Meet the Ferrones...
Who set this table?
Julian. Julian.
..Peter, Carol, Julian,
Sienna and Olivia.
Carol: And we like to eat! Yeah. That's us.
(ALL LAUGH)
This everyday Australian family
has set out on an extraordinary, time-travelling adventure...
(LAUGHS)
..to find out how our changing dinner plate...
It's actually the lining of a cow's stomach
..has transformed the way we live.
The roast beef.
ALL: Cheers!
With their own home as a time machine...
Is this our house?!
..the Ferrones began their journey in the thrifty '50s...
..and are moving through a different decade each week.
CAROL: Oh, my goodness!
Last time...
If I don't end up on my arse, it's fantastic.
..the '70s brought the Ferrones closer together...
You made that?! Yep!
I have noticed, um, a difference in the family dynamic.
I thank the '70s for that.
Now...
Ahhh! My God, it's really nice!
..the family powers into the '80s...
Hey, Annabel! Oh, my God, you look like a gangster!
A decade of fashion faux pas...
..getting fit...
I don't do physical activity!
..getting fat...
Something that happened, the kids of Australia started getting fatter.
Stop that!
..and new technology.
Aha! Oh!
What the hell is that supposed to be?!
..as they discover how our relationship with food...
So you're putting the TV in TV dinner.
Exactly.
..has shaped all our lives.
Where is everybody?
It's the fourth decade of our experiment.
And for Carol and Peter, who hit their teens in the '80s,
this decade is full of awkward nostalgia.
What do you think it'll look like? Garish.
Houses were decorated like a galah. Yeah.
The '80s were pretty cool actually.
I-I'm looking forward to go back to that decade
and live through it as an adult.
Can we talk about Dad's outfit? Oh, my God.
Don't even get me started. The sunglasses.
It's excellent. What's wrong with it?
You look like a porn star, that moustache has to go.
I've gotta clean the pools I'm gonna shave it off.
In the neighbourhood.
Here we are!
'80s, here we come!
Ready? Here we go...
(GASPS)
Oh, my God, it's really nice! Oh, wow!
What?! JULIAN: Oh, my goodness.
There's a TV remote! It's not just me!
Oh, wow!
I did say styling of galahs.
The bold patterns and dingy colours of the 1970s
have been discarded entirely in favour of a peachy pastel decor,
enlivened by porcelain trinkets and slightly creepy animal motifs.
Do you remember when I had a zebra obsession?!
Ohh, you did too.
I think it just brings you back to a time where you were younger.
Oh, my gosh...
SIENNA: I'm not sure what actually happened in the '80s
because everything was a bit over the top and crazy.
Look at the big speaker!
Oh, my God! I have died and gone to stereo heaven!
JULIAN: I'm looking forward to the 1980s with great gusto.
You know, because of the technological developments.
Oh, my goodness! Wowwww!!
(GASPS) Look how open plan this is!
OLIVIA: It's so cool! PETER: Oh, lots of cane.
The Ferrone family kitchen is now completely opened up,
to indulge the 1980s focus on entertaining at home.
There's a TV in here!
Yesss! Yes!!
And it's packed with every modern gadget on offer
in the decade of peak shopping.
CAROL: Coffee brewer! Ohhh! PETER: Interesting.
We have a soda stream! Oh, cool!
SIENNA: That's the best.
Look. We have a microwave!
God, it's so big. All these new gadgets.
We are a well to-do '80s family. PETER: We are.
For the stressed out working woman of the '80s,
the microwave was a godsend.
At the touch of a button, according to the hype,
it could cook absolutely anything
in a fraction of the time taken by a conventional oven.
VOICEOVER: This is one of the scores of microwave cooking classes
being given around Australia.
From stews to pasta,
every family favourite could now be made in double time
with a fancy new technique.
SIENNA: Frozen pizza! OLIVIA: Chippies!
And frozen chips! Chippies!
We're Italian! There's no frozen pizza.
I'd throw this at someone.
Nutrition-free treats from the freezer
continued to gain in popularity...
Look at this pantry.
JULIAN: Oh, my goodness. Liv's gonna love those marshmallows.
..while inside the '80s pantry,
a stockpile of sweet and salty snacks grew and grew,
a health time bomb waiting to explode.
I'm feeling a nachos night coming up!
Oh, yes!!
In the other decades, some of them didn't have chips or any snacks.
So I was really happy that we got lots of snacks.
We have our Post-it note from Annabel.
In our 1980s manual.
"Hi, Ferrone family. Welcome to the '80s, it's a big decade.
"As always, instructions are in the manual. From Annabel.
"P.S. Carol and Peter, I'll see you in 1981."
Ohh! OK!
The '80s were a decade of big hair and huge shoulder pads,
With no such thing as over-accessorising.
Greed was good.
And winning was everything.
REPORTER: After about three hours of racing,
Australia II regained the lead and the crowd began to roar.
More people arrived and the champagne flowed all too freely.
I tell you what,
any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum!
(LAUGHTER)
It was also a decade of epic contradictions.
Fast foods proliferated
but Australians embarked on a fitness craze,
literally getting fit and fat at the same time.
REPORTER: More than one-third of Australians
are at least 10% above their ideal body weight.
The materialistic '80s were all about making money
and spending it.
VOICEOVER: Only one of these cards is accepted internationally
in 3.5 million places.
Although there were more women in fulltime work than ever,
housework was still overwhelmingly a woman's burden.
Are you gonna label everything?!
Maybe.
You banana.
With more jobs and opportunities available,
many women traded in their part-time clerical positions
for fulltime professional careers,
exactly what Carol has done.
But she's still responsible for dinner.
So, tonight we're gonna have roast turkey,
but we're gonna make it in the microwave,
which is really strange, isn't it? Mm-hm.
Tonight's meal, completely microwaved,
comes from an '80s edition of the Australian Gourmet Magazine.
To make it, Carol needs:
This thing is humungous!
Oh my good... I don't know how this is gonna cook in the microwave,
to be honest. Me either.
In 2018, a microwave is just for heating up,
whereas I'm creating a whole meal in the microwave.
Just shove it in.
Eww!! I can't look.
It really looks yucky. You're being a bit dramatic.
I'm the one that has my hand in a turkey's butt.
Yeah.
I'm a career woman now, I'm not a housewife.
And it's all about getting things done quickly.
I'm just too busy now to be wasting hours in the kitchen.
Parisian essence, I wonder what this is?
Ohh!
You know what that smells like? Gimme a smell.
It smells like roast meat. Meat or something. Yeah.
I think it's to make it look fake brown.
Which is a bit kinda weird, to be honest.
It's fake tan!
It is fake tan!
I'm a genius!
Time. 60 minutes.
Gee, that makes me nervous, putting it in for that long.
Ready? No!
Let's hope we actually have a dinner.
With Carol and Olivia making dinner,
Julian and Sienna have ventured out
to spend some time indoors.
Oh, my goodness! Wow. There's a lot of stuff in here.
For '80s teens
the coolest place to hang out was the local video arcade.
Oh man, that is a lot of stuff.
Gone were the mechanical pinball parlours of the past,
as 20 cent video games took over the youth market.
You're just hitting a button.
Gaming grew into an addiction.
And with no adults in sight,
there was no-one to tell you when enough was enough.
Hopefully our friends will be here soon.
Hey. Oh, hey!
Hey, Julian. Hello.
How are you?! Good!
How are you? Good!
The '80s is crazy in a social way.
How do I look?! Gorgeous!!
Being able to get out of the house to the video arcade
is a big change from, like, the '70s
where we'd spend time all together as a family.
But I much prefer going out with my friends.
I gotta say, even though these are '80s games,
like, you know, the technology's like, Cold War era,
it's not too bad.
You can kind of see
how people would like to spend hours playing on this game.
Well, yeah. And, like...
Especially in the '80s right, you've got nothing else to do,
I know this first hand
'cause I just came from the '50s, '60s and '70s.
Even though I'm, you know, used to 2018 entertainment...
Ohh! Man!
I understand why kids in the 1980s would have found it a lot of fun,
you know, be more social and this new technology and stuff.
Alright, everyone, dig in. Thank you.
It looks like Pac Man!
Did you also know it used to be called Puck Man?
Japanese. Mmm.
I do feel a bit bad about leaving Mum to do the cooking.
But I kind of forgot about that after I got to the arcade.
(MICROWAVE HUMS THEN STOPS) (GASPS) Oh!
I think the microwave just died.
OK. I'm gonna just, um...
We've got power there, so it's not a power point.
Well, it looks like one of the wings... blew up.
That's why you're supposed to tie them in.
You know what?
I think you've... blown it. Really?
I have to cook the vegies,
so I guess I'm gonna have to go back to boiling them.
Looks like it.
That was the one thing I was excited about putting in the microwave.
I know. Yeah, it is a...
Oh, it's very pink actually. Yeah, I feel like that's not cooked.
You know what? I think we just finish it off in the regular oven.
Oh, God, life in the '80s is hard. Oh, it's supposed to be easier.
The microwave was marketed to shorten your cooking times.
I think we realised that it didn't really speed it up.
I think we stick to roasting meats in the oven
and just using the microwave to cook veggies.
Where's Julian and Sienna? I don't know where they are.
They'll know dinner's nearly ready, so I'm sure they'll head back soon.
Should we eat dinner without them? Nah.
Well, if they don't make it home in time, for sure.
Uh-huh.
It's only day one, and let's be honest,
the teenagers spent the day with their friends
and did absolutely nothing.
It's so hard them not...
You know what? ..having mobile phones.
I know. Yeah, I know.
Like, you can't send a message and say, "Where are you?"
I would be a wreck if we lived in the '80s,
'cause I'm used to phones... That's right.
..and knowing where my kids are every moment of the day.
Maybe ring little dinger really loud. They might hear it.
Once, once, once! Dinner!
JULIAN: What's the worst that'll happen?
Mum's gonna kill us. We're so late.
I've gotta close the gate, hold on.
Don't worry, she won't know if we don't close the gate.
CAROL: Oh, is that all the stuffing? We're home, we're home, we're home!
Oh! Finally!
Oh, finally!
We were going to eat without you. Sit down.
Yeah. Mmm.
Oh, man, that smells...
I need to hold it up, 'cause it's like up...
Interesting.
So, how was the arcade? The arcade was great.
It was fun. Lots of fun.
Was it? Yeah.
What did you play? Did you go with anyone?
Pac Man, Space Invaders.
Couldn't leave 20 minutes earlier? We were eating.
PETER: Why were you eating?!
What did you eat? Pizza.
Well...
Why were you eating there, if you knew Mum's cooking?
The teenagers, you know, strolled in
right as dinner was served, like it was no big deal.
I've realised how lucky we are to have mobile phones.
OK.
There are pay phones. That you can... ring home
and tell me that you're OK.
Don't stroll in at the last minute.
It was quite a shock actually,
because I never felt like that in the previous decades.
And I think very much so in the '80s that would have happened.
Even though we ate pizza at the arcade...
Yeah?
Um... Knowing that I was cooking?
Knowing that you were cooking.
Don't lambast us, 'cause it was educational.
How can pizza be educational? Mmm!
Pac Man, one of the developers, right,
takes a slice out of a whole pizza
and the guy who invented Pac Man
goes, "Oh, bam, there's my character!"
It became the most successful coin operated game in all human history,
Guinness World Records.
The kids enjoyed their day at the arcade,
which was really nice for them to spend time with their friends.
That turkey's dry as.
OLIVIA: Can't complain when you didn't help.
But coming home late, doing their own thing and it...
I feel like it separated us a little bit.
Seeing as you two just strolled in after an afternoon of leisure...
You can clean up. ..you can clean this up.
Yep. Yeah.
Here you go, Julian! It's ridiculous.
Ridiculous? Yes!
What did you do all day?
Uhhh, what did you do?
Caught up with my friends! Yeah, thank you.
SIENNA: I don't touch dirty dishes, that's gross.
Well, you have to touch dirty dishes.
1981.
Good morning, Australia.
Time for the National Eyewitness News with Tim Webster.
Thanks Kerri, the latest development...
She has good hair, Mum. Should do your hair like that.
The Ferrones have woken up to a new year
and discovered some other new stuff - breakfast television...
JULIAN: I'll cook this in the microwave I guess.
CAROL: Are we microwaving eggs?
..a new microwave...
Do you know what? I might have a couple of eggs as well.
..and a new service regime at breakfast
where it's every man, woman or child for themselves.
Nothing like Coco Pops in the morning.
OLIVIA: It's like a chocolate milkshake.
While the staples have remained the same for the last 30 years,
stodgy porridge has succumbed to sugary, processed cereal.
But milk is now low fat, and coffee is... dripolated.
Oh, this coffee is ordinary,
but when you're desperate you're desperate.
Oh, whoa!!
That is not the gourmet stuff we're used to in 2018.
We need to get out of here. The quicker the better.
Are you done, Liv? Yep.
Alright, let's go.
During the '80s,
there were around 7 million registered cars on the road,
a little more than a third of today's traffic.
Pop your belt on.
For the first time in decades, Carol is getting behind the wheel.
Alright, let's go.
In the '80s, fewer people were taking public transport
and even fewer were walking.
Here we go.
Most families now had two cars.
And working women like Carol
would drop their kids off at school before driving to the office.
Bye. Bye.
Here. Money for lunch. Thank you.
While children invested in tuck shop lunches,
well-to-do professionals
could look forward to something rather fancier at midday.
Before the fringe benefits tax of 1986 killed all the fun,
the early '80s gave us the golden age of the business power lunch.
Would you like to come this way, please.
Fine. Thank you.
Forget the humble sandwich at the desk,
lunch was a long, boozy, tax-deductible affair,
typically enjoyed in a ritzy location.
Hello.
Hey, Annabel. (LAUGHS)
Oh, my God, you look like a gangster.
How are you? Yes.
I am so sorry for making you
walk through Circular Quay... That's alright.
Yes. Hello.
You look like extras from a TV series.
Yes, we do.
It's funny because I was a kid in the '80s,
like, I remember all this stuff... Same. Yep.
But it's so shocking to see, you know...
Yes. It's so normal at the time.
It is.
We blocked it out from the '80s. Yeah, I know.
I'm about to make it up to you in such a big way.
Oh.
Because the reason we are here in this stellar location...
We are.
..going to have a power lunch at Bennelong.
Oh nice, very nice. Oh, very nice.
That beats microwave food. Definitely.
Super chic Sydney restaurant run by Peter Gilmore.
Fantastic.
Who was an apprentice chef in the '80s.
Oh, he would have been.
And, uh, he's going to make an '80s-style lunch for us.
Ohh! Oh, wow. That'll be interesting.
I don't think he's microwaving anything.
Before executive chef Peter Gilmore
became the godfather of contemporary Australian fine dining,
he was influenced by local chefs
preparing the new classics of Nouvelle Cuisine
in which tiny meals were served on large plates for gigantic prices.
MAN: We're not trying to force a lot of money out of people,
we're just trying to
get them to come and have four or five courses.
Today, Peter Gilmore is preparing a recipe
inspired by his memories of that French food revolution.
PETER: Yeah. I remember doing stuff like that in the 1980s
as a young apprentice.
I think it's a very, sort of, typical look of that period.
Very clean, very geometric, very, uh, minimal.
Um, but fresh flavours and very light.
OK. Service.
Three 1980s lobster dishes away, please.
(LAUGHS)
Do you know much about Nouvelle Cuisine?
Do you remember much? Not really.
All I remember is big plate, small food.
Yeah.
Which, um, when you are of a European background...
Small plate, big food.
(ALL LAUGH)
Oh, wow. Ohh, look at that! It's so good.
Thank you.
Wow.
It's too good to eat. I know.
Hi, guys, how are you? Hello. It's so good.
So, what do you think? It looks awesome.
Peter. Hello! Very nice to meet you.
Pleasure to meet you. Carol. Hello. You're looking very '80s.
Yes, thank you. Yes.
But this is a work of art. It is.
Well, you know, it is... certainly is back in time for me,
when I was dishing this up, I was like, wow!
It's so different than... Yes.
..than what we do today.
And it's very pretty food and you can sort of see, you know,
where the reputation of big plates and small portions came
because, you know, I actually put a little bit more on there than..
Oh, did you?
..you would have got in the '80s. Thank you.
Didn't they used to call it, um, "Mean Cuisine"?
Uh, yeah, you know, and there was always stories about,
"Oh went out for dinner
"then we stopped for a hamburger on the way home,"
Yes.
OK. Talk us through what's on the plate here.
OK. Well, we've got a really beautiful Tasmanian lobster,
on top of that we have tomato confit
and then we have a little bit of black truffle.
Is it OK for me to just dive straight in?
I reckon... I reckon just dive in.
And you can keep telling us stories from the '80s.
Oh, you know, I remember being in the kitchen as a young apprentice
and lunches just went on forever.
This thing that... Um, you know...
So it was a boon for the restaurant industry
and every restaurant within,
you know, a sort of a 10K radius of the city would open for lunch.
And they'd be full.
Life in the '80s so far, I would describe it as big.
And quite gregarious and loud, you know.
Those business power lunches.
It was just a decade of... of opulence and showing off.
Lunches went on forever, especially Friday lunch,
I mean, they would just sort of meld into dinner, really.
That's right.
That plate was, uh, more of an entree than a main.
You know, the Nouvelle Cuisine,
I can see why people stopped for a burger on the way home.
Do you miss anything about the '80s?
Oh, jeez, I dunno. Think hard.
(ALL LAUGH)
Um, oh, you know, I think the music was pretty good.
Yeah.
Everything comes back, doesn't it?
Do you think the food will come back? Nah, hopefully not.
No, I really don't think the food will come back.
Hopefully not.
You're very kind to have us. Excellent, thank you.
Thank you, Peter. It's been fun.
To you! Thank you.
1982.
The fitness craze in the early '80s got 49% of Australians exercising.
Many opted to pound the pavement,
like our own world number one marathon runner, Robert de Castella.
I've got a little saying, "A little bit of pain never hurt anybody."
It wasn't only about keeping fit.
The '80s were about looking good.
Now watch this, we lunge side to side. Here.
And Australia's Rancan Sisters
were leading the charge on morning television...
..combining aerobics routines
with the latest music
and the most garish of gym wear,
the nation was getting physical.
These outfits are pretty tragic.
No, you know what? I think you look good.
Yeah, you're rocking it. I like the bright colours.
There's too many colours and layers
and things going on. Patterns.
The exercise clothes were a bit much and over the top.
I don't know why there was so much happening on my body at once.
I don't understand what these leg warmers are for.
No, I don't know either.
The leg warmers were... got too hot,
I'm not sure why they would actually wear them.
The outfits were very different.
Let's get warmed up with the body sculpt work out.
Will we have really good butts after this?
Yeah.
We have Chaz and Jon Pierre joining us for today's work out.
Give me a march on the spot?
OK. We can do this.
Now from the ceiling, pull it back, tuck it in.
This is too fast.
Try it again, reach four for four. Shake it out.
I'm a potato, I don't do physical activity.
Go, hands on your sides. Side to side, right up onto your...
They're making us sweat here.
I don't sweat, I sparkle.
Now centre down and up.
Lift. Throw those arms up in the air.
While the girls work out in the privacy of their lounge room...
♪ Try not to break me, baby... ♪
..Peter and Julian
are committing their '80s fashion crimes in public.
Alright. stretching. Alright.
You gotta work on your balance there, mate.
Thanks.
Oh. my Lord.
'80s exercise...
I dunno if the sweatband actually helped or made me hotter.
OK. Alright.
Alright, let's go. No. let's go.
The gear's not the greatest to go jogging in.
But, um, we're in the '80s, that's not what it was really about.
Hey, girls. Hey.
Oh-la-la! What's happening here? Oh! Yuck!
To be a full participant in the '80s fitness craze,
it wasn't enough just to dress foolishly and work out.
You look, um... Disgusting.
You also needed to be on an elaborate fad diet.
Alright, who's hungry? OLIVIA: Yes.
Cookbook sales went down,
overtaken by a flurry of diet books
offering new and often conflicting advice on how to get thin.
Oh... my. What the?
Today, we're giving the Ferrone family
a chance to live the dream of 1980s skinny.
Oh, what's this?
They're going to design and eat two dishes
from diametrically opposed diets.
CAROL: (READS) "Atkins versus Pritikin.
"Both the Atkins diet
"and the Pritikin diet were very popular in the '80s."
Yep.
"Peter and Sienna, you will have a selection of ingredients
"to create your own Atkins dish." OK.
And "Carol and Julian, you'll have a selection of Pritikin ingredients."
Oh, are you kidding me?
So what are we doing? We're doing Atkins dish.
The Atkins diet of the '80s
steered away from sugars and carbohydrates like pasta and bread
and prescribed foods high in fat,
cholesterol and protein.
High fat, no carbs. We can do a big breakfast fry up.
We can do a steak, layer with some bacon, couple of eggs on top
and then we're... That fry pan's ours.
Carol and Julian are preparing a recipe
following the principles of the Pritikin diet,
which was all about grains,
fruits and vegetables.
There's not a skerrick of fat and hardly any protein in sight.
JULIAN: Pritikins is no fat but high fibre.
No fat, eh? Not vegetables.
So no cheese?
Yeah, nothing... So, no cheese?
Nothing delicious.
It's the complete antithesis to the Atkins diet.
Mmm, cheese.
We're gonna do a veg and bean risotto.
OK.
Don't worry, this is better, we'll win.
(WHISPERS) Maybe we can steal something from there if we need it.
Don't even think about it.
Can you put a bit of olive oil in that pan?
I don't think we're allowed olive oil.
Nup, you're not allowed olive oil.
OLIVIA: Hah! Oh, you don't know that.
The battle lines in the Ferrone kitchen
are a pretty faithful reproduction of the food war
that raged through the '80s and beyond
about the benefits of each diet.
SIENNA: Is there lemon? Are we allowed to use?
Lemons have sugar.
But that's different. No!
Atkins believed carbs and sugars were the cause of obesity,
but Pritikin insisted that eating less fat would let us live longer.
These conflicting views caused mass confusion in the home
and in the supermarket.
Too bad. Avocados...
We don't have oil, you don't have lemons.
Avocados and tomatoes have sugar.
They're primarily fatty. "Primarily fatty"
Oh, I'm sorry, I... Whenever I listen to a fact-based opinion,
I just get angry at everyone. You can't have different rules to us.
You're actually a jerk. PETER: Just put olive oil over it.
SIENNA: It was very different to see
that some people would think a high-fat diet was very good for you.
I actually thought it was a little bit gross
that you would have fats on fats on fats.
Do you wanna chuck a bit of olive oil in here?
But what about the diet?
What about this actually tasting decent?
That's what the people of the '80s had to deal with.
Obnoxious sons? Yes.
Yeah. And dads that don't taste good.
The cooking challenge today was a bit of a challenge
because Mum and I, you know, doing the Pritikins diet,
you don't have
the three things that really make something delicious, -
sugar, fat, salt.
Teams, we've got two minutes left, we should be plating up now.
SIENNA: Jeez, she's a bit pushy. Here we go.
The food challenge was really fun because I got to be the judge.
OK. Mum and Julian.
Collaboration was a nine out of ten.
Oh. Oh!
PETER: You didn't collaborate at all.
The taste was
an eight out of ten.
Effort for Dad and Sienna is nine out of ten.
Collaboration was ten out of ten.
Taste was ten out of ten, spice was nine out of ten...
Hah! Presentation was seven out of ten.
So we won by half a point.
Ohhh ho-ho!
Great. Told ya so.
Congrats. Can I just say...
Can you imagine living in the '80s not as kids,
but as adults and having to follow these stupid diets.
I get that, um, you know, it's all about gotta basically look perfect.
But there's gotta be an easier way.
I think people definitely were obsessed with food and eating
in the '80s, you know,
With the diets, everything is detailed
and, you know, it's gonna make you lose weight or whatever.
I prefer to stick to simple food and everything in moderation.
Hey, '84.
While diets and fitness preoccupied a growing number of Australians,
paradoxically, the nation was also happily filling up on fatty foods
and sugary concoctions.
Our fast way of eating
had a profound effect on our lifestyles and our waistlines.
REPORTER: Australia is an expanding nation.
The number of overweight and obese people in Australia is increasing.
And most alarmingly, it began to affect children.
So, I've come to Olivia's school
to discuss the rising concern of obesity in the '80s
with personal trainer and author Michelle Bridges.
Like me, she was a teen at the time.
The '80s are such a...
I dunno, you think in your brain about aerobics and lycra
and people doing exercise. Yeah.
But the weird thing is, that, looking back at the '80s,
are kind of the decade where the obesity crisis sort of started,
it kind of gets traced back to that decade.
Certainly in Australia, sugar was, you know,
really pumped into... into our foods.
And into places like this, right?
I mean... Into our canteens.
I remember my canteen menu in my primary school,
it was pretty sugar-laden and fat-laden.
Yeah. Totally.
I mean, most kids wouldn't walk out onto the football field
without a pie and a can of Coke under their belt.
Yeah, you're right.
Olivia: Hi, Annabel! Hey, hello!
Hi, guys, hi!
Olivia, this is Michelle. Hi.
Nutrition goddess. Hi.
We went to school in an era
when canteens sold all this sort of stuff.
Oh!
Do you not have this at your canteen now?
No! Nahhh!
We sometimes have, like, a finger bun so we're...
You can get a finger bun. Like that... like, once a year.
And pancakes. Once in a while?
So, this is the stuff that used to be on offer in school canteens,
and do you know, like, in all seriousness...
Stop that!
..one of the things that happened in the 1980s
was, there was a lot of new foods around,
there was a lot of little treats being made.
The snack food industry was booming. Mmm.
Portion sizes got bigger
and soft drinks went from being this big to that big.
But something that happened to the kids of Australia
is that they started getting fatter. Oh.
There was some massive changes in the obesity levels in kids your age
and upwards to 15 from the '80s into the '90s,
and a lot of it was, well...
Feeding kids chips and finger buns for lunch.
Just take a look at what's in front of us.
REPORTER: The playground at lunch time is where it starts
but not where it ends.
After school is often another raid for junk food,
sweets and ice-cream on the way home.
And that's before dinner.
By the '80s, one in three Australian children was overweight
and struggled to pass a fitness test.
Cholesterol levels among kids were shockingly high.
And the risk of developing cardiovascular problems
and diabetes was growing.
So canteens were asked to change their tune.
So, there was a nutritionist in the 1980s
who actually came up with a more healthy suggested canteen lunch.
ALL: Boo! Come on, she's a champion!
So, instead of pies, pasties, sausage rolls, chips and finger buns,
why don't you try peanut butter with grated carrot and sultanas?
That is an all-time favourite of mine, I still have it now.
There you go.
Guys, you look... so thrilled at this concept.
But getting the message through would take some time,
especially to the school canteen's client base.
So, what would you have if you could choose anything you wanted?
I would have... this! Mine!
I would have this!
The way in which we used to feed our children...
It's frightening to think
that we were just pumping them full of sugar, high-fat foods
and then expecting them to be able to concentrate in a classroom.
I'm going to eat the rest of my doughnut
and then eat everything else at home.
And the explosion of fast food
and the changes with mum and dad working longer hours,
You can kind of see how this was the perfect storm.
Do you think that little talk we had to them really worked?
It's clearly worked. Yeah.
Clearly... resonated.
Canteens in the '80s, they're lucky 'cause they got lollies.
Maybe just a little bit too much lollies.
They could have had some, like, fruit.
If I had that canteen in my school in 2018,
I'd probably be really big.
1985.
♪ Outta mind, outta sight
♪ Gotta keep my body tight... ♪
It's 1985
and Julian is strutting to one of the biggest hits of the year
on one of the decade's hottest new devices.
But it wasn't just portable music players popping on the scene.
Personal technology in general was becoming cheaper
and making its way into homes across the country.
Oh! Cool.
It's a Commodore 64. Wow.
Oh, classic.
Man. 64KB of RAM.
That is... ridiculously tiny.
I mean, that's why they called it the Commodore 64, 64KB of RAM.
Whereas in 2018, you'll be happy
if you get 16 gigabytes which is... what, like?
250,000 times greater?
Released in 1982, the Commodore 64 completely revolutionised
the lives of the younger generation,
taking them out of the video arcades
to play games in the comfort of their own homes.
JINGLE: ♪ Are you keeping up with the Commodore?
♪ Cause the Commodore is keeping up with you. ♪
As it was drastically cheaper than its competitors,
the Commodore 64 was the first home computer to sell on a mass scale.
(READS) "You must turn off your Commodore
"before you insert or remove cartridges."
Julian is a proud and self-confessed computer nerd.
But he's finding it tricky to master this ancient technology.
No.
Dat? No.
OK.
Oh! Nope.
OK...
Syntax Error, that's fine...
That's...
So, we've brought in a super nerd,
a man whose every conversation turns to numbers,
maths and science guru, comedian and author, Adam Spencer.
(KNOCK! KNOCK!) OK, OK.
Hello!
Julian. Adam Spencer. Oh, my goodness.
'80s maths nerd, how are you mate? Great!
Excellent. Wonderful to meet you.
Wow. Um. Wow.
Take me back through time, let's check this out.
You're um... Are you Adam Spencer?
Wonky eye and all, my friend.
Oh, my goodness!
Wow!
Have yourself a Rubik's Cube. Thank you.
Adam Spencer's an Australian icon really.
One of the, you know, science and math... uh, celebrities,
like Karl Kruszelnicki.
I can't believe
I'm actually meeting THE Adam Spencer.
(CHUCKLES)
I can't believe I can see a Commodore 64!
Yeah. And I'm struggling to figure out how to load everything,
'cause I'm used to 2018. (LAUGHS)
I dunno how to... use this.
Would you happen to know anything?
It's a screen... a screen covered in syntax errors.
Yeah. I can probably dust off the memory and work it out.
It's got that 64K of RAM, right? Yeah.
A decade earlier, when we land on the moon,
the lunar module has 70K...
Yeah, it's nuts. ..of memory.
Now, you're not exactly comparing the same computers...
No. But within a decade,
the thing we landed on the moon is on your desk at home.
Yeah, it's nuts.
And you're playing, you know, chess or whatever.
Yeah.
So, the screen's gone blank and then it just said, "Found",
so that means it's found it.
It will take about four minutes.
So, um, we've got a bit of spare time
during which I can tell you about this.
Have you ever used a Rubik's Cube before?
Yes, I have. Classic Rubik's Cube.
Comes on the market in the 1980s, sells millions.
My personal best time, 41 seconds on the school bus...
That is nuts. ..back in the uh, mid-1980s.
Current world record holder is an Aussie guy called Feliks Zemdegs,
does it in about 4.9 seconds. Yeah. I know, it's nuts.
It's nuts. Have a twiddle.
Um, I don't think I can do this in 4.9 seconds.
Here's something for you, mate.
This is a Casio.
Oh, Casio Calculator Watch. Yeah.
The type worn by Marty McFly... Oh, my goodness.
..in the 1985 super hit Back to the Future.
So put that on.
Thank you. That's alright.
Oh, man.
That was the must-have nerd watch. (BEEP!)
Hello! Oh!
That's speed, my friends.
Push F1 or the button on the paddle to start.
(LAUGHS) Um...
It's, like, brilliant. Getting it on!
Look at that!
Just gone through the 300km/h mark, gone past one car.
Come on! Good job!
I've still got... I've still got it, haven't I?
It's funny, isn't it?
How computers went from, like, this pure military thing,
into pretty much almost one in every home.
And it was the '80s, where it happened.
Ohhh...
This thing was 600 bucks. Yeah.
But its competitors were all, like, $1,000, $1,100,
that's why these things just ran off the shelf.
Yeah. You know what? I think I can beat you.
Bring it! Alright. So um...
Hubris!
It's a very, uh... rigid... Yeah.
It's not like 2018 driving games where it's very fluid driving.
This is just, like, straight, left, right.
And with that, we have a new high score!
Ah-hah! Brilliant!
Oh, what the hell is that supposed to be?!
Zeroed in on it and won.
I beat him... twice, so I am, well, pretty pleased about that.
Hubris that successfully beat 17,300.
Yeah sure, yeah OK. Point taken.
Arrogance, we had that back in the '80s too.
Oh, yeah.
Ah, that was a lot of fun.
JULIAN: 1986.
It may be 1986, but Carol and Sienna
have both been struck down by a 2018 bug.
PETER: Carol and Sienna both woke up in the middle of the night
and were really sick and nauseous.
So... we will, um, get some hot lemon into her and see if that helps.
With Carol under the weather, Peter is flying solo in the kitchen today.
I'm pretty happy to be back in here.
I dunno how the '80s man would've probably gone,
being thrown into the kitchen,
I think probably just got some takeaways.
But there was no takeaway in our house.
You always ate fresh.
For Peter's Italian parents,
fresh ingredients were the most important part of every meal.
The Mediterranean diet that they and other migrants brought to Australia
sparked real interest among Australian doctors.
REPORTER: Two Melbourne doctors began to study the food habits
of southern European migrants living in Melbourne.
Their results show
that the migrants have an enormous advantage in life expectancy
over native-born Australians.
Among the most influential migrant groups were the Greeks.
250,000 had arrived from Greece by the mid-'80s,
among them, the parents of chef, Peter Conistis,
who's been instrumental
in changing how Australians eat and cook Greek cuisine.
Oh, hello. Peter.
Hi, I'm Peter Conistis.
Welcome to the... 1980s kitchen.
Wow. Definitely very '80s.
As a young adult in the 1980s,
Peter Conistis saw how his parents' Greek food
changed the Australian palate.
As a proud Greek-Australian,
I thought I would teach you how to make my family's moussaka recipe.
Oh, beautiful, beautiful.
I grew up with a lot of Greeks and next door neighbour was Greek
and I spent a lot of time there and, yeah.
At least once a week I had moussaka. Oh, wow, OK.
I had two dinners every night -
one next door and one with my parents.
Just like me, absolutely.
Well, I'm hoping you'll enjoy this one.
Oh, beautiful.
The key ingredients for the moussaka made by Peter's Mum Eleni, include:
You can't make it without the eggplant.
So, I'm just gonna start browning the lamb mince.
So, what else do we need?
Uh, dried mint. Some dried mint.
Cinnamon, allspice and some Greek oregano.
Greek oregano in Greek cooking is used in, I'd say half the dishes.
I still remember going to the Greek delis with my Mum growing up
and you'd see it hanging up on the rafters.
Yep, yep.
These days you can find it in any supermarkets selling bunches.
Yeah. that's right. Which I think is fantastic.
It's had a really big impact on cooking in Australia
over the last 20, 30 years.
Eleni's recipe is far more authentic
than the versions offered by some popular '80s cookbooks.
Cut these while we're going. Yeah.
Let's cut 'em into circle... into discs. About a centimetre.
About a centimetre. Yeah.
I still remember finding a Woman's Weekly cookbook by Margaret Fulton
where she had her recipe of moussaka in it.
Tried to cook it the way the recipe wrote
but it just had no depth of flavour for me.
It was lovely but it was never like the food that I ate growing up.
It was Westernised, let's say. Exactly.
But it was... it was good to see
that Greek food had such a mainstream influence in cooking.
In Australian cuisine. Absolutely.
I think Peter's experience was fairly similar to my experience.
You know, of the immigrant parents,
keeping with the traditional ways of cooking and raising a family.
My mum was an amazing cook.
I mean, I grew up watching Mum cook all the amazing food in the '80s.
Thought it was a great cooking experience with Peter.
Just right. Look at that. Just enough.
OK. So let's get it into the oven.
I was his sous-chef and I was quite happy to do that.
Beautiful.
Here's to your family enjoying my family's '80s moussaka recipe.
Cheers.
Salute. Yia mas.
Thank you for having me. I hope it all turns out well.
Oh, I'm sure it will.
With the moussaka now cooking in the oven,
Julian and Olivia are taking in some '80s entertainment.
That's me, you know.
Who's that?
That's Madonna. She's a famous artist, music person.
When I'm singing on stage, that's me.
It's just one part of my personality.
Is she a teenager? No.
Is she still alive?
(SCOFFS)
For women and young girls, pop culture icons like Madonna
were key influencers of fashion trends across the decade.
And look!
Nope. Oh!
That is a lot of stuff. Yeah!
From fishnets... Fishnet.
..to flashy, faux jewellery.
More...
..it had become a material world for material girls.
(GIGGLES)
It's excessive. Overly excessive is what it is.
Oh, my God, what's happening here?
Look at all my necklaces. Olivia's playing dress up.
Oh, who are you trying to be?
Madonna?
You look more like Mr T! Who's that?
Dinner time.
Um, Liv, grab some plates under there, bella.
Poor uh, Mum and Sienna, hey?
Yeah, they're sick. Yeah.
I'm sure they'd uh, enjoy this.
Well, Mum would anyway. Mmm.
What, like, nationality is this, Dad?
It's Greek.
It's like a Greek lasagne really,
instead of pasta sheets through it, eggplant.
I was really sad that Mum and Sienna were sick
and they couldn't be here because...
..it's better with them.
This is hot.
I like the lamb. The lamb's done well.
It was very quiet, especially without Mum.
Yeah it's... it's nice.
October 19, 1987, known as "Black Monday",
marks one of the most devastating stock market crashes in US history.
Around the world, stock markets plummeted.
REPORTER: The Japanese share market
fell a massive 700 points this morning.
And Australia followed suit.
"50 sell Western!"
REPORTER: The All Ordinaries Index
has now fallen nearly 44% from its peak.
Many experts are now warning a recession is coming.
While some tried to make light of the situation,
families were facing an uncertain future.
Interest rates began to rise, and many lost their jobs.
In October alone,
36,000 extra people were seeking employment.
The days of living easy were gone.
PETER: I was 17,
so you're a little bit naive to how it really affects you.
But I think there was always a really deep concern
that you don't know whether your job is there tomorrow.
You're gonna get a tap on a shoulder and say, "That's it."
To think that you could lose your family home
and let alone if both of you got fired, that would be real scary.
(READS) "Drown your sorrows of the crash with a lemon souffle."
Peter's recipe is from the Sydney Morning Herald.
Perfect. We'll need some butter, some flour...
Carol's working late and Peter is looking after the house and family.
I'm sure there was a case where the wife kept working
and the husband lost his job, and this meant he had to step up at home
but that was a real unusual thing from, say 15 years earlier,
and now you've got this role reversal.
I feel like this is gonna be hot work.
I think a lot of men would have really had
a really difficult time dealing with it.
"Add the milk and cook until thickened."
OK.
That's what I need, tablespoons.
Hi, Dad! Hey, Liv!
Hey, Dad. Hey, Sienna.
Oh, the Soda Stream syrups came!
Oh, yes! Yep, it did.
Cherry, creaming soda. I reckon...
No. Cola. I reckon creaming soda.
Well, there's enough bottles you can do a bit of...
Yeah. We could probably do...
One of each or two of each. Two of each.
As the purse strings tightened and families went out less,
they found inexpensive ways to maintain a sense of luxury at home.
Whoa! Oh, my gosh!
That's it. That's ready. (OLIVIA GIGGLES)
You know what?
If you don't put any flavour in it, it's just um, soda water.
Yeah. But the flavour's 10 times better, it adds sugar.
Yeah. Yeah. Sugar.
That's all we have, sugar.
Oh, my God! (SHRIEKS WITH LAUGHTER)
Shh! Careful!
Oh, it made a mess everywhere.
Just get a tea towel and wipe it up.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, move.
Now put syrup in. I'm putting cola.
And then you probably put a cap and shake it up.
No, you don't shake it. Oh, my gosh!
Don't you? Well, that's enough I think.
'Cause then you go hyper.
It was really great
that, during the week at any time you could now have your soft drink.
When's dinner? When's dinner?
There's plenty of dinner in the freezer.
I could go for canna-lonely in... cannelloni in bolognese.
Curried prawns and rice...
Look at that. Lots of meals for one.
I think I'm gonna go for the roast beef.
The rush of modern living left fewer people with time to cook.
The need for speed outweighed any preference for freshness
or a home-cooked meal.
The appeal? Choosing what you want to eat...
Do you want chicken? Chicken!
..and when and where you want to eat it.
These are done.
TV dinner, ooh yeah.
Well, we're going to go into the lounge room.
So you're putting the TV in TV dinner.
OLIVIA: Exactly. TV, baby!
It's a bit weird,
having the different members of the household eat at different times.
Although I can definitely see how the convenience factor
makes it a lot easier.
You know, you don't have to wait
for Mum and Dad to cook a meal for everyone,
you just pop over to the freezer and you put it in the microwave
and, you know, you're done.
What is that suppo...
..supposed to be?
Is that the chick... no, that's... Let me try it.
Is it any good?
The meat's OK.
CAROL: Hi, girls!
Hello, Mum! Hi, Mum!
How you going? How was your day?
Do you want this frozen dinner? No, thank you.
Roast chicken. How are you, Liv?
How was work? Good, good.
Where's Dad? Good.
Uh... making, I dunno what.
Honey, is that you? It is.
Hi. How you going?
Good, how are you? Good.
These look really good.
Not bad, eh, for my first attempt?
I don't know how I feel about this.
You're replaceable in the kitchen. Thanks.
Like I'm replaceable in the workplace.
I know. I know.
Even though in our 2018 life
we actually do share the home duties,
having lived through the '50s, '60s and '70s where I did everything...
Ooh, there's some mood lighting.
..it was nice to have that role reversal.
It's not bad, eh?
That is really good.
Light and fluffy.
You know what, though? I feel weird that it's just us again.
In the '50s it was you on your own. Yep.
Then we came together in the '60s and '70s.
And, like, now where is everybody?
So we've become a segregated family again.
You know, everyone looking after themselves, their own meals.
You know I have a rule that we always eat together.
Yeah. True. And that's my rule as well.
Yeah, like, I don't care if it's six o'clock or eight o'clock.
Yep. We always eat together.
Yep. So I-I still struggle with this.
Yeah, true. Yeah. I understand that.
And I have a no eating in the lounge room policy as well.
Yeah! And you keep eating.
There definitely was a cost of being the super girl, living in the '80s.
Working long hours,
you do miss out on a lot of time with the family as a unit.
Oh! Oh, my God. You almost made that spill everywhere.
All the convenience TV dinners and the microwave
and everything were great.
But then, I feel like it separated us.
You know, the cost is that family time.
It's not bad, eh?
1988.
In 1988, pomp, party and ceremony abounded
as Australians commemorated 200 years of European settlement.
Let us vow as we enter this new century,
that we will do so as one people.
Biggest bunch of lies I ever heard!
It wasn't a celebration for everyone.
The event ignited a debate on Indigenous rights.
And our main objective here is to get our message across to the world.
And our message is, that we want a treaty, we want land rights,
we haven't ceded sovereignty
and so we're still a nation within a nation.
While many were inspiring social and political change on the streets,
by the beginning of 1989
there were further changes taking place on our dinner plates.
REPORTER: We might have begun eating as Anglo-Saxons,
but today, we can choose
from most of the world's distinctive cuisines.
Takeaway became the next-best alternative to the microwave meal
for time-poor families.
One of the most popular, and cheaper than Chinese,
was Thai food.
Hello!
Wow, OK, it's still the '80s I see.
It is. Thought we'd dress for the occasion.
And you're looking... fabulously non-'80s as usual.
I feel your pain, I've brought you some takeaway.
Come in. Ohh, excellent! Lovely to see you.
Look who's here!
Dinner time! Hi! Oh, takeaway.
Oh, my God, you got your ear pierced! Take away.
I did.
Why would you people let him do that?!
I can't even look at you!
(LAUGHS)
The other day I met the moustache but I was not ready for the piercing.
Yes! No!
There is no limit to your humiliation as a family, is there?
Oh, well. Especially in this... number.
I know.
SIENNA: The fashion in the '80s was very crazy,
especially the mixing of patterns.
And I don't think I'd... actually ever refer to the '80s
for fashion... guiding.
Check out this kitchen, Annabel. I'm preparing myself...
..for, like... You better be prepared.
Oh! Oh that's OK, yeah. Not too bad.
OLIVIA: And we've got a TV in here! Oh, no!
And it's colour!
That's the beginning of the end of civilisation.
It's amazing. Yeah.
JULIAN: I found the best part about the 1980s
was technological developments,
because it's closer to 2018 than,
you know, say the '50s or the '60s.
So it's quite spacious, I like how we're um...
With every decade, we're opening up a lot more.
Yeah. Yeah. Which is good.
Although we have found in the '80s, we're kind of separate a bit.
Well, you've got a television everywhere, so...
And the TV dinners. Yeah.
You know, the kids are microwaving dinners
'cause I'm home late from work and then disappearing.
This is the decade, too,
where frozen diet-ready meals became quite a big thing.
And the Thai food is a massive change.
Yes!
This was one of the great transformational culinary arrivals
of the 1980s. One of our favourites.
OLIVIA: Talking of food, my tummy's rumbling.
Oh! Is it?
OK. do you want to get some plates and I'll unpack this baby.
We will.
Julian, grab some cutlery, please. Alright.
Well, in 1986 there were 40 Thai restaurants
across the whole of Australia.
And in I think 1987,
the Thai government actually had a Thai awareness year
and by the end of the century, there were 400 just in Sydney.
Oh, wow!
So it's, like, a massive explosion of this really popular cuisine.
I wonder where it was
that Thai restaurants started using puns in their names, though,
you know, like Thai Me Up, Thai Me Down, Thai-rannosaurus Thai-tanic.
Thai-riffic. And Thai-riffic, that one's...
It became a competition for a while, didn't it?
There was a couple of highlights around the food in the '80s.
Oh, there's your massaman. Yeah!
One was that we went back to raw, natural ingredients
and using a microwave to cook these ingredients faster.
Oh, curry puff! Nice.
But then by the end of the '80s,
I think we realised that this thing was an assistance,
not a solution to cooking.
So, we had TV dinners and fast food.
So, we're eating in the lounge room. Oh?
That experience of us all cooking together in the kitchen is done.
So, seeing as it's 1989
I thought we'd have a look at one of the great...
Oh. You know what this is, don't you?
The fall of the Berlin Wall. That's exactly right.
A very, very sudden event
that allowed the two halves of Berlin to be reunited.
(ALL CHANT)
REPORTER: This was the night of the big break out.
(CHEERING)
Check points across Berlin had finally buckled.
Departing East Germans were given a tumultuous welcome to the West.
(CHEERING)
Look at that champagne fly.
All around the world, people watched this people's uprising
tearing down this really quite famous symbol
of the great political divide of our time.
Yes, divide.
And when that Berlin Wall fell, it was kind of the beginning of the end
or a major part
of the end of the Cold War. Yeah, the beginning of the end.
And I think it, uh, also shows how strong the human spirit is.
You can't oppress people forever.
It's impossible to underestimate what a celebratory thing this was,
to watch the wall coming down. Oh, yes.
So it's kind of a good way to end this decade, I guess.
It is.
And move on into the... JULIAN: Into the '90s.
So, I think in the '90s
a brighter future is probably what I'm looking forward to.
Getting over this down turning economy
and start again in some respects.
Decade of us! It is.
(ALL LAUGH)
I'm a bit scared, actually.
Oh! And a really expensive wedding in there.
That's what I'm scared of, paying for it again.
The '90s is the decade where Peter and I married.
And, um, you know, started our life together,
so it'll be good for the kids to experience those times,
"B.C." as we say, "Before Children".
I think the kids should clean up. Yeah, I think...
OLIVIA: I bags drying! Drying.
No, I'm... No, no.
I think you should wash. She's too short for the sink.
But Julian's not, and look at my dress.
No matter what, I don't really care,
you three get it done, washed, cleaned then put away.
We're wrapping up the decade.
Wow, that earring is giving you real new authority.
See ya, kids!
Bye! Bye!
Stop throwing things, you're getting water all over me!
Shh, just shush! Hurry up.
Stop talking and keep on cleaning!
You're drying a dish. You can't speak.
I'm very looking forward to the '90s,
'cause I would definitely hope for a dishwasher. Please!
Wait, I'm... I need a dishwasher, I swear to...
You guys suck!
Next time...
Oh, my God! ..the '90s...
We have to do this and, what, you get to sit and do whatever you like?
Turn it off.
..A decade where men are told to clean up...
Oh, my God, get off the computer.
..or clear out.
Arggh!
(SHRIEKS)
And the changing face of our dinner plate...
I decided I would name it Geoff.
Geoff...
ALL: Oh.
We've got our kangaroo fillet.
..as we finally discover our own backyard.
MAN: Here we are in a country which has embraced every other culture...
Except our own.
Skippy has got a lot to answer for.