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Giles Coren

Polly Russell

Mary Berry

Back in Time for Dinner: Episode 1: 1950s

1950s

Episode 1

Episode 1: 1950s

Back in Time for Dinner

BBC Two - Back in Time for Dinner, 1950s

A British family experiences 1950s life: a poky kitchen and a diet including dried eggs.

Historical cooking show. A British family experiences 1950s life, including a diet of dried eggs, dripping and liver prepared in a basic kitchen. Presented by Giles Coren.

One British family embark on an extraordinary time-travelling adventure to discover how a post-war revolution in the food we eat has transformed the way we live. Starting in 1950 and guided by real records of what ordinary families ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner, they will go from meagre rations to ready meals and delivery pizza in just six weeks.

The family's own home becomes their time machine and, in this first episode, travels back to 1950 - so it's goodbye open-plan living, hello formal dining room and poky kitchen with the most basic facilities.

Guided by presenter Giles Coren, food historian Polly Russell and the National Food Survey (an extraordinary collection of food diaries from the last 50 years), the family can only consume the food of the period - cue a diet of dried eggs, national bread, dripping and liver. 'We've just eaten the grimmest meal I've ever tasted.' And taking on the roles of the period, it's mum doing all the cooking, while dad is banished to the hearthside with a pipe and slippers...

The family mood is lightened by the end of rationing in 1954, heralding the consumer boom of the late 50s - Mary Berry sells them an electric oven on hire purchase (a job she actually used to do in the 1950s!) and mum discovers that, with all the new food, fads and gadgets on offer, cooking gets a lot more complicated...

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A British family discover how a revolution in what we eat has transformed the way we live.

One British family embark on an extraordinary time-travelling adventure to discover how a post-war revolution in the food we eat has transformed the way we live.

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