0:00:03 > 0:00:05Meet the Robshaws -
0:00:05 > 0:00:08Brandon, Rochelle, Miranda, Roz and Fred.
0:00:11 > 0:00:12Let's go.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15For one summer, this food-loving family is embarking
0:00:15 > 0:00:18on an extraordinary time-travelling adventure,
0:00:18 > 0:00:21to discover how a post-war revolution in what we eat
0:00:21 > 0:00:23has transformed the way we live.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28That is just...amazing. Look at them.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30Britain has gone from meagre rations
0:00:30 > 0:00:33to ready meals at the touch of a button in just 50 years.
0:00:33 > 0:00:34Blip-blip-blip-blip...
0:00:34 > 0:00:37But how has this changed our health? Our homes?
0:00:37 > 0:00:39- We've got a pull-out larder! - LAUGHTER
0:00:39 > 0:00:40And our family dynamic?
0:00:40 > 0:00:43Can't do it any more. This is what would make a woman break.
0:00:45 > 0:00:46To find out,
0:00:46 > 0:00:50the Robshaws are going to shop, cook and eat their way through history.
0:00:50 > 0:00:51It's 1974!
0:00:52 > 0:00:53Whoa!
0:00:55 > 0:00:57I think that is enough sugar now though, darling...
0:00:57 > 0:00:59No, I haven't put hardly any on.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03Starting in 1950, their own home will be their time machine...
0:01:03 > 0:01:04Oh, my goodness!
0:01:05 > 0:01:08This carpet hurts my eyes. Who designed that?
0:01:08 > 0:01:10Someone who was colour-blind.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13..fast forwarding them through a new year each day,
0:01:13 > 0:01:15as they experience first-hand
0:01:15 > 0:01:19the culinary fads, fashions and gadgets of each age.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23- Catch!- Wow!
0:01:23 > 0:01:25They've already lived through the austerity of the 1950s...
0:01:25 > 0:01:27Oh, my goodness.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29..and the rapid advances of the '60s.
0:01:29 > 0:01:34This week, it's back to the decade that taste forgot - the 1970s...
0:01:34 > 0:01:36Ugh, it smells like fish food.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39..as they discover how our changing relationship with food
0:01:39 > 0:01:41has shaped all of our lives.
0:01:41 > 0:01:42Ooh!
0:01:42 > 0:01:45Got flour that comes out of heads.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47Pickled onions with faces.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49It's like the whole kitchen is mocking me.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01MUSIC: All Right Now by Free
0:02:01 > 0:02:04It's the next chapter of our time-travelling adventure,
0:02:04 > 0:02:06in which the Robshaw family are giving up their modern diet
0:02:06 > 0:02:09and spending six weeks eating the food of the past.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13It's not just the food that's changing -
0:02:13 > 0:02:16their sleek and compact '60s house from last week
0:02:16 > 0:02:18has had a radical transformation.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23An extension has been added, making a huge kitchen diner
0:02:23 > 0:02:25and the sitting and dining rooms have been knocked through
0:02:25 > 0:02:27to create one big lounge.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32I'm back with food historian Polly Russell
0:02:32 > 0:02:34to unleash the '70s on the family.
0:02:38 > 0:02:39Wow.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41Yeah, we've hit the '70s and it's much bigger.
0:02:41 > 0:02:42Yeah. So this is the moment
0:02:42 > 0:02:45where the kitchen and the dining room become one.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49This is not just a place for Rochelle to be working on her own,
0:02:49 > 0:02:52this is a space for the whole family to come and socialise,
0:02:52 > 0:02:54as well as cook and prepare food.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57..and hang out on some stripy orange Hessian.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59And look - they've got these wheat sheaves,
0:02:59 > 0:03:02incongruously on tiles all over the place, as if they were
0:03:02 > 0:03:05living a very sort of home-spun, natural hippy-ish life. Is that how it was?
0:03:05 > 0:03:08Well, there's this look of the rustic, but what you see
0:03:08 > 0:03:11when you look at the National Food Survey is that actually,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14people are predominantly not eating
0:03:14 > 0:03:16what we think of as The Good Life diet.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18They're not... They don't keep their own chickens,
0:03:18 > 0:03:20they're not making their own yoghurt,
0:03:20 > 0:03:22they're actually increasingly reliant on convenience food,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26because it's readily available and it's also inexpensive.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31The '70s was a decade of economic and political turbulence...
0:03:31 > 0:03:33Come and join us!
0:03:33 > 0:03:36..with burgeoning women's liberation and green movements,
0:03:36 > 0:03:38industrial disputes and high inflation
0:03:38 > 0:03:42each exerting their own influence on family life.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44The price of food has gone up 18%.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46I mean, what are we supposed to do?
0:03:46 > 0:03:49MUSIC: Staying Alive by The Bee Gees
0:03:49 > 0:03:53It's time for the Robshaws to strut into 1970.
0:03:53 > 0:03:54In their modern lives,
0:03:54 > 0:03:57teacher Rochelle usually shares the cooking with Brandon,
0:03:57 > 0:03:59but for the first two decades of this experiment,
0:03:59 > 0:04:01she's been trapped in the kitchen.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04In the '50s, I could understand
0:04:04 > 0:04:06the labour that was involved in being at home.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10It was hard work, but there seemed to be something honest about it -
0:04:10 > 0:04:11it needed to happen.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13And in the '60s,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated,
0:04:16 > 0:04:18increasingly restricted.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21I found it was a decade not for middle-aged women.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25So, with the '70s, I want to break free
0:04:25 > 0:04:28and be part of something that is much bigger than the home.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31I've had an easy ride so far, in the '50s and '60s.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34I didn't really have to do very much at all.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36And I'm thinking in the '70s
0:04:36 > 0:04:40that I'll get more opportunity to get in the kitchen and cook.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43MUSIC: 20th Century Boy by T-Rex
0:04:43 > 0:04:46This is the first decade that Rochelle and Brandon
0:04:46 > 0:04:48are going to remember having lived through.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50Oh...
0:04:50 > 0:04:52- Oh, my goodness!- Oh, wow.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56There's the coal effect electric fire,
0:04:56 > 0:04:57music centre...
0:04:57 > 0:04:59It's just so, so familiar to me
0:04:59 > 0:05:03and it just feels like being catapulted back into the past.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07My trousers blend in.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10This carpet hurts my eyes. Who designed that?
0:05:10 > 0:05:12Someone who was colour-blind.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15THEY GASP
0:05:15 > 0:05:17Oh, my lord. This is just fantastic.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20Isn't it? It's absolutely fantastic.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23Just this...this orange, this orange. The orange.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26It is so completely different.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29It's just extraordinary.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31I mean, it's just double the size!
0:05:31 > 0:05:33This is not a kitchen - this is a proper room, isn't it?
0:05:33 > 0:05:36This is an eating room.
0:05:36 > 0:05:37Got a slow electric cooker,
0:05:37 > 0:05:40- we've got an electric knife.- Scary.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43I just can't get over how this used to be our kitchen.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45Can't even remember it before.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50I think it will be a more pleasant space to cook in
0:05:50 > 0:05:53than either of the two last kitchens.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56But is all of this going to fall on me?
0:05:57 > 0:05:58That's...
0:05:58 > 0:06:00That's what I'm wondering.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04- Hello, chaps.- Hi.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07So this is your all-important 1970s manual, which contains
0:06:07 > 0:06:09all the information about how you're going to live,
0:06:09 > 0:06:12the sorts of things you're going to eat and most importantly,
0:06:12 > 0:06:14you're going to be eating the actual meals that,
0:06:14 > 0:06:17- according to the National Food Survey...- Right.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21..real families were eating, day to day in the 1970s.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24Every year, from 1940 to 2000,
0:06:24 > 0:06:25thousands of households
0:06:25 > 0:06:28detailed all the food that they bought and ate in a week
0:06:28 > 0:06:29for the National Food Survey.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34I'm using this unique insight into the developing taste of the nation
0:06:34 > 0:06:36to guide the Robshaws' diet.
0:06:36 > 0:06:37MUSIC: Who Are You? by The Who
0:06:37 > 0:06:39Although it's the 1970s and feminism is on the horizon,
0:06:39 > 0:06:41early in the decade I'm afraid, Rochelle,
0:06:41 > 0:06:43you're still in the kitchen.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45- To underline that, Brandon, you're off to the pub.- Get in.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47You can go and have a nice time.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50Rochelle, you're cooking the first bona fide 1970s meal.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53I think it'll be quite an exciting meal. There's your manual.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55- Thanks very much. - And...best of luck.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57- All right. All right. Thanks. Bye.- Cheerio.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59Whilst Brandon is out with his mate,
0:06:59 > 0:07:03Rochelle, who has already cooked 50 meals during this experiment,
0:07:03 > 0:07:04is stuck in the kitchen.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07We'll be eating the same tea
0:07:07 > 0:07:09which was served up by a housewife in Paisley
0:07:09 > 0:07:11to her husband and five children.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16Gammon, eggs, home-made chips,
0:07:16 > 0:07:19beans, beetroot, tomatoes.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24How much? That's a massive amount of lard, isn't it?
0:07:24 > 0:07:25I don't know how long it will last.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28Maybe it'll last a whole decade.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30The National Food Survey shows that at this time,
0:07:30 > 0:07:32lard was the standard cooking fat.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34Is it a slice of pork?
0:07:34 > 0:07:36- Yeah.- Is it?
0:07:36 > 0:07:38So Rochelle is frying the whole meal -
0:07:38 > 0:07:41meat, egg and chips in lard.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44It's pig cooked in pig, served with pig.
0:07:44 > 0:07:45Ugh.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48It doesn't feel all that healthy.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50It doesn't feel like the sort of meal
0:07:50 > 0:07:52that I would like to feed them, really.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55I don't know - Brandon might be a little bit tipsy,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58then he'll probably be quite happy to have this.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00MUSIC: The Boys Are Back In Town by Thin Lizzy
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Two points of IPA, please.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04Brandon meanwhile, who usually cooks the dinner
0:08:04 > 0:08:08is getting stuck into a classic male leisure pursuit of the era.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10So I hope you're going to charge us in the old money(!)
0:08:10 > 0:08:12LAUGHTER
0:08:12 > 0:08:15- About 3p, wasn't it?- Exactly.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17Pubs in the '70s were thriving.
0:08:17 > 0:08:2190% of beer was consumed there, compared to only 50% today.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24A male-dominated environment,
0:08:24 > 0:08:27it was still legal to refuse to serve an unaccompanied woman.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30Cheers. Clink.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34I mean, it's kind of enjoyable to be just sitting here having a drink
0:08:34 > 0:08:36- and eating peanuts and talking.- Yes.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39- What's not to like? - You know, what's not to like?
0:08:39 > 0:08:41And I've got somebody cooking a meal for me.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44I can't condone, but I can understand why
0:08:44 > 0:08:47- men were so reluctant to give up these privileges.- Yeah.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50Rochelle might be a bit miffed that I've sloped off.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52I've left her to deal with the dinner,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55while I've just been enjoying myself with my old pal in the pub.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58I might feel the odd pang of remorse...
0:08:58 > 0:09:02but that's quite quickly dealt with, by just having another swig of beer.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06The thing is... Also, you can't be contacted.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08I know. Got no mobile, have I?
0:09:08 > 0:09:10- No-one's going to phone you, right?- No.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12- Just carry on... - Gets better and better!- Exactly!
0:09:14 > 0:09:16MUSIC: Fire by Ohio Players
0:09:16 > 0:09:18Back in the heat of the kitchen,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21Rochelle needs to get to grips with some perilous '70s kit.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23Right, this is a chip pan thing.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27Nine years before oven chips hit the market,
0:09:27 > 0:09:29chip pans were the only option,
0:09:29 > 0:09:31but a dangerous one.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33House fires reached an all-time high in the '70s...
0:09:38 > 0:09:39..so the government launched
0:09:39 > 0:09:41a memorable series of public information films,
0:09:41 > 0:09:43warning of their hazards.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46Overfill a fat pan...
0:09:46 > 0:09:48and this could be the result.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51Make sure your fat pan
0:09:51 > 0:09:53is never more than half full.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56How is that going to cook?
0:09:56 > 0:10:00Well, it's not, is it? Oh, there's not enough fat.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02- What are you doing? - Putting more fat in.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04You can't. You mustn't.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06You mustn't do that, just leave it, go...
0:10:06 > 0:10:09Stand back, move away from the chips and let me manage this.
0:10:11 > 0:10:12Now it's smoking.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15Ugh, Mum turn it off - it shouldn't smoke, ever.
0:10:15 > 0:10:16Oh, yeah - it shouldn't smoke, ever.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19Never put chips in the pan if the oil has started smoking.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21If this happens, turn off the heat if it is safe to do so
0:10:21 > 0:10:23and leave the oil to cool down.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27- Can we have waffles yet?- No.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29I can't do it. I can't...
0:10:29 > 0:10:32It's too many years of fear of chip pans.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37Mum, do you think Dad would have done this better?
0:10:37 > 0:10:38Well, the thing is...
0:10:40 > 0:10:42Probably. LAUGHTER
0:10:44 > 0:10:45Mum, what have you done to these eggs?
0:10:45 > 0:10:48I don't know. Don't ask. LAUGHTER
0:10:48 > 0:10:50Don't ask. It's all a complete disaster.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53I suppose this is what would make a woman break, who...
0:10:53 > 0:10:57Her husband's been in the pub all evening, she's been left here.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59There's a fear of the chip pan.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01It would make anybody break.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03It's enough. It's just enough.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05It's just... it's just time to move on.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07It's time to get out of the kitchen.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13Brandon is back from the pub, eager for his first taste of '70s grub.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16- Thank you.- No, no, no. Just... Look, there's one chip...
0:11:16 > 0:11:18There's enough for one chip each.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21"Beans, beans, good for your heart. The more you eat the more you..."
0:11:21 > 0:11:23Just eat your beans, all right?
0:11:23 > 0:11:27The National Food Survey reveals the average Briton's consumption of fat
0:11:27 > 0:11:29peaked in 1970, each person eating
0:11:29 > 0:11:34the equivalent of nearly a block and a half of butter per week.
0:11:34 > 0:11:35Now we eat half as much.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40This is very fatty food, but...
0:11:40 > 0:11:44people did tend to only eat three meals a day.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46I don't think portions generally were as...
0:11:46 > 0:11:47were as big as they are now.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49Were people definitely not fat, then?
0:11:49 > 0:11:51Do you not remember seeing any fat people?
0:11:51 > 0:11:53They weren't as fat then as they are now.
0:11:53 > 0:11:58It's just...food smothered in fat and salt and oil.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01Nice.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05I do feel a certain spirit of unrest...
0:12:05 > 0:12:06dissatisfaction...
0:12:08 > 0:12:10Fed up that Brandon went off to the pub as soon as we got here.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14Just was left to do this horrible fat frying,
0:12:14 > 0:12:16so I hope things can only get better.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21MUSIC: Jungle Fever by Chakachas
0:12:24 > 0:12:27It's a new day and in this experiment, that means a new year -
0:12:27 > 0:12:29and change is in the air for Rochelle.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34I'm sending in the very latest in kitchen appliances...
0:12:34 > 0:12:37- Oh.- ..one that played a crucial role
0:12:37 > 0:12:41in the transformation of women's lives over the 1970s.
0:12:41 > 0:12:42It's a deep freeze.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44- Oh, my goodness me.- Fantastic.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46Better bring it in.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49The freezer offered liberation to the housewife.
0:12:49 > 0:12:50For the first time,
0:12:50 > 0:12:54she could prepare dishes that could be frozen and eaten at a later date.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57By the end of the decade, half of us had one.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59"Today, you have taken delivery of your revolutionary
0:12:59 > 0:13:01"brand-new chest freezer.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06"A model like this would have cost nearly £1,000 in today's money."
0:13:06 > 0:13:08That is a lot of money.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12MUSIC: Jean Genie by David Bowie
0:13:12 > 0:13:13It's time to hit the shops,
0:13:13 > 0:13:17to embrace the very '70s pursuit of stocking the freezer.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20Let's go!
0:13:20 > 0:13:21Slowly.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24What are you talking about? I'm doing under 20!
0:13:25 > 0:13:28The early '70s saw dedicated freezer centres open
0:13:28 > 0:13:30to meet this new demand,
0:13:30 > 0:13:34including Bejam, Sainsbury's Freezer Centres and Iceland.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38The new stores focused on selling frozen meat and vegetables in bulk.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42'Women claim that buying frozen food in bulk saves time and money.'
0:13:45 > 0:13:47To help the Robshaws tackle this new shopping experience,
0:13:47 > 0:13:49I've arranged for them to meet a familiar face.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53LAUGHTER
0:13:56 > 0:13:58- Delighted to meet you. - Rochelle. Hello.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00Oh, what a gorgeous dress.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04So, Brandon, Rochelle, I'm here to help you with your shopping.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07In the '70s, Mary Berry was a well-known cookery presenter
0:14:07 > 0:14:09and frequently appeared on TV,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12extolling the virtues of home freezing to a nervous public.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14Hello Mary, welcome.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17And you've got some things which are ideal for freezing.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20Eggs freeze very well. I freeze mine in an egg box.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23Put the whites this side and then when you do the yolks,
0:14:23 > 0:14:25add a little salt or sugar,
0:14:25 > 0:14:28according to what you're going to use them up for afterwards.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30Freezing was revolutionary.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33People were really suspicious of freezing.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35They didn't really trust it.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38You know, they saw those big chest freezers,
0:14:38 > 0:14:40they didn't know what to do with it, so I wrote a book -
0:14:40 > 0:14:43and I did sort of step-by-step guides,
0:14:43 > 0:14:45because people were nervous.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48I had to hold their hand through the whole procedure of freezing.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52There were relatively few of the frozen convenience foods
0:14:52 > 0:14:56we take for granted today in the early '70s.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59Instead, the National Food Survey shows that shoppers stocked up
0:14:59 > 0:15:03on frozen meat and veg, like this 29-year-old housewife from Warwick,
0:15:03 > 0:15:05whose shopping list includes...
0:15:05 > 0:15:07Frozen peas, frozen beans,
0:15:07 > 0:15:09frozen baby carrots, all loose.
0:15:12 > 0:15:17Well, this is how we bought food in Iceland in the '70s.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20- It was all loose and you weighed it out yourself...- Yeah, yeah.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22and I think this was exciting for the housewife,
0:15:22 > 0:15:25because it was all prepared. They didn't have to peel or chop.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28- Seems almost completely new, doesn't it?- Yes.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31We get used to seeing it all packaged and bagged up.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33It just seems like an innovation.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37Well, it was an innovation and it was very exciting.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40Once people got over the fact that
0:15:40 > 0:15:43freezing was a wonderful form of preservation,
0:15:43 > 0:15:46they realised they could buy things in bulk and freeze them.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50They could eat things like runner beans all year round.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52They forgot about seasons.
0:15:52 > 0:15:53It changed people's lives.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58Britain went crazy for frozen food.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01Households spent a mammoth £165 million -
0:16:01 > 0:16:03over 2 billion in today's money -
0:16:03 > 0:16:05on frozen foods in 1971.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09And sales kept going up by an average of 21%,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12every year of the '70s.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15So, Rochelle, it's up to you now to go and organise your freezer
0:16:15 > 0:16:17and I do hope that this helps you.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20- Thank you very much indeed. - Thanks very much.
0:16:23 > 0:16:24Back at home,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27it's time to sort out their new freezer - the Berry way.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30We need a freezer record book.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33We also need colour identification.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36Red is meat. Blue is fish. Yellow is fruit. Green is vegetables.
0:16:36 > 0:16:41Black, prepared dishes. Oh, God, it's just extremely complicated.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45Mary advised putting frozen food in colour-coded bags
0:16:45 > 0:16:47and keeping a record of food types,
0:16:47 > 0:16:49date, weight and location in the freezer.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51Large carrots. Good.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53What's the package size?
0:16:53 > 0:16:54Two pounds.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57All afternoon doing this?
0:16:57 > 0:16:59I think it's ridiculous.
0:16:59 > 0:17:00Personally, I have to say,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03I do think it'd be better without the bags on it.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06Cos you could actually see what was in your freezer.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10Because this way, I haven't got a clue what's in it!
0:17:10 > 0:17:13It's just a load of plastic bags.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15That really is wasting time, isn't it?
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Mary's book gave other organizational tips,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21like batch cooking,
0:17:21 > 0:17:25which allowed housewives to prepare frozen meals in advance.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27So Rochelle is making a moussaka for the freezer.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30Let's get the flour.
0:17:33 > 0:17:34Ooh!
0:17:34 > 0:17:36What a stupid thing!
0:17:37 > 0:17:40It's like the kitchen has become animated.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42You've got chicken salt and pepper,
0:17:42 > 0:17:44flour that comes out of heads,
0:17:44 > 0:17:46pickled onions with faces...
0:17:46 > 0:17:49It's like the whole kitchen is mocking me
0:17:49 > 0:17:51and adding to my frustration.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54It's trying to make me feel that I should be happy here,
0:17:54 > 0:17:56but I'm fed up with it, really.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00I've been in the kitchen for 20 years now and I just need something else.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03I need more stimulation and...
0:18:03 > 0:18:06You know, reading a book about how to label stuff for your freezer,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09I don't think is really going to do it for me.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16MUSIC: Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now by McFadden and Whitehead
0:18:18 > 0:18:21It's 1972 and Rochelle is preparing a breakfast
0:18:21 > 0:18:25served by a 59-year-old housewife to her family in London.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29Shredded Wheat, toast and marmalade,
0:18:29 > 0:18:31tea, milk and sugar, Rise And Shine.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34Food manufacturers were harnessing science
0:18:34 > 0:18:36to create novelty and convenience.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38Enter Rise And Shine -
0:18:38 > 0:18:4110% freeze-dried orange crystals with added vitamin C.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45Wow. That's amazing!
0:18:45 > 0:18:48That actually does look like orange juice.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50Who wants some?
0:18:50 > 0:18:51- I'll have some.- Oh, I'll try some.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57It's all right, but it's not orange juice.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59Tastes like really bad orange juice.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02PHONE RINGS
0:19:02 > 0:19:04Oh, blimey.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06- You going to get that? - I hope it's not my mum.
0:19:06 > 0:19:07LAUGHTER
0:19:09 > 0:19:10- Hello?- 'Hi, Rochelle.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12'Just wanted to let you know ...'
0:19:12 > 0:19:15OK, great. All right. Thanks very much. Bye.
0:19:18 > 0:19:19What is it?
0:19:19 > 0:19:21What's the news?
0:19:21 > 0:19:22Giles has got me a job!
0:19:23 > 0:19:25Get out of here. What's the job?
0:19:25 > 0:19:27I don't know.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29I'm just so pleased I have a job, I forgot to ask.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31Might be down the mines.
0:19:31 > 0:19:32Let's toast Mum's new job.
0:19:34 > 0:19:35Liberated from the kitchen,
0:19:35 > 0:19:39Rochelle is realising the benefits of her newest appliance.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41The family will have to cope.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43There isn't an option.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45And we have the freezer,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48so there's stuff in the freezer that they can sort of pull out.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50Well, good luck. Good luck. I'm sure it'll go really well.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52All right, thank you.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55The rapidly rising cost of living over the 1970s
0:19:55 > 0:19:58meant it was a necessity for many women to go out to work.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01MUSIC: I'm Every Woman by Chaka Khan
0:20:04 > 0:20:07At one time, if you wanted a new television set
0:20:07 > 0:20:09or you wanted a new carpet, the wife went out to work to help you,
0:20:09 > 0:20:13but now, she's got to go out to work to supplement her husband's wages.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17The number of married women working rose from 35% in 1961
0:20:17 > 0:20:20to almost 50% in 1972,
0:20:20 > 0:20:22with the vast majority working in poorly-paid factory,
0:20:22 > 0:20:24shop and office jobs.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28But women in the workplace met with some resistance.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32I think it's disgusting.
0:20:32 > 0:20:33They can't do their jobs.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35They should stick to the household -
0:20:35 > 0:20:38washing, looking after children...
0:20:38 > 0:20:40and have their entertainment at the weekend, that's it.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42Imagine a female, telling a man what to do.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45I've got Rochelle, who is normally a teacher,
0:20:45 > 0:20:47a part-time secretarial job at a local museum.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52It's a bit slow, actually.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59I really wish I had the computer - then I could do a nice spreadsheet.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02It's terrible, really.
0:21:02 > 0:21:03It's terrible.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05I don't know how I got this job.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Even though I'm finding this quite difficult,
0:21:10 > 0:21:14I'm not missing the kitchen, I'm not missing cooking.
0:21:14 > 0:21:15Not missing cleaning.
0:21:17 > 0:21:18It's quite nice to be out.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21It's been very nice to see other people
0:21:21 > 0:21:23and to sort of see other women working.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25So no, I'm not missing the home.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29MUSIC: School's Out by Alice Cooper
0:21:33 > 0:21:35While Rochelle and Brandon are both at work,
0:21:35 > 0:21:38Miranda, Roz and Fred get a chance to become latchkey kids
0:21:38 > 0:21:41and can enjoy the freedom of the streets.
0:21:48 > 0:21:50Eight out of ten ten-year-olds like Fred
0:21:50 > 0:21:52were allowed to roam unsupervised,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55as opposed to just four in ten today.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58I think it's really good that kids played outside.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01I think it's a shame that it's something that a lot of kids
0:22:01 > 0:22:03don't really tend to do any more.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05You feel a sort of more wholesome happiness
0:22:05 > 0:22:07from sort of being in the air,
0:22:07 > 0:22:09rather than beating a level on a video game.
0:22:09 > 0:22:10It's different.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14With no adults around, kids were also free to raid the kitchen
0:22:14 > 0:22:16and for the first time since the experiment began,
0:22:16 > 0:22:18there's food they can actually snack on.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23We've definitely noticed that from the '70s,
0:22:23 > 0:22:27there's just a lot more food about and we can help ourselves to it
0:22:27 > 0:22:29and it's much less formal than in the '50s and '60s.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32- I'm pleased about being able to snack.- I've missed it.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34I'm so used to going into the kitchen
0:22:34 > 0:22:38and grabbing a packet of crisps and then walking out, so...
0:22:38 > 0:22:41I'm basically overjoyed that I can do that again.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45Rochelle has finished her first day of work.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47- I'm back.- Are you back? How was your day?
0:22:47 > 0:22:49- It was good, thank you. - Did you enjoy it?
0:22:49 > 0:22:51- Yeah, I did enjoy it, yeah. - Oh, well done.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53- So what about supper? - Haven't really thought about it.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57- No-one's... And you haven't, have you?- No.- And you haven't?- No.- No.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00Right. I'd better get on with that, hadn't I?
0:23:00 > 0:23:02Rochelle turns to a National Food Survey menu
0:23:02 > 0:23:06cooked by a 22-year-old housewife for family tea in Wallsend.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11Chops, peas, potatoes, sprouts.
0:23:11 > 0:23:12Tea, milk and sugar.
0:23:12 > 0:23:18I think it's very hard to be out working on that first day
0:23:18 > 0:23:21and to be expected to come home and cook.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23And in my contemporary life,
0:23:23 > 0:23:26that wouldn't happen, if I'd been at a new job.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29Brandon would cook a special meal for when I came back.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32I suppose it's just so ingrained
0:23:32 > 0:23:35that men do not help in the kitchen,
0:23:35 > 0:23:39so this is a generation where women are changing and men are not.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43And for men not to be shifting at the same rate as women
0:23:43 > 0:23:44does seem complacent.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49- Oh! - ALL TALK OVER EACH OVER
0:23:49 > 0:23:51It's all right. It's a power cut.
0:23:51 > 0:23:52Mum, where are the candles?
0:23:52 > 0:23:54I just want to finish this game.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57Look, we'll have to forget about this game, just for the time being.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59Rosaline, do you know where the matches are?
0:23:59 > 0:24:02The only thing is, how do I continue cooking dinner?
0:24:02 > 0:24:04- Because it's an electric cooker. - Yeah.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11Early in 1972, Britain's miners went on strike over pay.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15Official picket line, as you know. If you go in, you're scabbing on us.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19Britain was hugely dependent on coal for its electricity supplies
0:24:19 > 0:24:22and within three weeks, many power stations were forced to shut down.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26The government had to implement planned power cuts.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30During today's extended power cut,
0:24:30 > 0:24:32it was almost impossible for many families
0:24:32 > 0:24:34to cook or to eat and light their homes.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36This is novel, isn't it?
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Living without electricity became a regular feature of life.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42Sales of camping stoves went through the roof.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47"Insert the cartridge into the cartridge holder.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49"Always change the cartridge well away from naked flames."
0:24:49 > 0:24:51- Is this dangerous?- Probably.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55Is this the bottom bit that screws on, does it?
0:24:55 > 0:24:57Have you ever used one of these before?
0:24:57 > 0:24:59Um...
0:24:59 > 0:25:00I've cooked on one.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03I don't remember ever putting one together.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05Oh, Brandon, I'm scared.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08- Doesn't seem totally straight, does it?- I think it's upside down.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11Thing is, Brandon, it doesn't look like that at all.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13Yeah. That's just a bad drawing.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16I don't know what this bit is, that's what puzzling me.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20- Should we just leave it out of the reckoning?- No, no!
0:25:20 > 0:25:22Sorry, but I don't want to get blown up,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25so I'm just going to go over here.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27I don't think it should make that noise.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29I think we need to light it. Everyone stand back.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32- I don't think you should light it, Brandon.- Stand well back, OK?
0:25:32 > 0:25:33- Brandon!- No, no, no!
0:25:35 > 0:25:37Honestly...
0:25:37 > 0:25:39- There you go.- Oh.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43How long is that going to take?
0:25:43 > 0:25:44You might as well do it over a match.
0:25:46 > 0:25:47What do you think?
0:25:47 > 0:25:49I mean, it's going to take ages, because they're thick.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52We can't eat raw meat - we're not animals.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55Think we'll just have to have a cold supper.
0:25:55 > 0:25:56With the chops abandoned,
0:25:56 > 0:26:00Rochelle opts for some salad with cold peas and cold new potatoes.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02MUSIC: Moondance by Van Morrison
0:26:02 > 0:26:05I like this feeling of us all being together,
0:26:05 > 0:26:07round the table in the dark with a flickering candle.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10It is a really nice family experience. I do remember that.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13There is this sense of being... you know, a family unit together,
0:26:13 > 0:26:16all kind of huddled in the darkness and it's really nice.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24MUSIC: A Fifth Of Beethoven by Walter Murphy
0:26:27 > 0:26:30In 1973, despite more women working,
0:26:30 > 0:26:33there was still pressure to keep up the domestic role
0:26:33 > 0:26:36just as perfectly as in the '50s and '60s.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40'70s women were expected to do it all -
0:26:40 > 0:26:41to be Superwoman.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48Whilst some turned to the burgeoning women's liberation movement...
0:26:48 > 0:26:50We want equality!
0:26:50 > 0:26:53..Delia Smith, a married working woman herself,
0:26:53 > 0:26:54came up with an alternative -
0:26:54 > 0:26:56cheating.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00Polly has challenged Rochelle to use Delia's book
0:27:00 > 0:27:03to cook a dinner party for guests, including me.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06"Your challenge is to use Delia Smith's first book,
0:27:06 > 0:27:09"How To Cheat At Cooking, to cook them a lovely dinner
0:27:09 > 0:27:13"that no-one will realise is made from convenience food.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15"Consomme soup...
0:27:15 > 0:27:17"Minced beef...
0:27:17 > 0:27:18"Tinned potatoes".
0:27:18 > 0:27:20It's all tinned. Wow.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27This is just ridiculous.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30I'd have to start doing this on the bus, coming home from work.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32You try, I can't do it.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36I'd like to shake the hand of the person
0:27:36 > 0:27:38who invented the ring pull can -
0:27:38 > 0:27:41probably done more for sort of women's liberation than anything.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43LAUGHTER
0:27:43 > 0:27:46So, Smash. We're going to serve six,
0:27:46 > 0:27:49so we need a point of boiling water and four level measures.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52Instant potato was marketed as "space age"
0:27:52 > 0:27:54and people relished the speed
0:27:54 > 0:27:57at which the freeze-dried potato flakes became mash.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00The Earth people eat a great many of these.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03They boil them for 20 of their minutes.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05LAUGHTER
0:28:05 > 0:28:08They are clearly a most primitive people!
0:28:08 > 0:28:13It's really, really easy and it's taken about...
0:28:13 > 0:28:14five minutes, if that.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Delia Smith's cheating book encouraged women to use short cuts
0:28:19 > 0:28:24and disguise convenience foods with herbs, wine and cream.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27So even the most discriminating guest would have no idea
0:28:27 > 0:28:29how little time was spent in the kitchen.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32I think Giles has got a palate
0:28:32 > 0:28:36that will detect any tinned produce.
0:28:37 > 0:28:39I feel like a sense of panic.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43I'm worried I'm going to be found out.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46MUSIC: Forever And Ever by Demis Roussos
0:28:48 > 0:28:51It's time to get all Abigail's Party.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53- Go on through.- Thank you.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56The other guests are journalists Liz Hodgkinson and Mary Gwinn,
0:28:56 > 0:28:58both married working women in the '70s
0:28:58 > 0:29:02and, like me, both completely unaware of Rochelle's deceit.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10The carrot and potato soup is made with canned consomme,
0:29:10 > 0:29:13canned potato and canned carrots,
0:29:13 > 0:29:15with a bit of cream and butter.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17This is nice, Rochelle. Very nice.
0:29:17 > 0:29:19Thank you very much, Rochelle.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24Is this a recipe from the National Food Survey?
0:29:24 > 0:29:27No, it's not. It's from a cook book of the time.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31Well, it's delicious. It's all clearly made from scratch.
0:29:31 > 0:29:32Yes.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Well, it's lovely, cos it tastes of vegetables.
0:29:38 > 0:29:41I felt really bad. I felt really deceitful.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44I don't know how anybody...
0:29:44 > 0:29:46No wonder women kept quiet for so many years!
0:29:46 > 0:29:48They were just full of guilt!
0:29:51 > 0:29:54The cottage pie contains canned minced beef,
0:29:54 > 0:29:57canned tomatoes and instant potato,
0:29:57 > 0:29:58with dried herbs and cheese.
0:30:00 > 0:30:02I think this is good, nice, savoury food.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05I think the consistency is a little bit gloopy,
0:30:05 > 0:30:07but that's the recipe, isn't it?
0:30:07 > 0:30:09Is this a specific '70s recipe?
0:30:09 > 0:30:11Yes, it is. Yeah.
0:30:11 > 0:30:12Whose recipe is it?
0:30:12 > 0:30:14It's one of Delia Smith's early recipes.
0:30:14 > 0:30:16Is it her Cheats cooking?
0:30:16 > 0:30:18Yes.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22So Delia's Cheat cottage pie involves what?
0:30:22 > 0:30:23Everything came out of a can.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27Oh, fine. So the fact that it's absolutely disgusting is absolutely normal.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30I just... I was trying to think, what am I going to say?
0:30:30 > 0:30:32I'm being a 1970s gentlemen and you've cooked for me,
0:30:32 > 0:30:35and you look wonderful, your dress is absolutely beautiful.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37I wouldn't put this out to poison the foxes.
0:30:37 > 0:30:38I think it's absolutely honking.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42How do you feel about the fact that you've cheated?
0:30:42 > 0:30:43I feel terrible.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46I think it just sort of made me
0:30:46 > 0:30:49quite sort of interested in the fact that you had to lie.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53So you couldn't say, "Actually I'm not doing it, I can't do it,
0:30:53 > 0:30:55"I can't manage to do it, I'm too busy, I'm not doing it."
0:30:55 > 0:30:58But you had to sort of pretend you could do it all still.
0:30:58 > 0:31:03Yeah, there was a lot of pressure and women had to impress.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08'You can see how, in certain circumstances,'
0:31:08 > 0:31:12that cookery book would have been a real life-saver for a woman
0:31:12 > 0:31:15who's working, but it also creates this conflict.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18So it was a sort of uncomfortable dinner party,
0:31:18 > 0:31:21because you knew Rochelle wasn't really producing the food
0:31:21 > 0:31:25she wanted to produce for the people that she had invited.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27'I didn't like lying.
0:31:27 > 0:31:32'And it made me really think that the suggestion that women could
0:31:32 > 0:31:36'do it all during this decade is wrong.'
0:31:36 > 0:31:39No-one can do it all.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41MUSIC: Power In The Darkness by Tom Robinson Band
0:31:46 > 0:31:50It's 1974!
0:31:50 > 0:31:53Just one minute into the new year, a state of emergency was
0:31:53 > 0:31:57implemented by the government.
0:31:57 > 0:32:01A combination of spiralling oil prices and a second miners' strike
0:32:01 > 0:32:05left the country with perilously low fuel reserves.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07'As Prime Minister, I want to
0:32:07 > 0:32:12'speak to you about the grave emergency now facing our country.
0:32:12 > 0:32:14'We are limiting the use of electricity
0:32:14 > 0:32:19'by almost all factories, shops and offices to three days a week.'
0:32:20 > 0:32:24I've put Brandon on a three day week, too.
0:32:24 > 0:32:25The three day order.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30But no indication here is given of how long that's going to last,
0:32:30 > 0:32:34so it obviously creates a feeling of uncertainty.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38MUSIC: Changes by David Bowie
0:32:38 > 0:32:42The upside of the three-day week is that after 25 years in the experiment,
0:32:42 > 0:32:46Brandon can be back in charge of meals, whilst Rochelle is at work.
0:32:47 > 0:32:52I've given Brandon the latest cookbook for men, published in 1974.
0:32:52 > 0:32:53- See this book?- Yeah.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56- What's it called?- Pots and Pants.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58- Yeah.- Not pots and pans, Pots and Pants.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00It's a joke, isn't it, because men wear pants.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02It's a cookery book for men.
0:33:02 > 0:33:04I think it's to show women we can do without them.
0:33:04 > 0:33:09So the recipe we're going to do is called coq au vin.
0:33:09 > 0:33:11- What's that? - It's French for chicken with wine.
0:33:11 > 0:33:13So what we've really got to prove
0:33:13 > 0:33:15is that we're not going to cock it up, OK?
0:33:15 > 0:33:17MUSIC: Chicken Strut by The Meters
0:33:18 > 0:33:22It's really loud and vibrates loads and will take ages.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33I'm enjoying being back in the kitchen, Fred.
0:33:33 > 0:33:34- I'm not.- I haven't...
0:33:34 > 0:33:37Well, I was kind of allowed in the kitchen
0:33:37 > 0:33:42in the '60s, but even then I sort of had Giles telling me what to do.
0:33:42 > 0:33:47Here, I feel I'm the master of my territory again.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50Pots and Pants suggested that men should cook to impress the
0:33:50 > 0:33:54girlfriend and taught them how to survive when the wife had the flu.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57It does assume that you know absolutely
0:33:57 > 0:34:00nothing at all about cooking.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03Look, it actually shows you what a cooker looks like.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07- Yeah.- It actually says, "The thing marked C is the oven,
0:34:07 > 0:34:10"you cook things inside the oven."
0:34:10 > 0:34:13So it really is a sort of like idiots guide.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16So let's put a good old shake of brandy in it.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18And then... Wow!
0:34:18 > 0:34:20Did you burn yourself?
0:34:20 > 0:34:22No, but I nearly did.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25And look at that, that's fantastic.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28Ooh, Brandon. That looks fantastic.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31- What is it, Brandon? - It's a coq au vin.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33Thank you, Brandon.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36- This is quite a meal, isn't it? - Yes.
0:34:36 > 0:34:37A meal and a half.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39It's a meal and a half, yeah.
0:34:39 > 0:34:40I think it's really nice.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43- It's a good meal.- Thank you.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45Did you enjoy being back in the kitchen?
0:34:45 > 0:34:48Yes, I did, actually. I missed it.
0:34:48 > 0:34:50'I've missed being in the kitchen a lot.
0:34:50 > 0:34:51'I mean, there are times, I won't deny'
0:34:51 > 0:34:54when it's nice just to put your feet up
0:34:54 > 0:34:55and somebody else cooks for you,
0:34:55 > 0:34:59but night after night after night of not doing any cooking,
0:34:59 > 0:35:01I feel I'm sort of missing an activity
0:35:01 > 0:35:04that's quite important to me.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06MUSIC: He's The Greatest Dancer by Sister Sledge
0:35:11 > 0:35:15By 1975, for working women who didn't have a husband like Brandon,
0:35:15 > 0:35:18manufacturers were coming up with all manner of new convenient
0:35:18 > 0:35:21frozen meals, stocked in every supermarket and corner shop.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24They were heaven-sent for time-pressed women...
0:35:26 > 0:35:30..like one 40-year-old working mum to four teenagers from South London,
0:35:30 > 0:35:33whose National Food Survey shopping list includes...
0:35:33 > 0:35:37Frozen chips, frozen Cornish pasties.
0:35:37 > 0:35:38frozen steak and kidney pies...
0:35:38 > 0:35:40..and '70s favourite...
0:35:40 > 0:35:42Frozen cod in butter sauce.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46Rochelle's taking a leaf out of her book.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50Oh. I have fond memories of cod in butter sauce.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53It was one of the first meals I had with Brandon.
0:35:53 > 0:35:55I thought they were quite sophisticated,
0:35:55 > 0:35:57so I think the kids are in for a treat.
0:35:57 > 0:35:59It has a piece of fish in it.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01Don't... Well, the piece of fish is so small,
0:36:01 > 0:36:03you won't even notice it on your plate.
0:36:03 > 0:36:04Look, Arctic Roll, Fred.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09- That's like...- It looks a bit artificial.- ..swiss roll with ice cream in it.
0:36:09 > 0:36:13Yeah, it is artificial, but since when have you actually cared about that?
0:36:13 > 0:36:15MUSIC: ABC by The Jackson 5
0:36:15 > 0:36:16With Rochelle at work,
0:36:16 > 0:36:21the kids can get on with making tea for themselves out of the freezer.
0:36:21 > 0:36:2215 minutes, it takes.
0:36:22 > 0:36:23Oh, cool.
0:36:27 > 0:36:29Ugh. It smells like fish food.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37Isn't it amazing how it does this? I think it's incredible.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40- OK, that's done, I think. - That's a lot of sauce, isn't it?
0:36:40 > 0:36:43That is loads of sauce.
0:36:43 > 0:36:44This looks grim.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46I know.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50This is so weird. I've never seen a weirder meal.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53'Mr Benn changed into the cook's clothes.'
0:36:55 > 0:36:56Ooh.
0:36:58 > 0:36:59It's a bit plain.
0:37:01 > 0:37:03Doesn't really have much flavour.
0:37:06 > 0:37:08This actually tastes like a school dinner.
0:37:08 > 0:37:10Yeah, no, it really, really does.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13MUSIC: Never Going Back Again by Fleetwood Mac
0:37:13 > 0:37:17Suddenly it seems every meal is made with tins or Smash
0:37:17 > 0:37:19or convenience food,
0:37:19 > 0:37:23and I'm surprised at how quickly the explosion happened.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27MUSIC: Children Of The Revolution by T-Rex
0:37:29 > 0:37:31But by the mid-'70s, a small minority
0:37:31 > 0:37:34were rejecting the convenience food revolution.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40Concerned about the impact of an increasingly processed diet
0:37:40 > 0:37:41on our health and environment,
0:37:41 > 0:37:43a counterculture sprang up
0:37:43 > 0:37:46with its own health food shops and restaurants.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51I've come to visit two pioneers of the 1970s health food movement,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54who I assume is going to be two raging hippies,
0:37:54 > 0:37:58whose tofu and mung beans and you know, hand-knitted yoghurt
0:37:58 > 0:38:00is very easy to scoff at.
0:38:00 > 0:38:02And I do. I'm not looking forward to it at all.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05But who knows, they might be nice chaps and maybe they can cook.
0:38:09 > 0:38:12- Brothers Gregory and Craig Sands... - That's my brother Craig.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14Hello, Craig, nice to meet you.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17..started the first macrobiotic restaurant in London,
0:38:17 > 0:38:19where John Lennon and Yoko Ono used to dine.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22'London's latest macrobiotic restaurant concerned with
0:38:22 > 0:38:24'the balance between yin and yang foods.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27'They avoid extreme yin foods like sugar,
0:38:27 > 0:38:29'and the aggressive yang foods like meat,
0:38:29 > 0:38:31'and live mainly on brown rice.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35'To many, macrobiotics is more than a diet, it's a way of life.'
0:38:35 > 0:38:37What exactly is macrobiotic?
0:38:37 > 0:38:40What it boils down to really is eat whole grains,
0:38:40 > 0:38:43eat lots of vegetables, keep your dairy
0:38:43 > 0:38:46and meat consumption quite low,
0:38:46 > 0:38:48and only eat when you're hungry, basically.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52And why do you think in the '70s people were so ready for it?
0:38:52 > 0:38:54One of the reasons it took off well in Britain was that
0:38:54 > 0:38:56the diet was so appalling.
0:38:56 > 0:39:01If you took a typical diet of that era and sold it now
0:39:01 > 0:39:02you'd go to prison,
0:39:02 > 0:39:05because the food was coloured, preserved
0:39:05 > 0:39:10and flavoured with ingredients that are no longer allowed.
0:39:10 > 0:39:14You know, we really reached that sort of food technology low point.
0:39:14 > 0:39:19On the menu today are buckwheat croquettes, carrots,
0:39:19 > 0:39:23soy and seaweed salad, brown rice and tahini and miso spread.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28That's not what I expected.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30Initially when it goes in, it has that high, beery,
0:39:30 > 0:39:32slightly sour flavour,
0:39:32 > 0:39:35which if you're used to a diet like I am really, of dairy and sugar and
0:39:35 > 0:39:38salt and lots of processed stuff, you initially reject, you go, "Ugh!"
0:39:38 > 0:39:39Two or three mouthfuls in
0:39:39 > 0:39:42you start to get accustomed to it and it tastes great.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45The Sands brothers were the first to import tahini from Lebanon,
0:39:45 > 0:39:48miso from Japan and brown rice from France.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51This is delicious. Really delicious. And I'm not just saying it.
0:39:51 > 0:39:53So was importing this stuff difficult?
0:39:53 > 0:39:58We had customs opening up buckets of miso
0:39:58 > 0:40:01and pouring out entire sacks of millet
0:40:01 > 0:40:03trying to find out where we'd hidden the drugs.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06They'd never seen this stuff before,
0:40:06 > 0:40:08so it just made them feel uncomfortable.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12And then, I guess, looking at us, they felt even more uncomfortable.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15So how do you feel about the fact that now everyone does it,
0:40:15 > 0:40:16and you were the first?
0:40:16 > 0:40:19It's fantastic. I mean, in those days we were crazy hippies.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23Just the, "you are what you eat" was a really far out concept,
0:40:23 > 0:40:26and the only connection you could make between diet and health
0:40:26 > 0:40:29was tooth decay with too much sugar.
0:40:29 > 0:40:31And it's changed so much now, and it's really,
0:40:31 > 0:40:34to me one of the pluses of all that work is I can go to
0:40:34 > 0:40:38a supermarket and buy organic foods, which I never knew I'd see that day.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40'How amazing. What a privilege -
0:40:40 > 0:40:41'the two hippies who changed the world.'
0:40:41 > 0:40:43I wasn't looking forward to my meal very much,
0:40:43 > 0:40:45I thought it'd be disgusting.
0:40:45 > 0:40:47It started off a bit weird, but gradually grew very tasty.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50And it's not unlike healthy food we eat today. And it's all them.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53It would have seemed bonkers at any other time in history,
0:40:53 > 0:40:55and suddenly, we realised they were right.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58MUSIC: The Good Life Theme Tune
0:40:58 > 0:41:01Some people in the health food movement went the whole hog,
0:41:01 > 0:41:03so I sent the Robshaws to the allotment.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11John Seymour's seminal book, Self Sufficiency,
0:41:11 > 0:41:14was published in '76, and it became a best seller.
0:41:14 > 0:41:16We've got some cauliflower plants here.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19It explained everything, including how to rotate crops,
0:41:19 > 0:41:21shear a sheep and milk a goat.
0:41:24 > 0:41:26So the idea is, we've got to milk it.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28- Where do you start?- There!
0:41:28 > 0:41:30It does look like there's a lot of milk in there, so do...
0:41:30 > 0:41:32How do you know?
0:41:34 > 0:41:38Well, because it's got like a kind of swollen...thing.
0:41:38 > 0:41:40So do we put the bucket underneath?
0:41:40 > 0:41:43I think that bucket is quite...
0:41:43 > 0:41:45You'll get something else.
0:41:46 > 0:41:48I'm going to straddle it.
0:41:48 > 0:41:49All right, goaty.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51Oops.
0:41:52 > 0:41:54Now stay still, goat.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57Don't make sudden noises, cos that will startle her.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04- Oh. Oh, Mum, it's going wide. - It's tricky.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10I think it will take about 24 hours to get a pint out of her.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14So how much did we actually get?
0:42:14 > 0:42:18Oh, all right. That's about enough for one cup of coffee, I suppose.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23The extremes of self-sufficiency weren't for everyone.
0:42:24 > 0:42:25Agh!
0:42:28 > 0:42:31But the National Food Survey reveals that pressure on purses meant
0:42:31 > 0:42:34many families began growing their own vegetables during the '70s.
0:42:38 > 0:42:40With sky-high inflation,
0:42:40 > 0:42:43food prices increased nearly tenfold over the decade.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47One mother from Humberside noted...
0:42:47 > 0:42:48"The cost of living is too high.
0:42:48 > 0:42:52"Prices have gone up out of all proportion."
0:42:52 > 0:42:55It's an absolute thrill to be getting fruit and vegetables and
0:42:55 > 0:43:00it does feel that you're getting all this stuff for absolutely nothing.
0:43:00 > 0:43:05It's nice to be eating something that is fresh,
0:43:05 > 0:43:06that is food,
0:43:06 > 0:43:09and not a chemical and is not processed.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11MUSIC: Living In The Past by Jethro Tull
0:43:11 > 0:43:13I think self-sufficiency is amazing.
0:43:13 > 0:43:15And I really want to be self-sufficient
0:43:15 > 0:43:18and we can have our own farm and plant lots of things all day.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21I wouldn't like to be self-sufficient,
0:43:21 > 0:43:25just because you have to be digging all the time, it's just boring.
0:43:25 > 0:43:27Get it from the shop.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33Back home, the girls have been inspired to make a vegetarian
0:43:33 > 0:43:35meal from the National Food Survey.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38Originally made by a 30-year-old housewife with three children
0:43:38 > 0:43:40from Cambridge.
0:43:41 > 0:43:47'Home-made houmous, pitta bread, soya bean stroganoff, brown rice.'
0:43:47 > 0:43:49I'm actually kind of strangely excited
0:43:49 > 0:43:51because it smells really nice so far.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54And I just kind of want something healthy.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58Houmous was exotic in the '70s, but today it's found in almost
0:43:58 > 0:44:02half of British fridges, as we consume 47 million pots a year.
0:44:02 > 0:44:04- This looks great. - Thank you.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08Considering what we have been eating, this is really quite unusual.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10It's very different.
0:44:10 > 0:44:11We haven't eaten anything quite like this,
0:44:11 > 0:44:13- that tastes like this... - Nothing like this.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16..and has these kind of ingredients, and it's really nice.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19It's just like one of the best meals we've had.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22It still would be nice with a bit of chicken.
0:44:22 > 0:44:23You think a bit of chicken on the side,
0:44:23 > 0:44:26that would be quite a nice accompaniment, wouldn't it?
0:44:26 > 0:44:28- I feel healthy already. - Be full of beans.
0:44:28 > 0:44:30- Literally.- Yes.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43By 1977, it was all very well for the houmous-eating few,
0:44:43 > 0:44:47but the masses were eating convenience food by the bucket-load.
0:44:47 > 0:44:51And things were about to get a whole lot more artificial.
0:44:51 > 0:44:55As food science exploded, an army of flavour chemists engineered
0:44:55 > 0:44:58an enormous 6,000 artificial flavours.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02We're all part of a massive experiment.
0:45:02 > 0:45:06Our food is being changed from a traditional
0:45:06 > 0:45:09to a new, technologically-based diet.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13And we don't know what the consequences of this are going to be.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18Polly has come to meet leading flavour scientist Steve Pearce
0:45:18 > 0:45:23to find out how '70s food science changed the way we ate forever.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26It was a very exciting time for the flavour industry.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30The advances in technology enabled us to suddenly be able to
0:45:30 > 0:45:34analyse very quickly and with great precision
0:45:34 > 0:45:36the components that were responsible for the flavour of foods.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39And then, once we'd found those components,
0:45:39 > 0:45:43we were synthesising them, and that opened up this massive
0:45:43 > 0:45:46plethora of raw materials for the flavour chemists
0:45:46 > 0:45:49and the food technologists to start recreating these flavours.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52It sounds like it was a bit of a free for all in the '70s.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55Yes, it was all about the fact that this had a nice flavour
0:45:55 > 0:45:59and an impact and it was, to begin with, an exciting new product.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02There was no real flavour legislation at that point.
0:46:02 > 0:46:03That came much later on.
0:46:03 > 0:46:08For crisps, the possibilities of artificial flavours were endless.
0:46:08 > 0:46:10In the '70s, everything from prawn cocktail
0:46:10 > 0:46:13to pickled onion flavour was produced.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16And Polly and Steve are creating smoky bacon flavour.
0:46:16 > 0:46:19- Some acetic acid, so you'll recognise it...- Ooh!
0:46:19 > 0:46:21That's a yes.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23- ..as vinegar.- Vinegar.
0:46:23 > 0:46:25Then a dash of dimethyl sulphide,
0:46:25 > 0:46:28a sprinkle of furfuryl mercaptan,
0:46:28 > 0:46:30guaiacol and ethyl guaiacol.
0:46:31 > 0:46:32So there's one last component.
0:46:32 > 0:46:35A lot of people describe this as being quite sweaty.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38- An armpit meets roadkill. - Yes, exactly. There you go.
0:46:38 > 0:46:40This is isovaleric acid.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42That's actually what we need in there.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45- So there we are. We've made our liquid smoky bacon flavour. - Fantastic.
0:46:45 > 0:46:46Try that.
0:46:48 > 0:46:49It's lovely and smoky.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52MUSIC: God Save The Queen by The Sex Pistols
0:46:54 > 0:46:57Something else big happened in '77.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00The nation celebrated the Queen's Silver Jubilee.
0:47:00 > 0:47:02So I have asked the Robshaws to hold a street party.
0:47:05 > 0:47:07To get the party started,
0:47:07 > 0:47:09Polly is bringing in the latest artificial crisp flavours.
0:47:10 > 0:47:12- Hello, family Robshaw.- Hello Polly. - Hello.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16I've come to bring you some treats for your street party.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20Lots of crisps, Fred, because in the 1970s what you start to see in the
0:47:20 > 0:47:26National Food Survey log books is an increased consumption of crisps.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28You have about 20 different brands,
0:47:28 > 0:47:31things like Quavers, Monster Munch, Wotsits, some of which you can
0:47:31 > 0:47:34see here today and which you'll be able to eat, Fred.
0:47:34 > 0:47:36FRED SQUEALS
0:47:37 > 0:47:39Have you been missing crisps?
0:47:39 > 0:47:42That's probably one of the biggest things I've missed.
0:47:42 > 0:47:43Do you want to take a pack?
0:47:43 > 0:47:47Why don't you be the first? Oh, you're going to take them all.
0:47:47 > 0:47:49And you're going to have them on your own.
0:47:49 > 0:47:51LAUGHTER
0:47:53 > 0:47:56MUSIC: In The Summertime by Mungo Jerry
0:47:56 > 0:47:58As the street gathers, it's not the Queen that is
0:47:58 > 0:48:00the centre of attention.
0:48:03 > 0:48:05Absolutely delicious.
0:48:05 > 0:48:06Just like they used to be.
0:48:08 > 0:48:10And I hope there's some more where these came from.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18So, what do you think of the crisps?
0:48:18 > 0:48:20If I'd just encountered them for the first time, I think
0:48:20 > 0:48:25I would have been extremely excited by these different taste sensations.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30When the crisps went out, people were just gobbling them,
0:48:30 > 0:48:32gorging themselves, almost without noticing.
0:48:32 > 0:48:35They're very easy and convenient to eat.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38I think that the 1970s is really the moment
0:48:38 > 0:48:41when you can start to see scientists really
0:48:41 > 0:48:45stepping in to the kitchen, in alliance with the manufacturer
0:48:45 > 0:48:49and the retailer, to produce food which is completely ersatz.
0:48:49 > 0:48:54It's not real food, but it's clearly very popular and people love it.
0:49:01 > 0:49:041978! Whoo!
0:49:04 > 0:49:06MUSIC: Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! by ABBA
0:49:08 > 0:49:11The fake food juggernaut showed no sign of letting up
0:49:11 > 0:49:13and there was a new favourite on the shelves.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18- I don't know that we need four Pot Noodles.- Yes, we do.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22- We do.- No, we don't.- You can never have too many Pot Noodles.
0:49:22 > 0:49:24'There must be a moment in your day
0:49:24 > 0:49:27'when you'd welcome a hot, filling snack, something different,
0:49:27 > 0:49:29'something really tasty.
0:49:29 > 0:49:30'So here it is.
0:49:30 > 0:49:34'New Pot Noodle, for those hungry moments in your day.'
0:49:34 > 0:49:36Oh, Pot Noodles.
0:49:37 > 0:49:42I was wondering when they would come out and they did.
0:49:42 > 0:49:43I've got a little joke, actually.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47What is the difference between a bulldog and this?
0:49:48 > 0:49:49I don't know.
0:49:49 > 0:49:50One is a Pot Noodle
0:49:50 > 0:49:53and the other is a not poodle.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59The concept of a dried noodle snack was developed in Japan
0:49:59 > 0:50:03by inventor, Momofuku Ando, in the face of the country's huge
0:50:03 > 0:50:06food shortages after the Second World War.
0:50:06 > 0:50:10His company launched its first noodle product in 1958,
0:50:10 > 0:50:12but it was another Japanese company, Golden Wonder, that brought
0:50:12 > 0:50:17the pot noodle to Britain and the snack has never looked back.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20I like the way when you've poured it in, it still, like,
0:50:20 > 0:50:23bubbles around as the water fills up all the air pockets.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27See that? Blip. Blip. Blip. Blip. Blip. Blip.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31It is food, in as much as it's going into us.
0:50:31 > 0:50:36But I don't really, really want to eat it.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39I feel really embarrassed eating a Pot Noodle.
0:50:39 > 0:50:41It's like being caught on the toilet or something.
0:50:43 > 0:50:47- Oh, look, it's Brucie.- Oh, how old do you think he is there?
0:50:47 > 0:50:50He's probably about 70 there, isn't he?
0:50:50 > 0:50:53- Mum, do you like it? - I'm not mad about it.
0:50:53 > 0:50:55I thought it would be better than this, somehow.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59- Quick though, isn't it?- Well... - It was quick.- The Pot Noodle?
0:50:59 > 0:51:01It's like four minutes, and then you have a meal.
0:51:01 > 0:51:06- Did you enjoy that, Frederick? - Yeah, I haven't finished yet.
0:51:06 > 0:51:08The worst thing about this food is, because it's got so many
0:51:08 > 0:51:11additives and so many flavourings, you get, kind of,
0:51:11 > 0:51:15instant hit from it. It's moreish. You, kind of, can't stop eating it.
0:51:15 > 0:51:17It's only when you've finished, you think,
0:51:17 > 0:51:19"Oh, I didn't really want that."
0:51:19 > 0:51:21MUSIC: Chrome Sitar by T-Rex
0:51:23 > 0:51:25While the Robshaws' home is filling up with convenience food,
0:51:25 > 0:51:27out on the British high street,
0:51:27 > 0:51:29there's a taste revolution going on.
0:51:31 > 0:51:33The number of Indian restaurants in Britain
0:51:33 > 0:51:37grew from 1,200 to 3,000 over the course of the '70s -
0:51:37 > 0:51:41fuelled, in part, by the arrival of refugees from Bangladesh,
0:51:41 > 0:51:44following the country's independence in 1971.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47Hello, Rochelle. This is Enam.
0:51:47 > 0:51:50Welcome to 1978.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53Joining the Robshaws - Hairy Biker Dave Myers,
0:51:53 > 0:51:56who's keen to share fond memories of his first curry,
0:51:56 > 0:51:59when he was a teenager in the late '70s.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04And, Enam Alee, whose family ran Indian restaurants in Britain
0:52:04 > 0:52:06throughout the decade.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08So, there's a lot more English dishes on here
0:52:08 > 0:52:10than I would have expected.
0:52:10 > 0:52:15- In the 1970s, 50% of dishes are all English.- Right.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18You know the rump steak, chicken and chips and mushroom omelette,
0:52:18 > 0:52:22prawn cocktail and chips was, actually, half and half.
0:52:22 > 0:52:24Half rice, half chips.
0:52:24 > 0:52:26But you see so far in this experiment,
0:52:26 > 0:52:28most of the food we've eaten is quite bland,
0:52:28 > 0:52:30it hasn't had strong flavours.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32My mouth is watering now.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35Do you know, I'm going to recreate my very first curry.
0:52:35 > 0:52:36It was food epiphany.
0:52:36 > 0:52:41I had a mulligatawny soup, a poppadum and a chicken madras.
0:52:41 > 0:52:43I think I'm man enough to take on a Vindaloo.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45Can I have half chips, half rice, please?
0:52:50 > 0:52:52Oh, mate.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55Do you know, I've really missed curry on this experiment,
0:52:55 > 0:52:57and I do think once you've had a curry,
0:52:57 > 0:53:00- you can't go back, do you know what I mean?- No. No.
0:53:00 > 0:53:02But the thing is, we're only 20 years outside of rationing.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05I mean, I can remember when I came down from Barrow In Furness,
0:53:05 > 0:53:09I was 18, and the most exotic thing I'd had to eat was a courgette.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12So, to go to an Indian restaurant, the kind of palate of flavour
0:53:12 > 0:53:16and colours, was as if somebody had lit a firework in my soul.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19Isn't it funny, though, looking at the Chicken Tikka Masala. I mean,
0:53:19 > 0:53:23little did we realise that would become England's national dish.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27- Yeah.- Chicken Tikka existed in the North of India.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30But when this came in this country, the customer was complaining.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33People said it's too hot. They put in the yoghurt,
0:53:33 > 0:53:36they put in some cream, some sugar.
0:53:36 > 0:53:39So, Chicken Tikka Masala becomes very, very British.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42I think it's the colours that really do it for me.
0:53:42 > 0:53:44The food just looks completely different.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48To me, this is just fantastic.
0:53:48 > 0:53:52This is just like a kind of party going on in my mouth.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55And, you know, I've broken out in a sweat because of it.
0:53:55 > 0:53:57That's what I wanted, you know, I love that.
0:53:57 > 0:54:02Why is it that men felt the need to test themselves with the curry?
0:54:02 > 0:54:05I mean, women weren't impressed by that. I'm not impressed by that.
0:54:05 > 0:54:07Well, do you know, I've finished that Vindaloo
0:54:07 > 0:54:10and I feel like every cell in my body is going,
0:54:10 > 0:54:11"Thanks, thanks."
0:54:11 > 0:54:13LAUGHTER
0:54:15 > 0:54:18MUSIC: Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang
0:54:21 > 0:54:231979 has arrived.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29Sadly, I can't join the Robshaws, but I've sent Polly round
0:54:29 > 0:54:32with a new gadget, to help celebrate the end of the decade.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37- Hello, Polly. I think I know what that is.- What's that?
0:54:37 > 0:54:42It's official. Fun has arrived in the kitchen in 1979.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45- What is it, Brandon? - It's a Fondue set.
0:54:45 > 0:54:47That is right. So, you light a flame, here,
0:54:47 > 0:54:52and then you use these sticks to put bread or meat to
0:54:52 > 0:54:56dip into the cheese and eat while you're sitting round the table.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58To do it at the table in the middle of an admiring circle,
0:54:58 > 0:55:01- that'll be great fun. - Yeah, so this is food as theatre
0:55:01 > 0:55:03and all of your guests are part of it, as well.
0:55:03 > 0:55:05- It's participatory. Everybody joins in.- Exactly.
0:55:05 > 0:55:08This isn't something you'd ever do on your own, or even as a couple.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11- Probably a slippery slope. - What do you mean?
0:55:11 > 0:55:14Well, sort of, like, if you're starting to invite people to share
0:55:14 > 0:55:16the same bowl, it, sort of, could lead to other things.
0:55:16 > 0:55:18Ah, yes.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22You've only got a year for that to happen, cos it stops in the '80s.
0:55:22 > 0:55:24MUSIC: You Sexy Thing by Hot Chocolate
0:55:24 > 0:55:26"If you drop a bread cube in the Fondue
0:55:26 > 0:55:29"you've got to give a kiss to the friend of your choice."
0:55:29 > 0:55:30Oh, God. See, I told you.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33Should we make beautiful Fondue together?
0:55:35 > 0:55:37- How much cheese do we want? - A lot.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45Hello. So glad you could make it. Come in.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49What we've got here is a classic Swiss Fondue
0:55:49 > 0:55:51or Fon-dew, as we say.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55So, in it goes, does a beautiful figure of eight,
0:55:55 > 0:55:59emerges like this and then...
0:56:03 > 0:56:06I'd say that's very good. I'd say...
0:56:06 > 0:56:08I'd say, "Come and tuck in."
0:56:08 > 0:56:09Dip away.
0:56:09 > 0:56:12MUSIC: Le Freak by Chic
0:56:12 > 0:56:13- No, I'm helping you.- You're not.
0:56:16 > 0:56:18- Cheers.- Cheers.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22'So, how have the Robshaws found the 1970s?'
0:56:22 > 0:56:25Fred, what's it been like for you, in terms of food and eating?
0:56:25 > 0:56:30Well, for the '50s and '60s, it was kind of like all old stuff,
0:56:30 > 0:56:31which weren't very nice.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35But now, it kind of feels like all the food is more modern.
0:56:35 > 0:56:39So in the 1970s, this battle between the healthy vegetarian food
0:56:39 > 0:56:43and the convenience food, what's going to win for the Robshaws?
0:56:43 > 0:56:45For me, it was the healthy food.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47It was the meal we all enjoyed the most
0:56:47 > 0:56:50and we all felt so much better after eating it.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53We might have wanted the natural food to win,
0:56:53 > 0:56:56but I don't think it really did, because we ate fish in a bag
0:56:56 > 0:56:58and Arctic Roll and Pot Noodle.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02The fact is that over the decade, we ate a lot more of this
0:57:02 > 0:57:05kind of factory food than we did actual food.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07But I think the meals we enjoyed most were those cooked with
0:57:07 > 0:57:09natural ingredients.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12And, Rochelle, you're going out to work, but you're still
0:57:12 > 0:57:16responsible for food in the home - how did you find that?
0:57:16 > 0:57:18Well, I suppose it's given me a choice, you know,
0:57:18 > 0:57:21whereas before, I was just in the kitchen.
0:57:21 > 0:57:25So, being able to go out to work meant that it's broadened my life.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28Did you feel that convenience food was your saviour?
0:57:28 > 0:57:32There's aspects of convenience food which were good.
0:57:32 > 0:57:34You've got the speed and convenience,
0:57:34 > 0:57:38without an awareness of the negative side effects of too much
0:57:38 > 0:57:40processed food in the diet.
0:57:40 > 0:57:42But I couldn't have managed without the freezer
0:57:42 > 0:57:45to keep meals available for the family.
0:57:45 > 0:57:49With Rochelle, what you see is, 1950s, she's exhausted.
0:57:49 > 0:57:521960s, she's depressed.
0:57:52 > 0:57:551970s, there's a glimmer of hope.
0:57:55 > 0:57:59She's beginning to feel that there are opportunities available for her.
0:57:59 > 0:58:01- Oh.- Oh.- I've dropped it.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04It's all right, you can kiss me with a mouth full of Fondue.
0:58:08 > 0:58:11I think, looking back on this experiment, as a family,
0:58:11 > 0:58:14I think we might see the '70s as a golden time.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18I think we'll remember lots of things that we did together,
0:58:18 > 0:58:20more than we did in the '60s or the '50s.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23And even the ordeals that you have to go through, like the power cut,
0:58:23 > 0:58:26that has a kind of bonding effect on the family, I think.
0:58:26 > 0:58:33This has been a decade in which I actually feel quite sorry to leave.
0:58:34 > 0:58:36It felt free. It felt like the kids were free.
0:58:36 > 0:58:39It felt like I was becoming free.
0:58:40 > 0:58:43Could almost be anything, within this decade.
0:58:47 > 0:58:49MUSIC: West End Girls by Pet Shop Boys
0:58:50 > 0:58:53Oh, blimey! Look at that go.
0:58:53 > 0:58:56Next time, the Robshaws enter the excessive '80s.
0:58:56 > 0:58:58Oh, my God, it's leaking.
0:58:59 > 0:59:00HISSING
0:59:02 > 0:59:03THEY LAUGH
0:59:04 > 0:59:07MUSIC: Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! by ABBA