from rations to ready meals, britain’s kitchen cupboards have held the secrets of how we eat over the decades and in just two and a half months last summer one family of five munched their way from the post war era to modern times to reveal how dramatically things have changed the robshaws found the 1950s wholegrain national loaf particularly hard to stomach, and ten year old fred was overjoyed when sweets came off the ration the robshaw family took on a culinary challenge to eat as a family would have in each decade from the 1950s to the 1990s pictured (from left) rosalind, mother rochelle, fred, father brandon and miranda 'in the 1950s' forty years later, the robshaws found themselves eating in the nineties, sampling such delights as homemade pasta 'within living memory, the way we eat has been utterly transformed,' remarked mr robshaw  the experiment, filmed for a six part tv programme, ended with the family feeling extremely grateful for the variety of foods available today back in time for dinner, which starts on bbc2 next tuesday, follows the robshaws – brandon, 53, rochelle, 52, and their children miranda, 17, rosalind, 15 and fred – from the 1950s to the end of the millennium, with the final episode casting an eye towards the future of food in the 1950s the children had to wait patiently for their father to finish his dinner, knowing his leftovers would be their supper the 1960s saw the birth of the sugary cereal, while motorway service stations became almost fashionable as places to eat vesta convenience meals were available and the more adventurous home cooks could buy exotic foreign ingredients such as garlic and olive oil – from the chemist baking supremo mary berry teaches the robshaws how to make a cake as it would have been done in the 1950s (pictured) for the six part tv programme 'back in time for dinner', which airs on bbc next tuesday  the hairy bikers' dave myers pictured with the robshaw family as they sample the food of the sixties  in the early 1950s, families ate bread   often the rationed 'national loaf'   and left over roasted meat fat aka 'dripping' for breakfast (left), before cornflakes (right) made their first appearance in the uk in the 1960s  in the 1970s, working women were learning to balance their careers with cooking for the family the decade also saw the rise of the pot noodle in the 1980s goats cheese, mange tout and kiwi fruit became the foods to impress your dinner party guests gourmet dishes and nouvelle cuisine took over from the simple but hearty dishes of earlier decades by the 1990s, sushi and curry were as popular as traditional english dishes and ready meals became the norm the programme also shows how fridges, freezers, microwaves and even televisions revolutionised the way the country ate, and how the rise of supermarkets changed shopping forever the robshaws found that food in the 1970s was brightly coloured   but perhaps less enticing   than before  families began to get a taste for spicier food in the sixties and  vesta introduced an early ready meal in the shape of a beef curry in the same era, cooks could buy  ingredients such as garlic and oil from the chemist  spaghetti bolognese arrived in the uk from italy in the sixties and it hasn't left british dining tables since  mr robshaw, a freelance journalist and children’s writer, said 1950s style rationing left them feeling hungry all the time and was particularly hard on fred, who ‘literally danced with joy the day sweets came off the ration’ he went on: ‘none of us found the national loaf easy to digest as flour was scarce, it was padded out with potato starch’ when the family entered the 1960s, mr robshaw said ‘food became fun’ thanks to the likes of fish fingers and ‘it all felt extraordinarily liberating after the austerity of the 1950s’ he added: ‘it [the show] brought home to us all how british food has been revolutionised in an incredibly short time’ throughout the series, in which the family saw not only their menus given an overhaul but also their wardrobes, kitchen and daily routine, they were helped by famous faces including mary berry and hairy biker dave myers the robshaw family (pictured in their 1980s style kitchen) found the decade to be all about convenience  three layers of sweetness! the fab ice lolly proved a huge hit with youngsters when it arrived in the 1970s 
bbc back in time for dinner robshaw experiment
bbc show back in time for dinner looks at eating habits of 50 year period . robshaw family tasked to eat food from different decades over 10 weeks . experiment saw family try foods from each decade from 1950s to the 1990s . tv challenge saw them experience post war rationing and nouvelle cuisine 