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Food in the 1950s

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Boy with home grown veg from the gardens in the grounds at Joseph Rowntree School in Leeds circa 1950.

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Children from St. Barts representation of a School Garden from the 1950's

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Food at Joseph Rowntree Senior School

This film, made by the headmaster of Joseph Rowntree Senior School, New Earswick, shows the daily activities of the pupils during the 50s.

Children dig and pick cabbages in the school garden. In the greenhouse pupils taste the tomatoes they have grown.They pet rabbits and pigs while geese and turkeys roam the gardens.

The film shows how the boys mow and rake the grass, while in the kitchen, girls wearing white aprons and hats, bake cakes and biscuits, prepare afternoon tea, iron clothes and preserve fruit in jars.

Students from St. Barts Primary School in Armley watched a film from 'Joseph Rowntree Senior School'. They then imagined that they were one of the children in the film. This is what they thought they would...

See: Farm animals like cows, chickens rabbits and ducks. Men working in the fields, digging up the ground. People eating tomatoes. There are plants and lots of hay.

Hear: The sound of animal noises and leaves rustling. Machines like lawnmowers, people eating and children laughing.

Smell: Fresh air, hay, grass and animals. The smell of plants, fruit, biscuits and cake.

Taste: Tomatoes, biscuits, cake and tea. The taste of fresh air.

Touch: Machines, spades, animals, hay, wood, clothes, jars and food.

The children used what they had learnt from the video to design a 50s style vegetable garden for their own school. Examples of the children's work can be seen in the images above.

This film from Bradford Market Charter can also be used as a source to find out the types of food people ate in the 50s and can be used to compare food shopping then to shopping now.