Liver and Onions with Boiled Cabbage
Picture this: a thick slice of beef liver, pan-fried until it’s got a golden crust, smothered in caramelized onions and served alongside a heap of boiled cabbage. Steak and kidney pie, liver and onions, corned beef and toad in the hole also appeared frequently on the menu and were accompanied by tinned peas or seasonal vegetables, more often than not cabbage that had been boiled into a soggy mush. This was considered a nutritional powerhouse back then, packed with iron and protein that growing children desperately needed.
It was a popular dish in wartime America, when harder times made people less picky about their meat cuts, but in the later 20th century it fell out of fashion as liver was abandoned in favor of milder-tasting meats like chicken breast and ground beef. The strong, metallic taste of liver paired with the pungent sweetness of onions created a flavor profile that was definitely an acquired taste – one that most modern kids would find completely overwhelming.
Steak and Kidney Pie
Steak and kidney pie, a traditional British dish consisting of diced steak, onion, and kidney – typically from a lamb or pig – cooked in a brown gravy and then wrapped in a pastry and baked. This hearty dish was a regular on school lunch menus, especially in the UK, but also found its way into American cafeterias. The kidney, with its distinctive strong flavor and chewy texture, was considered essential for providing children with vital nutrients.
Today’s students would probably be horrified to learn they were eating organ meat, but back then it was just another protein source. Beeton suggested that steak and kidney could be “very much enriched” by the addition of mushrooms or oysters, though school versions were typically much simpler affairs. The pastry crust made it feel special, like getting a present at lunchtime, even if the contents would seem bizarre to modern palates.
Codfish Cakes with Parsley Sauce
Notice as you go down the years codfish and liver starts to disappear and processed ingredients like soya, dried egg and margarine start to gain in popularity. Codfish was a staple protein in mid-20th century school lunches, often formed into patties and served with a thick, creamy parsley sauce. Friday lunch was always fish, often a piece of white fish in parsley sauce or fish and chips, and in the 1960s, maybe fish fingers.
The fish cakes were made from real flaked cod mixed with mashed potatoes and seasonings, then shaped into patties and fried until golden. The parsley sauce wasn’t just a garnish – it was a substantial, flour-thickened white sauce loaded with fresh herbs that helped mask any fishy flavors kids might object to. This was long before fish sticks became the go-to fish option for children, and the texture and presentation would seem completely foreign to today’s students.
Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast
A USDA guide to menu planning using farm surpluses included recipes for creamed chipped beef, Spanish rice and bacon, cornmeal pudding, fruit shortcake, and a pork hash known as scrapple. This dish, sometimes affectionately (or not so affectionately) called “SOS” by those who endured it, was a thick, white sauce loaded with thin slices of dried, salted beef served over toast points.
The chipped beef came from government surplus programs, and cafeteria workers had to get creative with making it appealing to children. The creamy sauce helped soften the intensely salty, chewy meat, but the overall result was still pretty challenging. Modern kids, accustomed to much milder flavors and less adventurous textures, would likely find this dish completely inedible.
Scrapple with Syrup
A USDA guide to menu planning using farm surpluses included recipes for creamed chipped beef, Spanish rice and bacon, cornmeal pudding, fruit shortcake, and a pork hash known as scrapple. Scrapple was essentially a mixture of pork scraps, cornmeal, and spices that was formed into a loaf, sliced, and pan-fried until crispy on the outside. It was often served with maple syrup, creating a sweet-and-savory combination that was surprisingly popular.
This dish represented the ultimate in nose-to-tail eating, using every part of the pig that might otherwise be wasted. The texture was dense and somewhat grainy from the cornmeal, with little bits of meat throughout. Today’s students, who are used to clearly identifiable proteins like chicken nuggets or hamburger patties, would be completely mystified by this mysterious breakfast-lunch hybrid.
Sago Pudding with Jam
And then there were the milk puddings: blancmange or rice pudding, tapioca or sago (“frogspawn”), usually served with a spoonful of jam. Sago pudding was made from small, round pearls of starch that became translucent and gelatinous when cooked in milk and sugar. The nickname “frogspawn” tells you everything you need to know about its less-than-appetizing appearance.
Sago and tapioca are rarely heard of now but were staples in post war food. The texture was uniquely bouncy and slippery, completely unlike anything served in modern school cafeterias. A dollop of strawberry or raspberry jam was the only thing that made it remotely appealing to children, providing a burst of sweetness and color to offset the pale, gelatinous pudding.
Spotted Dick with Custard
Suet puddings such as spotted dick and jam roly poly were tasty and filling, perfect for those who had struggled through a less than appetising first course. This traditional British steamed pudding was made with suet (hard fat around the kidneys), flour, and currants or raisins (the “spots”), then steamed until it had a dense, moist texture. It was always served with hot custard sauce poured over the top.
The name alone would send modern kids into fits of giggles, but the actual dish would probably confuse them even more. The suet gave it a very different texture from modern cakes or muffins – much denser and more substantial. The currants provided little bursts of sweetness, while the custard added richness and helped tie all the flavors together into something surprisingly comforting.
Toad in the Hole
Steak and kidney pie, liver and onions, corned beef and toad in the hole also appeared frequently on the menu. Despite its amusing name, this wasn’t an amphibian-based dish at all, but rather sausages baked into a Yorkshire pudding batter. The sausages would poke up through the golden, puffy batter, creating the illusion of toads peeking out of holes.
The Yorkshire pudding batter was made from eggs, flour, and milk, creating a light, airy texture that contrasted beautifully with the dense, savory sausages. It was typically served with onion gravy and mashed vegetables. Modern students would probably find the presentation weird and wonderful in equal measure – it looked more like a science experiment than lunch food.
Prunes and Custard
Prunes and custard kept the children ‘regular’: it was fun to count the prune stones with the rhyme, “Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor…”. This dessert served a very practical purpose in an era when children’s diets were often lacking in fiber. The prunes were stewed until they were soft and sweet, then served in bowls with thick, vanilla-flavored custard poured over them.
Kids would actually look forward to this dessert, not just for the taste, but for the ritual of counting the pits with the old nursery rhyme to predict their future professions. The prunes had an intensely sweet, almost wine-like flavor that was completely different from fresh fruit, and the custard helped balance any tartness. Modern children, accustomed to artificial fruit flavors and processed desserts, would find the deep, complex flavor of stewed prunes quite shocking.
