Australia, 1970s…
My mum used to serve up the traditional “meat and three veg” most nights. A typical main meal would be lamb cutlets, mashed potato, carrots, and peas. The carrots and peas were invariably so close to mush that they were barely holding their shape. And it wasn’t only my mum either - my school friends ate the same stuff.
I remember working in a pub in 1988 and a long-haired hippy kinda guy showed me how to cook potatoes in a microwave. I was amazed!