ABSTRACT
Among the fundamental transformations of English society since the end of World War II, one of the most dramatic has consisted of the changes in eating habits, a development which reflects several of the other key transformations. In the middle of the 1950s the 'typical' evening meal would generally have involved an ethnically English family sitting around a dining table and consuming a properly cooked spiceless serving of 'meat and two veg'.2 This picture clearly represents a generalisation, but contains much truth. The only real ethnic exception to this picture would have consisted of those Jews who observed dietary rituals, and the small numbers of post-World War II immigrants who had reached British shores by that time. In the decade before the sexual revolution of the 1960s the nuclear family stood at the high point of respectability, while the limited amount of disposable income would have meant that few people would have eaten in a restaurant on a regular basis. 'Meat' could have been fish, poultry, pork, beef or lamb, served in various ways, but the two vegetables would have invariably included potatoes and, most likely, greens. Variations would have existed between regions, especially between London, which had the highest concentration of exotic foods, and the rest of the country. Social status played a central role in eating patterns, especially as an increasing number of items disappeared from the standardised rationing list during the late 1940s and early 1950s.
