Episode 1: Bahamas 1967-1969

A bit of context: personal, historical and gastronomical!

Dad is the son and grandson of miners in County Durham; passing the 11 plus, he went to grammar school and then to University, training as a civil engineer. Mum was born in Somerset, and left school to work in the bank. Mum and dad met when dad joined a major civil engineering firm and went to take charge of a small part of a big project in Somerset. As well as wanting to succeed in work, he wanted to meet girls, so he and a friend joined the Young Conservatives there, and went on an outing to a BBQ. Also on that outing was my mum and one of her friends...and so mum and dad started dating.

After a time they talked about getting engaged, but dad was offered the chance to work in Fiji, and so they decided that dad should take up the offer, and they would get engaged when he got home, which they did. They married in June 1960, and spent some time in West Africa as well as the UK. Mum remembered dad had a more cosmopolitan approach to food than she did when they were first married, and asked her to make spaghetti Bolognaise...he described it as spaghetti with tomato sauce. Mum went out and bought dried spaghetti, and a tube of tomato purée which she squeezed over the cooked pasta...dad dutifully ate it!

I was born in 1962, and my brother was born in 1965. In June of 1967, dad was offered a post in charge of a project in Nassau, and so off we went for 2 and a half years. It was here that mum and dad met people who became great friends of theirs, and these people had also been working abroad, in places that had been influenced by American customs and food. As part of his job, dad had to entertain, and so it was that mum and dad began to go out for cocktails, and to host dinner parties for visiting company men and wives, and for their friends and families.

Various events stand out as events of those times: in 1967, Puppet on a String won Eurovision for the UK, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band was released, and Concord was unveiled. In 1968, Dad’s Army was aired for the first time, the Hong Kong Flu pandemic started, and Martin Luther King was assassinated. In 1969, man finally walked on the moon, Monty Python’s Flying Circus was on tv, and the halfpenny ceased to be legal tender. So much progress!

Gastronomically, it seems to be the time for more convenience food: angel delight, jelly and custard, Fray Bentos pies, and Smash. We had a freezer for the first time in Nassau, says dad, and so food could be stored more easily.

And so mum started keeping her dinner party planner, with the names of everybody who was invited, and the food that was served...

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