The Campus family meet host Carlo Rota and begin their time-travelling adventure in the 1940s. They experience wartime rationing, strict gender roles in the home, technology-free entertainment and a diet lacking in the diversity of food that they are used to.
The Campus family continues their time-travelling adventure into the prosperous 1950s. Tristan gets a crash-course from Canadian actor Mairlyn Smith on the standards of '50s housekeeping, hosts a Tupperware party and fancy dinner gathering all while feeling increasingly restricted by the narrow gender roles of the time. There's a silver lining when the family has their first meal out of the home since the start of the experiment, at a Chinese restaurant. Meanwhile, the Campus kids visit a '50s diner to learn what life was like for teenagers during the decade and are excited by the arrival of a television.
This week the Campus family is heading back to the "Swinging Sixties," a decade famous for massive social change. Tristan takes on the challenges of an iconic Julia Child recipe and practically burns the house down with her nemesis – the toaster. Aaron shares insights about his Algonquin First Nations roots as the family celebrates Canada's 100th anniversary. The Campus kids take on tie-dye after getting a crash course in coffeehouse counterculture from music icons, Sharon Hampson and Bram Morrison of Sharon, Lois and Bram. The decade is capped off with a space inspired meal as they watch the Apollo 11 moon landing.
It's the 1970s and the Campus family embraces the earth-tone transformation of their home, right down to the shag carpets and wood panelling. While Tristan remains in charge of the kitchen, she finally gets a bit of help from her husband. She's then brought to tears when surprised with a life-changing appliance. The family gathers for the historic '72 Canada / Russia Summit Series and gets the surprise of their lives with a visit from renowned Hockey Night In Canada host Ron MacLean. And no walk through the '70s would be complete without a spin around the roller-disco and tasting fondue.
The Campus family enters the 1980s, a decade of big hair, wild fashion and workout wear. For the first time since the series began, the men are sent to the kitchen to bake a quiche. Tristan gets some free time outside of the house and takes in the food trend of the moment – the muffin. The family gets a crash course in the decade's health craze from Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod of Body Break. Aaron and Tristan have a special date night, learning how to make a high-end '80s meal with food journalist and author, Lucy Waverman. But perhaps the decade's highlight meal is one done in the appliance no '80s family could live without – the microwave.
After five decades of time travel, the Campus family have made it to the 1990s, the dawn of the Information Age, where the entire world was suddenly available at the click of a mouse and everything seemed possible. The family is tasked to host an at home dinner party inspired by the decade's design and lifestyle icons and battle information saturation with the advent 24-hour cable TV. Valerie gets a job and experiences the dawn of our gourmet coffee obsession, while Tristan shops 'til she drops with fashion icon Jeanne Beker. Our 60-year food transformation is dramatically illustrated as the family, who started on wartime rations in the 1940s, enjoys an all-you-can-eat buffet. Finally, the decade, and series, leaves the family as they party like it's 1999.
The Campus family gives up their modern Christmas traditions for a taste of holidays past. From the 1940s to the 1990s, their home is their time machine as they travel through six decades.
