Baker Street Elementary & The Victorian Web · Baker Street Elementary & The Victorian Web Presents...
Transcript of Baker Street Elementary & The Victorian Web · Baker Street Elementary & The Victorian Web Presents...
Baker Street Elementary& The Victorian Web
The Life and Times in Victorian London# 043 – What the Poor Ate - - 06/08/201 7
Copyright 2017, Sherwood-Fabre, Fay, M
ason, Mason
Welcome to topic number 43… today Master Gregson and I will
be looking at the diets of the poor in our society.
You’re correct, Master Lestrade.
The consequences of poverty are most apparent in the diets
of the poor.
People in the 21 st Century will have preconceived
notions of the 'good old days' before the onslaught of pre-
packaged, processed, artificially colored, ‘convenience’ foods…
…and may have an image of John Bull, contentedly overweight from all the benefits of free trade and the beef and ale diet which distinguished the English from unfortunate foreigners.
But to enter the world of the Victorian working man's diet is like entering the world
of the savage — it is uncertain in supply, primitive in content, and unhealthy in effect.
Few of the poor have ovens and have to rely either on open- fire pan cooking, buy their hot food
out, or make do with cold meals.
Even at the turn of the century, social workers entering the homes of the poor to teach wives how to cook will be aghast to discover that the
family possessed only one pot…
…and that before stews and soups could begin cooking in the pot, it would have to be cleaned of the
baby's bath water, or worse.
In 1 904, an official committee of inquiry will be distressed to learn how
few of the poor will have sufficient utensils and appliances to cook at home.
Primitive or non- existent cooking facilities, lack of cheap fuel, poverty, ignorance,
and adulterated foods combined to produce a nation, not of John Bulls but…
In Wiltshire, admittedly one of the poorer counties, the Poor Law Commission has
found the standard fare consists of bread, butter, potatoes, beer, and tea, with some
bacon for those earning higher wages
Stocking weavers, shoe makers, needle women and silk weavers ate
less than one pound of meat a week and less than eight ounces of fats.
It was not until the last quarter of the 1 9th century that the working man's diet
will improve significantly.
Between 1 877 and 1 889 the cost of the average national weekly food basket of butter, bread, tea, milk and meat will fall by some 30%…
The cheaper food products which came in with the refrigerator - and then freezer- ships, the development
of inexpensive margarine…
…the fall in price of most consumer items, all served to increase both
the variety and quantity of the workmen's diet in this period.
A greater variety of foods and new methods of retailing also will lead to improvement in our diets toward the end of the century.
Original Source Material for for this topic:
• Wohl, Anthony. What the Poor Ate. http://www.victorianweb.org/science/health/health8.html