I grew up in 1960s and 70s Birmingham: How the city’s evolving food culture defined my life

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An aromatic odyssey of Birmingham over the last 60 years

In reflecting on my life in Birmingham over the last 60 years I’ve previously written about the way the city has changed, most particularly in the centre.

Though Birmingham had developed tremendously as a consequence of the industrial revolution, and only became a city in 1989 under Queen Victoria, it still clung onto the tradition of markets being held for all sorts of products but most especially, the produce needed to feed a population that had exceeded 1.1 million by 1951.

Development in the 1960s and more recently in the early 2000s has shifted the location of these markets.

Nonetheless, those who shop for meat, fish and fruit and vegetables will experience a similar sensation of the smell that would have been the case for those shopping to feed their families 400 years previously when Birmingham was no more than a small town with some 1,500 residents.

That said, in the 1500s, the range of food available would have been limited to what was grown nearby and how far farmers were willing to travel by, at best horse and cart, to bring it to market. Food was also, crucially, seasonal.

Fish, normally cod. and chips as we commonly believe this meal to be, only became possible once railways were built in the mid-1800s allowing fish caught in the sea to be transported inland with sufficient speed.

Having spent the first years of my life in Sparkhill I remember the importance of daily shopping by my mother to feed the family as, like everyone we knew, there was no fridge or freezer.

Therefore, everything was bought as required and, pretty much, cooked immediately as there was little scope to keep meat and fish from going off.

What this meant is that when I accompanied my mother my olfactory system, the part of the body allowing you to smell immediately kicked in at the odour of fish in the fishmonger, meat in the butcher and, depending on what was on display, the fruit and vegetables in the greengrocers.

Though there were a couple of major name retailers such as a Woolworth store – good for pick and mix sweets – supermarkets that now dominate food sales, found it

tough in the 1960s to compete against the independent shops. I vaguely recall there was a George Mason, a general grocers store commonly found in all parts of Birmingham.

This was where you bought the likes of tea, and other packaged items.

However, the multitude of ready-made meals now an integral part of what all supermarkets currently offer were not available.

Nonetheless, I remember being intrigued by the Vesta curries that could be purchased and wondered what they would taste like.

Vest curries, which came in a small range of flavours, were dehydrated meals made from artificial flavours prepared by adding boiling hot water and stirring until you achieved something loosely resembling food that would go on a bed of rice – also supplied – and which also needing to be boiled.

What I do distinctly remember in the late 60s was the that corner shops, a typical feature of the housing around areas like Sparkhill, changed ownership and were bought by new immigrants to Birmingham who were prepared to work the long hours expected by local customer.

Frequently from the Asias subcontinent, India, these new shopkeepers, as well offering the standard produce indigenous Brummies were used to, sold a range of spices essential for preparation of meals that would have been eaten before they travelled to Birmingham seeking prosperity for them as their children.

What was utterly stunning was the profusion of smells you sensed as soon as you entered these shops.

I’d allow my imagination to run riot and dream about what it would be like to eat meals consisting of such spices.

As I’ve written previously, our family moved to Acocks Green as my parents bought a café in Station Road, The Lunch Box where the staple dished were breakfasts, sandwiches and lunches for not only passing customers but the multitude of workers in the small light engineering factories located at the rear and accessed by lorries driving inches away from the café.

I recall that a couple hit the corner damaging the brickwork which required a metal protector to be fixed by the company receiving such deliveries.

Growing up in a catering environment has left me with a deep respect for the importance of food that’s cooked with pride and served with sincere bonhomie. Space doesn’t allow to describe all of the characters I recall from those days but was reminded of them when Keving Rowland of Dexy’s Midnight Runners who appeared on the late local boy Johnnie Walker’s Radio Two Show Sounds of the Seventies and reflected on his time before fame of sitting in my parents’ café ‘peoplewatching’.

The main smell I recall of those days, as well as the inevitable oil for chips and frying food was the sugary odour you experienced on entering Mrs Bennett’s Tardis-like shop that was packed with all manner of sweets and treats that appealed to a ten-year-old.

One advantage of living in a café was that you could feast on the fizzy drinks and crisps that were sold.

If ever I see a packet of Beef and Onion crisps, I’m immediately transported back to the very early 70s when it was first introduced.

Another abiding memory is when my parents were given advance examples of the new digital coins prior to introduction on 15th February 1971 to replace the old currency of pounds (£), shillings (s) and pence (d) that had existed for centuries and in which a pound consisted of 240 pence, 12 pence to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound.

For all of us used to thinking in multiples of 10s, it’s amusing to remember angry this change was amongst traditionalists.

The hankering for something spicier never quite left me and, towards the end of the 70s, when we’d left the café and moved to Fox Hollies Road, there was the inducement of going to eat in Balti Cafés that had opened along the Stratfor Road just around the corner from Castleford Road where I’d grown up.

The sublime taste of the meal these cafés served was amazing as was the price; £1.50 for the main dish and 30p for the accompanying nan bread. To say I instantly became a fan would be an understatement.

However, as has been the case in Birmingham for millennia, the secret my friends and I had discovered was to become world famous and created the origins of the ‘Balti Triangle’ off Ladypool Road which, for a while became an integral part of the tourist trail for visitors to the city.

The food offered in Contemporary Birmingham unsurprisingly reflects the vast array of cultures of people who have come to the city in search of new opportunities.

As such, and if you allow your nose the freedom to enjoy the aromas of cooking you can smell and enjoy eating food parts of the world that I could never have contemplated when I used to marvel at the Vesta curries in the 1960s.

Dr Steven McCabe

Steve McCabeSteve is Professor and Pro Vice Chancellor, DoctorateHub.

Dr Steve McCabeDr Steve McCabe
Dr Steve McCabe | Dr Steve McCabe

Previously, having worked for Birmingham City Council, he spent the last 35 years as an academic at Birmingham City University teaching and researching economics, management and business. Additionally, he has written extensively for edited texts examining economics and politics.

He regularly writes and comments regularly in the national and international media on politics and the economy and has published texts on quality management, benchmarking, ‘Brexit’ and its economic and social impact, the green economy and manufacturing, house prices and India’s progress since independence. Steve’s latest book on Net Zero will be published next February by Emerald. 

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