Back in Time for Dinner

Season

2015

8.1

A British family time travels through post-war decades, experiencing the food revolution's impact on daily meals from 1950's rations to modern takeout, guided by historical household menus across six transformative weeks.

Episode List

S1 • E1

The 1950s

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.

S1 • E2

The 1960s

In this second episode, the family and their home are transported to the space-age 60s, with a gleaming fitted kitchen and the arrival of a host of new tastes and flavors. Hairy biker Dave Myers delivers the family their long-awaited fridge, along with his memories of the trans-formative effect of the appliance on his own childhood. There's a family trip to the new-fangled self-service supermarket, and Giles discovers how chicken went from an expensive treat to an everyday staple.

S1 • E3

The 1970s

70s wasn't all hippie food. Rapid developments in food technology see the culinary innovations come thick and fast, from powdered orange juice to Pot Noodle and boil-in-the-bag cod, while the birth of artificial-flavor technology sees the children's favorite crisps arrive just in time for their silver jubilee street party.

S1 • E4

The 1980s

The family and their home are transported to the hi-tech 80s, with a gadget-filled kitchen including a microwave the size of a small car. Technology takes center stage, enabling the family to microwave an entire roast dinner, make their own fizzy drinks and produce the very latest in culinary fashion - a cheese and ham toastie.

S1 • E5

The 1990s

The Robshaws get to grips with the food of the 1990s and start the decade enjoying the wide range of food now available from around the world. This is also the decade of computer games, the modern home office, the hypermarket and - in the food and dairy world - BSE, or, mad cow disease. The 1990s also saw the introduction of gastropubs, large scale organic farming, TV cookery shows, breakfast on the go, fast food, and sushi.

S1 • E6

Episode #1.6

Giles Coren and Polly Russell introduce the Robshaw family to some tastes of the future and predict how we'll shop, cook and eat in the next 50 years.