1970s

The 1970s saw the high point of the post-war belief in the power of science and technology to improve the quality of life. The search was on in this decade for convenience foods that would reduce work in the kitchen.

This was also the decade when Delia Smith (pictured) first graced UK TV screens.

Dish of the day

From the 1970s we began to eat less vegetables despite the fact that the birth of freezers meant that choice was no longer limited by season. Red meat was dished up on a regular basis, with the average person consuming 450g per week compared to just 247g today.

Fruit juice was a healthy arrival but only 12% of people drank it in the 1970s, whereas today the average person has 303ml per week.

Food facts

For the first time, in 1974, the large sliced white loaf began to be sold in plastic bags, so waxed paper was on the way out.

Smash, the instant dried mashed potato, was immortalised in a TV advert in which creatures from Mars laughed at the idea of digging up potatoes from the ground, peeling them, then cooking and mashing them.

But now Smash itself is old-fashioned compared to the revolution in convenience foods that has come since.

The 1970s was also a decade of high inflation and economic uncertainty. Fluctuations in world trade led to a sugar and paper shortage in 1974, while strikes led to occasional disruption of supplies to some shops.

Shopping

Frozen food became more widely eaten as the number of homes with freezers grew rapidly.

Two out of five households owned a freezer by 1979. New products were developed, such as boil-in-the-bag fish, though not all innovations survived the test of time.

Ready-prepared frozen foods, such as lasagne, chicken korma and gateaux, became popular.

Spending on food was down to about a quarter of the average family's income. But the shopping revolution continued.

Supermarkets grew bigger, and more superstores began to appear, driving out local shops.

The growth in car ownership encouraged people to do a large shop once a week, so large car parks had to be provided.

The number of grocery stores continued to fall, from almost 150,000 in 1961 to only 60,000 in 1981.

Taste

The number of people taking foreign holidays continued to grow, fuelling interest in dishes from abroad. Sainsbury's recorded growing demand in its stores for pizzas, fresh pasta, German bio-yoghurt, extra virgin olive oil, French bread and American ice cream.

A second wave of Indian restaurants was set up, partly stimulated by the independence struggle of East Pakistan that led to the setting up of the state of Bangladesh.

The trends towards more cosmopolitan eating were partly blamed for the decline in popularity of school meals.

Children wanted more choice and snack foods were competing with the meat and two veg on offer in the school dining room.

The golden age of school dinners came to an end in 1980. Local authorities were no longer required to provide meals for all children, though many continued to do so.

The authorities' only duty was to provide free school meals for children from families with low incomes.

Food face of the decade

When Delia Smith first graced our TV screens, home cooking was declining but she wanted to get British people back in the kitchen by demonstrating basic cookery techniques. Since then, the enduring popularity of her no-nonsense approach has taken her career from strength to strength.