It must have been potatoes? I seem to remember having the juice they were cooked in as well.
Ribs and cabbage with brown sauce . They used to be a cheap meal. My grandma used them in her pea soup too. Where can you buy spare ribs these days?
I have wondered the same Janice. Where can you buy spare ribs? I'm not even sure a local butcher will have them?
I remember seeing them in a little butcher's shop years ago. They were 6p for a full rib. Stuck in my mind. What do they do with them now?
In Oldham it has always been dinner and tea and bread rolls were muffins, not the blueberry type you have with a cup of latte, but a flat oven bottom one big as a dinner plate, I believe in Manchester the ponsy name is barm cake. Cake is for afters!
Thanks David. I'm with you on the muffins. I've been known to correct people tha it isn't a bun or a barm cake. Oven bottoms forever.
I lived in Moss Side until I was 9 years of age. Barm cakes weren't flat and big. They were like rounded buns about 4" in diameter. Flat bottom and risen tops.
We had ash at least once a week (with lots of bread), never had a crust on it though ?
We also ate sugar butties and buttered weetabix. I don't know if that was because we were poor ? I know once a week we would get the bus to my grans and she would give us tins of food to take home so maybe we were ?
Also, Christmas dinner....... Who ever eats Christmas lunch ? 🤣
Yes Alan, sugar butties and buttered weetabix , remember eating those as a stop gap after school.
I've had jam butties but not sugar butties Alan. Was the bread buttered before the sugar was added? And yes, definitely Christmas dinner, not Christmas lunch!
We were given lettuce and sugar sandwiches. Not a favourite. And though born and brought up in North London, and in Suffolk via Brighton, Somerset and France, the evening meal will always be 'tea' in our house!
Yep it was buttered Dean, as a treat sometimes there would be sliced banana on it as well.
I still eat bananas on toast with sugar on.
Another thing we ate was pobs, (bread in hot milk) mostly when we were ill .
I'm always surprised to hear of tripe being cooked, as a kid we ate it 'raw' with vinegar in the honeycomb. Did others do that? I were we posh eating tripe 'sushi'
I remember my nan having tripe but I managed to avoid it. I've always wondered how you're supposed to eat it too.
Staffordshire born and bred, breakfast, dinner and tea here.
Thanks Ben. Actually you can't beat Staffordshire oatcakes from Tunstall Market. Cheese and bacon my favourite.
Such a vivid reflection of times past.
We called dinner dinner and always will be dinner, even over the border in Yorkshire. And tea is tea.
I was spared cow heel and my parents even let me off the weekly tripe and onions, tripe simmered in milk though sometimes Dad would have tripe with vinegar.
A favourite tea was sweetbreads on toast, I haven't seen these in the shops for years.
Thanks Jude. I hadn't heard of sweetbreads and have just looked it up thinking it was a type of cake!
Cold slices of tongue was one of my favourite food stuffs for sunday tea as a child.
Was until the day my mother showed me the whole cow tongue she'd just bought from the local butchers to cook. Shamefully I'd not made the connection before and my reaction was a real URGH!
I feel the same about tongue. It was nice on a butty until you found out what it was. I do like liver and onions though although its an odd thing to look at on your plate.