There is not much difference between the food habits of Victorian society and those of modern England. A famous maxim itself was “A place for everything and everything in its place.” This pointed out to the system of manners and customs of Victorian England which the people gradually began to adopt.
Other developments like cookware and kitchen gadgets and food sterilization techniques facilitated a revolution in the food culture of the Victorian people. There were people who ate only two meals per day unlike us who eat three meals a day. But this was not a common feature. Fine ingredients, such as imported exotic spices were used in lavishly prepared meals
Breakfasts were not uncommon. A breakfast meal consisted of dishes such as fruits, scones, bull’s eye, bacon etc. Meat, fish, and poultry were common and fresh or canned vegetables were served with most meals. Afternoon tea was generally provided at all homes especially those of the wealthier class. In the summer, people relied on lighter dishes and chicken. In the winter and autumn seasons, soups and stews were used.
[align=center]Large breakfasts, small lunches and late suppers
This was said to be the food system of Victorian people.[/align]
Special occasions or events called for special dishes. Holiday meals were another peculiarity. Special deals consisted of Roast Mutton, Pork or Turkey, Boiled Beef, Stewed Rabbits, Plum Pudding and Mince Pies. Recipe books began to be sold and bought. The rich homes had recipe books while the poor homes did not.
A reference has to be made about the afternoon tea. “There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as an afternoon tea," wrote Henry James. Anna, Duchess of Bedford, was one of Queen Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting, invented the practice of afternoon tea. Later tea dances and tea rooms emerged in hotels. Tea sandwiches , made of white bread, were also delicious, cut into various shapes.
Chilled champagne was served after the end of a course. Popular beverages were Lemonade, root beer, and hot tea. The dessert course featured several puddings, cakes and highly prized specialties such as Nesselrode and Plum Pudding.
A dessert called Cherries Jubilee was invented in the event of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee celebration in 1897. This fancy dessert has ingredients like 5 eggs, sugar, lemon juice, flour, salt etc.
Cooking was a lengthy process in Victorian England and it got the attention it deserved.
[align=center]'Peasant Diet'[/align]
A peasant-style diet abundant in simple fare such as potatoes, vegetables, milk and fish kept the rural poor of mid-Victorian Britain much healthier than their urban counterparts.
It shows that the laboring population in remote areas such as the islands of Scotland and the west of Ireland enjoyed a more nutritious diet and a lower mortality rate than city dwellers, despite their relative poverty.
While the rural poor were consuming a diet of fish with potatoes and "stirabout" (a crude porridge of oats and milk), in urban areas the poor lived on a diet of bread, dripping, tea and sugar, and had difficulty obtaining vegetables, meat, fruit, fish and milk.
In later years, although those in urban conurbations enjoyed improved access to the world's commodities and could obtain a more diverse range of foods, the introduction of mass-produced refined foods proved detrimental to their health.
By contrast, the diet of rural, agricultural workers in isolated areas of England was far better. This was partly because they could store more food in root cellars, but also because they were often paid in kind, in grain, potatoes, meat, milk, and small patches of land in which to grow potatoes and vegetables or keep their own livestock. Presumably, they also spent less cash in the notorious Victorian gin palaces of yore.
The peasant culture of payment-in-kind persisted the longest in the Scottish Lowlands, where, despite their poverty, laborers enjoyed good health as a result of an abundance of milk and oatmeal.
The diet was based on oats and increasingly the potato, along with abundant milk and some meat from household livestock as well as fish, notably herring in the western Highlands. Milk or whey was the normal accompaniment to oats, and potatoes were eaten with meat or fish when available.
The diet of island communities was also based on oats and vegetables, with less milk, but with larger quantities of fish and shellfish.
Meanwhile, in Ireland, food was even less varied, consisting largely of milk with potatoes when in season or maize or oats mixed with milk, a meal termed ‘stirabout’. Meat was very limited, and tea or beer was hardly drunk at all by the poor in the country areas.
Yet despite the monotony of this diet, the physicians of the time described a particularly robust and healthy-looking population.
As far as comparing the nutritional value of the diet of rural Victorian paupers to the Mediterranean diet, other factors such as sanitation and pollution aside, the rural diet protected against death and disease; particularly tuberculosis, which is associated with worse nutrition, was twice as prevalent in cities.
Other developments like cookware and kitchen gadgets and food sterilization techniques facilitated a revolution in the food culture of the Victorian people. There were people who ate only two meals per day unlike us who eat three meals a day. But this was not a common feature. Fine ingredients, such as imported exotic spices were used in lavishly prepared meals
Breakfasts were not uncommon. A breakfast meal consisted of dishes such as fruits, scones, bull’s eye, bacon etc. Meat, fish, and poultry were common and fresh or canned vegetables were served with most meals. Afternoon tea was generally provided at all homes especially those of the wealthier class. In the summer, people relied on lighter dishes and chicken. In the winter and autumn seasons, soups and stews were used.
[align=center]Large breakfasts, small lunches and late suppers
This was said to be the food system of Victorian people.[/align]
Special occasions or events called for special dishes. Holiday meals were another peculiarity. Special deals consisted of Roast Mutton, Pork or Turkey, Boiled Beef, Stewed Rabbits, Plum Pudding and Mince Pies. Recipe books began to be sold and bought. The rich homes had recipe books while the poor homes did not.
A reference has to be made about the afternoon tea. “There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as an afternoon tea," wrote Henry James. Anna, Duchess of Bedford, was one of Queen Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting, invented the practice of afternoon tea. Later tea dances and tea rooms emerged in hotels. Tea sandwiches , made of white bread, were also delicious, cut into various shapes.
Chilled champagne was served after the end of a course. Popular beverages were Lemonade, root beer, and hot tea. The dessert course featured several puddings, cakes and highly prized specialties such as Nesselrode and Plum Pudding.
A dessert called Cherries Jubilee was invented in the event of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee celebration in 1897. This fancy dessert has ingredients like 5 eggs, sugar, lemon juice, flour, salt etc.
Cooking was a lengthy process in Victorian England and it got the attention it deserved.
[align=center]'Peasant Diet'[/align]
A peasant-style diet abundant in simple fare such as potatoes, vegetables, milk and fish kept the rural poor of mid-Victorian Britain much healthier than their urban counterparts.
It shows that the laboring population in remote areas such as the islands of Scotland and the west of Ireland enjoyed a more nutritious diet and a lower mortality rate than city dwellers, despite their relative poverty.
While the rural poor were consuming a diet of fish with potatoes and "stirabout" (a crude porridge of oats and milk), in urban areas the poor lived on a diet of bread, dripping, tea and sugar, and had difficulty obtaining vegetables, meat, fruit, fish and milk.
In later years, although those in urban conurbations enjoyed improved access to the world's commodities and could obtain a more diverse range of foods, the introduction of mass-produced refined foods proved detrimental to their health.
By contrast, the diet of rural, agricultural workers in isolated areas of England was far better. This was partly because they could store more food in root cellars, but also because they were often paid in kind, in grain, potatoes, meat, milk, and small patches of land in which to grow potatoes and vegetables or keep their own livestock. Presumably, they also spent less cash in the notorious Victorian gin palaces of yore.
The peasant culture of payment-in-kind persisted the longest in the Scottish Lowlands, where, despite their poverty, laborers enjoyed good health as a result of an abundance of milk and oatmeal.
The diet was based on oats and increasingly the potato, along with abundant milk and some meat from household livestock as well as fish, notably herring in the western Highlands. Milk or whey was the normal accompaniment to oats, and potatoes were eaten with meat or fish when available.
The diet of island communities was also based on oats and vegetables, with less milk, but with larger quantities of fish and shellfish.
Meanwhile, in Ireland, food was even less varied, consisting largely of milk with potatoes when in season or maize or oats mixed with milk, a meal termed ‘stirabout’. Meat was very limited, and tea or beer was hardly drunk at all by the poor in the country areas.
Yet despite the monotony of this diet, the physicians of the time described a particularly robust and healthy-looking population.
As far as comparing the nutritional value of the diet of rural Victorian paupers to the Mediterranean diet, other factors such as sanitation and pollution aside, the rural diet protected against death and disease; particularly tuberculosis, which is associated with worse nutrition, was twice as prevalent in cities.
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