Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice.

Just reading the BBC researcher needs help thread asking for experiences of what constituted the ultimate in sophistication when we were teenagers.

Mine was my first glass of "Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice" (from a carton of course). I got engaged in 1978 and we went to a restaurant to celebrate. Real orange juice had just arrived in my town, up until then we'd only had squash, and it was on the menu as a starter. 75p a glass, which was expensive in '78.

I remember the waiter carrying this shot glass on a silver tray through the restaurant and there being a flurry of elbow nudging and whispers of "Look at that! She's having freshly squeezed orange juice!" (always referred to by its full name back then) from the other diners. My boyfriend was in awe and wanted to know what it tasted like as he'd been less daring and stuck with prawn cocktail. Um, oranges funnily enough.

In work the next day everyone was a lot more impressed that I'd had "Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice!" than they were with my engagement ring. It was the talk of the office and everyone wanted to know "What does it taste like?!"

Did the arrival of orange juice have this effect all over England or were the people in my town, including me, just really really easy to impress?

[Trickyvee]

Re: Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice.

This has made me laugh so much! I never imagined orange juice was such a sensation in 1978, and that everybody called it freshly squeezed. I didn't even realise that you couldn't really get fresh orange juice before then.

[frame]

Re: Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice.

I dont really understand this. Im sure I remember my nan making fresh orange juice every day. Oranges were not that expensive were they?

Frame.

[ClaudineJones]

Re: Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice.

Glad it made you laugh Tricky Yes it was a totally new luxury item back then. It was a good while before supermarkets started stocking it. Remember the scene in Fawlty Towers where the American guy asks for a Screwdriver and Bazil serves it with orange squash? If you wanted real orange juice back in '74 (think that's when Fawlty Towers was shot) you had to squeeze it yourself.

[ClaudineJones]

Re: Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice.

I dont really understand this. Im sure I remember my nan making fresh orange juice every day. Oranges were not that expensive were they?

Frame.

But orange juice in a carton was very much an American thing in the 70's. Squeezing your own (I didn't know anyone who did) didn't have the same novelty value.

[frame]

Re: Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice.

I guess your right. My memory isnt too good these days,not enough vitamin c or too much of something else.

Regards,Frame.

[ClaudineJones]

Re: Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice.

Lol, me too Frame. I'm forever thinking "Hang on...have I posted this before?" on here. Thinking about it, I vaguely remember my uncle bringing home an orange squeezer of some description in the late 60's/early 70's and it was confined to under the stairs because only using the juice was considered "Wasteful." Different values back then.

[Trickyvee]

Re: Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice.

My friend and I once thought One Cal cola 'with a twist of lemon' (as it said on the can) was the height of sophistication, but we were only 8 at the time

[Richard1978]

Re: Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice.

I mentioned this to my girlfriend who is 5 years older than me, & she could always remember being able to buy orange juice in a carton.

Until about 20 years ago I can remember orange juice as a starter, as I didn't like prawns & melons that was the only choice for me, until I began to eat pate on toast.

I have seen a WWII poster advertising bottled orange juice for young children, I wonder how pure it was, considering it must have been hard to import oranges at the time.