Pass me the braised fowl please
Hello. Yes, I’m back to researching Victorian times and because it’s almost lunch-time and I’m hungry and around 20 percent of my thoughts on any given day revolve around food I’ve spent the last little while looking up Victorian menus. Because what is more interesting than figuring out how people ate in the past?
The wealthy Victorians ate well. A traditional Victorian dinner party would have had anything between 7 to 14 courses. First there was soup, then fish (stewed eels anyone?). Then the mains – such as mutton and veg or lobster and rice. Finally there was pudding: steamed puddings, cakes and cheese.
This was when many of the traditional British dishes we know and love today were invented – eggs and bacon, fish and chips, curries and roast dinners. If you belonged to the middle- or upper-classes dinner itself was usually eaten around three in the afternoon followed by a light supper in the evening.
In Victorian times some people lived extremely well, but most people didn’t and their lives were hard. The poor survived on a diet of bread, gruel and broths. Children in the slums were undernourished and often suffered from anemia and rickets. The difference in diet and lifestyle was huge and it meant boys from the upper- or middle-classes were on average 22 cm taller than boys from the Victorian slums.
But, according to the BBC, a typical middle-class diet was in fact healthier than what many of us eat today. It consisted of less sugar, plenty of local and seasonable veg as well as fruit, nuts, fish and seafood. Red meat was regarded as a rare luxury for most. That combined with a lot of physical work meant a study published by the Royal Society of Medicine found that Victorians suffered less from chronic, degenerative diseases than we do.
According to the authors they were “90% less likely to develop cancer, dementia and coronary artery disease than we are today“.
It isn’t rocket science. Fruit, veg, fish and nuts are good for you. So is physical exercise. But I can’t help hankering after those 14 course meals. Perhaps it’s time for lunch!
– Facts from here and here. Victorian recipes you can make at home here.