Did you have a favorite food at the assemblies (when they sold it there)? (page 7)

Crumpet

Our family was too poor to buy the precooked meals in the aluminum containers so we used to take our own sandwiches. However I did used to save up my pocket money for the assembly food.

Chocolate eclairs at Dudley - the best! Naughty but nice!

Cheese and Onion baps at Dudley initiated me into a life long love affair with the onion.

Hella Chocolate bars at Notts Forest - they had liquid centres and would melt all over my song book as i tried to make it last the whole day!

Bacon sarnies at Manchester - just the smell - yum!

And yes I remember donuts at Twickers

Then of course I also remember East Penines - I was usually too excited to eat and fasted by the time we got to that hall - no not excited over the spiritual food - excited over my new dresses and the octagonal parade through the corridors at lunchtimes making eyes at brothers. The last time I went there I was dfed and couldnt eat at all as you arent allowed to eat with DFed people so I had to go to the Little Chef type place up the road with my dad.

wozadummy

Mmmmm the Lamingtons at the Adelaide assemblies

penny2

Mmmmm the Lamingtons at the Adelaide assemblies

Yes, they were yummy! All home-made, too.

Gill

Well! It's a good job they stopped the food service at assemblies as it appears that most of us are just drooling to get back for the material food if Not the Spiritual Food!!

Tristram

Without doubt the curry. I had my first ever taste of curry at the assembly and I was a born again believer.

OMG - if they had curry at the assemblies in the States I would have eaten it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

A couple random memories: I would eat around the center of the cheese danish until all that was left was the creamy, cheesy center. Then I would pop it in my mouth. We called the Shasta soda "Burp Juice." Who can remember how many tickets things cost? Hoagie - 10 (?) Burrito - 5 Pudding - 3 Danish - 4 (?) Fruit Bag - 10 Also I have hazy memories of some kind of funky pizza at circuit assemblies for a while in the late 70's when I was a kid. It was that rectangular school cafeteria pizza with tomato sauce and cheese. It didn't really taste like pizza as it is commonly known, more like a giant Totino's pizza roll, but to a 7-year old it was dee-licious. BTW - thanks for the fun thread to get me posting a bit.

DJK

What? They don't have food at the convention's any more? That's it! I am cancelling my plans to go to this summers convention!

Bumble Bee

I barely remember the hot meals at the DC. Just remember standing in the long lineups with my gran, having to stand to eat and the counter was way too high for me! lol

After that it was roast beef sandwiches with bbq sauce (my dad always got that), a mini sub with unidentifiable lunch meat with itialian dressing, and I think ham and cheese on rye. Chocolate and vanilla Swiss Miss puddings (full of hydrogenated palm oil), Sara Lee danish in cheese and raisin cinnamon, fruit bags, Cott soda (cola and lemon-lime) usually warm, apple and orange juice, bagels with cream cheese and jam at breakfast.

Our CA were another story though. Every Saturday and Sunday it was always the same thing for the hot meal. Saturday was frozen veal cutlet with tomato sauce and cheese on top, mashed potato, veggie, green salad, two cookies and a drink. Sunday was roast beef with gravy, mashed potato, veggie, salad, two cookies and a drink. They had little containers of horseradish on the side, and it was fun to watch people try it for the first time, not knowing what it was!!! LOL

We used to go the Thursday before the CA to help out in the kitchen, putting the potatoes through the peeler, cleaning and weighing the fruit bags, getting the hot dogs and hamburgers ready for heating. There was one sister in charge of chopping onions because she had no sense of smell and they didn't bother her. Everybody else around was in tears though.

My husband was in the Italian circuit - and their food was even better! lol

If you didn't want the hot meal, there was always the hot dogs and hamburgers in those little foil packs (the hamburgers were already cooked with grill marks and everything - all that had to be done was heat them), McCains frozen individual pizzas, and soup with a bun.

For dessert - at the bookstudy, the brothers would hand out foil pie pans for the sisters to bake pies etc to donate. There were all kinds of pies, squares, cookies etc. And of course the soft ice cream with chocolate, butterscotch or strawberry topping. I always loved working the ice cream station!

After the food service was stopped, every one ate in their seats, the lunch break was reduced, and there wasn't much visiting etc going on anymore. Lunch time used to be fun, eating beside new people, talking, laughing etc.

Aaahh, the memories!! lol

BB

winnie

hot chips at kempsey when i was akid and black forest cake at bowes rd

out of interest did any one go to bowes rd in london i believe its demolished now

not a jw now but must admit that growing up in 70s was fun as jw real community feel now it is sterile and uninviting

ssrriotsquad

They use to make about 5,000 a month, a thousand for Bethel and the rest for CA. For the DC at Sydney, they used to cook for a couple days straight, hence the story above.

I know Melbourne did have the pies as the pie truck (which was a semi-trailer fitted out with three ovens and cassette holders and packing benches) was taken there. Don't know if they made theirs or bought them in?

They were brothers from Melbourne that came to our DC one time ,(I think it was the very last convention with FS or the one before) they had came to us to see if they can get any rejects instead of paying for them. When we said we didn't have any, they said that we were joking and should have some actually have left over pies. We again said "We don't have any pies for you, if we did will give you some". They asked us how many did we heated up and we said about 1,300 for breakfast. They reckoned we should have about 30-odd pies in there, they being broken from when we pack them. We said there were only three pies that were discarded because we used the to test if they were heated through by putting our finger in them and which we had eatened already. They could look for themselves. They had a look and found none. They said they will come at lunch time to see if we will have any broken ones. We told them to come when we actually pack them into the transport boxes and see for themselves on how many we break.

Before the morning session was finished they came around to see how many pies will be available. Some of them were bragging how fast they can unpack a cassette. We said "how fast then?"

They said they can unpack a cassette (480 pies (24pies x 20trays) can be fitted to a cassette, but the maximum cassette can isactually hold 700 (35 pies per tray) but itakes even longer to cook though) in 10mins.

We just laughed at them.

They said "Why are you laughing? Do you think we can't do it 10 mins?"

We then laughed even harder. "10mins? How many do you have packing?"

"Three" they replied. We laughed even harder,

"Three people! Who are you using? Dad's Army?"

"Do you think you can do it faster then?"

"We will do it in half the time, and with two packers and with no breakages!"

"No way! Nobody can do that!" They said in disbelief.

"Oh ye of little faith!" We replied.

End result.

They timed us and we had the cassette packed and loaded onto the pallet to be taken away within 3 1/2 minutes, and with no breakages! Just Alfie's finger tested one was the only one on the top of the oven. They just walked away with their tails between there legs. At least one of them was really interested to see how we actually did it and was amazed that we had to have two deliverer's and not just one in order to keep up with us packing.

evita

Almost forgot about the chicken on the squishy white bread. I actually liked that more than the bbq beef.

I loved getting to the assemblies early and having a cheese or apple danish washed down with a nice hot cup of coffee.
I thought about the food constantly during the talks. What could I eat next? Eating and socializing was the best part of the whole thing.

I always volunteered to work food service because I could miss some of the talks without getting in trouble with my mom.

Did you have a favorite food at the assemblies (when they sold it there)?

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