I had rather assumed that no one would dare to speak about ‘the British housewife’ as if she were still a recognisable species these days. I set out to find when she made her last appearance in unironic print.
She was still in The Times in 1985, the last year covered by the historical archive, but in the obituary of Sir Martin Roseveare, designer of the wartime ration book, so that doesn’t prove that she had not become extinct.
I tried the modern Times. To my astonishment she was spotted in March this year, as reported by Iain MacSween, chairman of Seafood Scotland, who said “Part of the problem is the British housewife has lost the culture of being able to handle and cook whole fish” in Crunch puts langoustine on menu
To be fair, there are 22 other results of my search, though mostly slightly ironical or plain historical, until, back in 2007 Paul Trebilcock, chief executive of the Cornish Fish Producers’ Organisation said that “Squid is something we want to see the British housewife getting her teeth into” in The cod’s off, but fishermen are hoping that squid’s in
What is it with fishermen?
