When I was a student I survived on 3 basic 'foods'.
1. Beer. This was usually consumed at Farnham's The William Cobbett, The Coach and Horses, or The Prince of Hearts (known as The 'Farts)'.
2. Chicken and Chips. Bought from the nearest eatery to the college campus, this was the perfect meal for a carnivore student. The only problem being the mice that gathered (and lived) at the back of my VW Beetle to consume left-overs.
3. Patisserie. There was a superb baker in Farnham's Downing Street that sold wonderful rum babas, cream eclairs, and swiss rolls; the young Cro was seduced.
The amazing thing is that we survived; but I imagine all human dietary requirements where there. The body can cope with considerable abuse.
35 comments:
I'm guessing it was real chicken and potatoes back then with lots of nutrients from the beer. Not a green leaf in sight but you were eating better than most of today's kids. Lots of sugar to keep your body going all day and night, and you looked after the wildlife!
You got what you needed back then .....long living is all about enjoying yourself and socialising as much as diet.
Were there cigarettes involved?
I occasionally used to pop home at weekends when my mother would make sure I had plenty of greenery. Nowadays I almost prefer the greenery to the Chicken and chips.
They were No 4 on the list; vegetarian ones, of course!
When I was 15 and my brother 14 we allowed in the snug of the Robin Hood if we didn't get drunk.
We'd ring a bell on the wall and a waiter would come with a silver tray bearing our beers and packets of Smiths Crisps.
Here today's trend is a burger (€2) (Big M is opposite the Uni) or for same price half a Turkish takeaway pizza in the U-Bahn under the Big M. Sadly Austrian youth remains firmly top of the league in young people's smoking stats.
Back in the UK I liked fish and chips, eaten in the fresh air straight from the packaging, with loads of vinegar to make the bottom chips soggy! Yummy!
If you can't eat and drink like that and have a few fags in your student days, when can you ? I think that we all did it and now we are trying to make up for it , haha !!! XXXX
Smiths Crisps did they have the blue bag of salt inside for DIY seasoning?
Did you put in raised beds last year, if so how did they do?
I hope they did, they were tasteless otherwise.
Fish and chips is a real treat. The last time I had some must have been over 20 years ago.
Quite right. When you're a student, even the following day is a long way off.
No, I decided to keep my plot as it was. I made it smaller, put in boundary boards, and put much more manure and compost into the ground. I ended-up growing far more on less land.
That baker was good. I survived on wholemeal scones from there - plus beer, of course. Andy and I once 'acquired' some Perigord black truffles from the deli just down the road. Never have so many truffles been eaten whole in one sitting, I think.
That's them, Cro. They were supposed to have a blue bag of salt inside. One time I found 5 bags in one crisps packet. And then suddenly the romance of hunting for the little blue bag was gone, when Golden Wonder appeared on the scene.
I once knew somebody who worked in a crisps factory, and told me how crisps could be "freshened" and "re-flavoured" and even about a "dead rat" in the mixture. I hasten to add it was not a factory belonging to the two firms I've mentioned.
That doesn't sound like such a bad diet for a college student. It is better than Ramen noodles.
When I was a student I'd eat anything. Although the sprouts and spaghetti dish a friend made was stretching it a bit.
Beer, kfc, tinned custard
And now you've arrived at the age of vegetables.
Kebabs - known to Cambridge students as "Charles Babbage"; beer and, for us in a shared house, a precious tradition of a full English every Sunday morning. Ran, rowed and played soccer, but it didn't stop me putting on a stone in my first year - all muscle at first...
There was another pub up towards the castle, just up from the tiny theatre, where a pottery student worked at lunchtimes. I used to go there for a pint and a Beef Sandwich, and she'd slice me a bit about an inch thick; I think she fancied me!
I don't think they were around then, or we'd probably have eaten them too.
My late mother in law used to make Spaghetti with hazel nuts; but she was Swedish!
I think I'd pas by the custard, but the rest sounds healthy enough.
And I love them; and growing them.
Again I don't think there were kebabs around in my day; certainly not down in leafy Surrey.
I'm quite partial to an occasional bag of crisps; preferably without the rat.
When I was 16 I used to go out with a student from the university, quite a cool thing to do at the time.
He shared a house with four others and they lived on nothing but sausages, chips and beans. The chip pan stood on the stove and the fat was never changed and even sometimes gathered dust on top. The chips were of course home chopped up potatoes. They also brewed their own beer and I had my first hangover there.
Isn't that the usual student fare?
All of this sounds so good !
cheers, parsnip
Lady M shared a house with some veggies who lived on steamed vegetables and unleavened bread. They ate nothing but that for several years. It was probably very nutritious, but tasted ghastly.
I hope so.
I wouldn't have had it any other way.
Glad to hear that you considered beer as one of the three major food groups. I still think a pint is a meal, especially if it's a Guinness.
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