A Takeaway Memory Test

[steepholm]

I've been trying to remember (without looking it up) at what point in my lifetime certain kinds of takeaway restaurant became commonplace in the UK. By "commonplace" I don't mean "available somewhere in the country" but "available in a typical mid-sized city" - say, a Derby, a Southampton or a Swansea.

This is my impression (but remember I lived my first 18 years in a small market town, so my knowledge is limited):

Common from before I was born: Fish and Chip shops, Chinese takeaways

1960s on: Indian takeaways and other curry houses

Around 1975-80: American-style hamburger and pizza places (Wimpys had been around longer than that, but seems a bit different in my mind, and not that commonly encountered)

1980s: Kebab houses

1990s on - everything else.

Is that reasonable? Have I left anything out, or got anything badly wrong? Remember, I'm not talking about London or the other really big cities - and of course cities with large immigrant populations from a particular country would probably have that country's food ready in takeaway form earlier.

Also, when did people start saying "to go" instead of "to take away" in this country? My impression is that this Americanism started in coffee shops like Starbucks and spread from there, which would put it the early years of this century. Do you agree?

And, on a different topic, have you noticed that "tsunami" has now almost entirely replaced "tidal wave" in common usage? It was not always so! On the other hand, I sense that "rickshaw" is being edged out by "tuk tuk", so the tide of Japanese-origin words is not entirely unchecked.

Comments

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I pretty much lived on Chinese takeaway on my first trip to Britain in 1979. They were often the only places I could find to eat in the evenings. The fast food places like Wimpy's (I think McDonald's and KFC had also already been imported) that existed in the bigger cities didn't exist in smaller towns. I was too intimidated to check out hotel dining rooms (of whose existence as an option for non-guests I was basically unaware, anyway), and while pubs would serve dinners, nobody was ever eating it. The couple times I tried it, I felt creepy being the only person there eating.

Over subsequent decades things became easier, but they still can be tough. The kind of casual dining roadside restaurant that's ubiquitous in the US is still basically unknown in Britain. On our drives back and forth between London and Wales, my brother and I found ourselves stymied in where to have lunch. If we got off the motorway, we couldn't find anything, even in big towns, outside of the impossible-to-get-into (because of traffic, and bad road signage) central cities, and were forced into the truly vile options at the motorway rest stops, where at least we had a lot of company.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I suppose Little Chefs are the nearest to the kind of off-motorway roadside restaurant chain, though I can't recommend them wholeheartedly from a culinary point of view. But I think you're right about that culture not (or barely) existing: I suppose the idea is that most people would find a pub for lunch. That said, in Wales in particular I've sometimes found roadside cafes (invariably with homemade bara brith) that have been pretty good.