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Have you noticed.............

Another couple of memory jerkers from my youth are Alamode Beef from

Braggs, now Greggs of course. And sugar bun loaf from wimbush with

all the sugar sprinkled on the top.

Where have all the flavours gone???
 
Neville, speaking of Wimbush they made the most excellent Apple Charlottes, does anyone Remember Baines in Icknield St? Their Cream Puff was second to none.
 
Many people these days are growing their own food on allotments, gardens, in pots if they have a place for those. I intend to grow some tomatoes this year. I love the fresh ones that you can grow yourself. My Italian neighbour has a sort of greenhouse and has grown tomatoes for over 30 years. Some seasons he has had crop failure due to blight but he never gives up. He was raised on farm.
 
HI Maggs: I must have tried every pastry that Baines made all those years ago. I used to call in at the one on Stockland Green on my way to catch the 65 bus. Loved Pineapple Creams, Merangues, Cream Puffs, Cream Buns, Battenburg slices, malt loaf, vanilla slices.....well you get the idea.
 
Hello Jennyann,

Glad you liked Baines cakes just as I did. I remember all the ones you mentioned, all delicious.
 
forgot to say Jennyann, that we have grown our own vegetables on the garden for years, and we are still enjoying last years potatoes. This year we acquired an allotment. It has been hard work because of neglect by the previous owner, but it's looking good now, with all the potatoes in a row. Soon to be joined by beetroot, brocolli, cabbage and leeks. Last year we had blight on the tomatoes. See how we go this year.
 
Anyone remember Thompsons on Liichfield road...every sat morning l'd go with my mom to do the shopping...could'nt beat thompsoms alamode beef..sausage rolls..pork pies..pigs pudding..scratchings..sausage pork and tomato....oh how we miss thompsons...Brenda.....oh! almost forgot the chitterlings
 
My Mom used to shop regularly at Thompson's. Lovely grub. Although we lived in Erdington Mom worked in Hockley Brook and so we shopped all along Newtown Row as well as Lichfield Road. Great shopping areas back in the day.
 
Not sure if we have had a recent thread on allotments. Great to hear that you are revamping an allotment site, Maggs. I don't think it's just a "rose coloured glasses" thing remembering about the family allotments of the past and even the neighbours who generously hung a bag of veggies on your door when you didn't have an allotment. Those veggies were great. Not perfect all the time but such great tasting veggies overall. My Father's family of nine who lived in Wyrely Road had an allotment in the early part of the last century....Wyrely Birch Allotments. My father learned to garden on there with his own Father and later on Dad had an allotment on Marsh Hill.
I believe in many places you have to put your name down for an allotment especially
now that people are much more aware of pestisides and GM type fruit and veggies on sale in supermarkets these days. I remember on a food show on TV, a Scottish chef, who had come back to live and work in Britain, saying that in California, where he
worked, the fruit and veggies were perfect to look at but were absolutely tasteless.

In Japan, where I recently spent three weeks, I had a chance to wander the back lanes close to where my daughter lives. It's pretty far out from the main areas of Tokyo and noticed that every few blocks there are very large areas of open ground which are used to grow vegetables in the growing months also they had cubicles where growers could put in their produce for sale. Bit like vending machines for fresh veg. So much money for each type of fruit and veg. The strawberries in Japan tasted excellent and very fresh.
 
I also had a Kit-Kat that was all choc., and no biscuit.

Maggs

Read this! https://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/783603/Marketing-Mix-Well-call---Kit-Kat/

Why are things today not as good as we remember? Simple. We are all being conned.
Anything to make the product cheaper, to sell at the same price, increases the profit for the manufacturer.
Cheaper wrapper, filling, coating - and less of them, too.

Just like £1 used to = 240 pennies, from 1971 it's only 100. That conned a lot of people.
 
A few years ago I had reason to visit the Weston factory in South Wales, where Wagon Wheels are made. I watched them being produced, and remarked to my host that they were much smaller than I remember. He denied this; he said they were the same size. I also said that they were much 'jammier' when I was a kid. He denied this too; he said that they were exactly the same and that nothing had changed. He was, to put it bluntly, a b****y liar. At the end of my visit, I asked if there was any chance of a free Wagon Wheel or two, but this was refused 'on the grounds of health & safety'. I never quite understood the logic behind this, but as there were no gratis Wagon Wheels in the offing I left the place wondering why on earth people have to be so dishonest about something that is so obvious. That is, Wagon Wheels are NOT the same as they used to be.

Big Gee
 
Big Gee
Unless this guy was around in the 50's and working at Weston then,I don't know he could say that nothing had changed !!
If you go to Cadbury world you get free chocolate - remind me never to go to Weston factory !!
 
Yes, this is all awful and we know it is going on in just about anything you can mention. Do you remember when we went decimal, potatoes at that time were something like 3d a pound, but they went to 3p, in no time, and this was the case across the board. When we say 30p these days it doesn't sound like a big amount does it, but when you change that to 6/- you realize. Come Christmas when we all send our Christmas card's and stamps cost 32 or 35 pence (I think they have just gone up actually), we must spend a fortune. Now of course, we have this sizing thing on postage, which makes up measure all our envelopes. Oh I'm moaning again, better give it a rest eh? But I do agree with all you have been saying.
 
I don't definitely know if Wagon Wheels have altered -I'm afraid i don't actualy like them (shock-horror), but ehy did used to be produced by Associated British foods, who were a fairly paternalistic employer who tried to maintain th equality of their products. They then sold to an american venture capitalist, who then sold on again, so its very likely the quality has gone down. the company now seems ruthless , as seen when they stopped production of Cdbury biscuits at Moreton,(https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2007-05-22b.1252.0 ) .
mike
 
My husband worked for a company called Chiver's. I am sure you all remember Chiver's marmalade. Later it became Cadbury Schweppes, then Cadbury Typhoo. Chivers Hartley. It is now owned by an American company called Hilsdown Holdings and they manufacture under the name of Premier Brands. They have taken nearly all the food manufacturing from Branston, Campbell, Bisto, Ambrosia, Birds H.P. Lyons .The list is endless. My husband was glad to retire and get away. I sometimes think that ruthlessness is the name of the game now. This is the reason our food has changed so much all in the name of profit.
 
I like Marmalade Extra Thick Marmalade.

The last one I got from Sainsbury's had 4 pieces of Peel in it and it went mouldy after a week.

Maggs I worked for Eskimo Frozen Foods who were taken over by Fropack who were taken over by Findus who had been taken over by Lyons This was the the 1960s
Then Ross who were taken over by Northern Fisheries who were then taken over by Young's what I had been selling at Eskimo.

Then I worked at Smedley's who took over HP or visa versa.

I'm sure it wasn't me because I never got any of the profits.
 
Yes Alf, since when did we have to keep Jam's and marmalade's in the fridge? We used to set jellies without a fridge years ago. I agree about things going mouldy so quickly these day's.

Amazing those companies take over's even in the sixties. Well everything went downhill after the fifties anyway didn't?
 
I know this thread has been inactive for a long time but I remembered references to greengages. I can tell you that I bought greengages in Sainsbury's last week. A container of 250g (8 fruit). Was £1.50 reduced to 99p because the Best Before date was being reached. Actually I don't think they are ready to eat yet.

Correction I have just eaten some. They are very good
 
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