The Australian Women\'s Weekly - June 2018

Carol about “modern” Asian cooking.

When pineapple was all the rage,

Olivia and Carol tried to make a

pineapple-shaped duck-liver pâté,

but Carol couldn’t find the pineapple

mould. “So we brought out a fabulous-

looking volcano,” she says. “It was

covered in yellow-dyed mayonnaise.”

In 1969 Peter and Carol drank

French champagne cocktails called

moon shots that were invented to

celebrate the lunar landing. They

decorated the house and ate moon

food to watch the moment Neil

Armstrong walked on the moon.

This, and watching the Whitlam

dismissal, gave each family member

JUNE 2018| The Australian Women’s Weekly 121

The Ferrone’s modern open-plan

home (above, right) was retro-

fitted to reflect the style and

culinary offerings of the 1950s.

a deeper appreciation for some of

the historical events that shaped the

20th century. Olivia learned about

the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, which

hit before she was born, by baking

charity cupcakes.

For Annabel, the way convenient,

fast and frozen food became integral

to our lives so quickly was stark

and startling.

“The story that really blew me away

was just the shift towards convenience

food and convenience eating and an

oversupply of food. The thing that the

kids really noticed about the ’50s was

that there was no food in the house.

There’s none of this profusion and no

supermarkets. Comparing it to

now and seeing the progression was

actually really confronting,” she says.

“It makes you question our need

for all this stuff and supermarkets

that will give you absolutely anything

in and out of season. And the thought

that we could arrive at this point

after not very many decades – it

is confronting.”

As for lessons learned from the

experience, Carol wants to introduce

one tech-free night a week, and Olivia

is sold on roller skating. Everybody

has taken something away from the

experience, even if it is just a new

appreciation for the luxuries of

modern life. But they all agree that, when

it comes to tripe and dripping, some

things are best left in the past.AWW

Back in Time for Dinnerairs on
ABC1 and iView on Tuesdays
ANNABEL WEARS H&M CONSCIOUS DRESS. from May 29.

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