What did the poor eat during the Victorian era?
For many poor people across Britain, white bread made from bolted wheat flour was the staple component of the diet. When they could afford it, people would supplement this with vegetables, fruit and animal-derived foods such as meat, fish, milk, cheese and eggs – a Mediterranean-style diet.
What did Victorian slums eat?
They lived mainly on bread, gruel and broth (made from boiling up bones). Not surprisingly, the children of the slums were undernourished, anaemic, rickety and very short.
What were 3 of the foods that were given to poor Victorians in workhouses?
The simplest diet was No. 3, which offered an unvarying menu of bread and gruel for breakfast, and bread and cheese for supper, Midday dinner was also bread and cheese five days a week (with extra soup on Thursdays), and meat and vegetables on the other two days.
What was the food like in the Victorian era?
The general Victorian diet consisted of a lot of fish, since meat was still more expensive, local, seasonal vegetables, fruits, and greens like onions, turnips, spinach, broccoli, cabbages, apples, cherries, and parsnips. Nuts were popular and available too and could be sold roasted from food carts.
What meat did poor Victorians eat?
If the rural poor ate birds then the urban poor ate pairings of tripe, slink (prematurely born calves), or broxy (diseased sheep). Edgar Wallace recollects working-class families along the Old Kent Road shopping for ‘tainted’ pieces of meat and ‘those odds and ends of meat, the by-products of the butchering business.
What did poor Victorians eat for Christmas dinner?
In northern England roast beef was the traditional fayre for Christmas dinner while in London and the south, goose was favourite. Many poor people made do with rabbit. On the other hand, the Christmas Day menu for Queen Victoria and family in 1840 included both beef and of course a royal roast swan or two.
What did the Victorians eat for lunch?
Middle and upper class breakfasts typically consisted of porridge, eggs, fish and bacon. They were eaten together as a family. Sunday lunches included meat, potatoes, vegetables and gravy.
What did the poor Victorians eat for breakfast?
A typical breakfast might consist of stoneground bread smeared with dripping or lard (consisting largely of healthy monounsaturated fats), accompanied by a large bunch of watercress, rich in vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients.
What was food like in the workhouse?
The main constituent of the workhouse diet was bread. At breakfast it was supplemented by gruel or porridge — both made from water and oatmeal (or occasionally a mixture of flour and oatmeal). Workhouse broth was usually the water used for boiling the dinner meat, perhaps with a few onions or turnips added.
What did the poor Victorians drink?
Tea was the staple drink. Coffee might be consumed at breakfast even by the poorest, but in the form of chicory/coffee mixture. Breakfast was generally bread, occasionally with butter. For the poorest a sandwich of bread and watercress was the most common.
How did poor Victorians cook their food?
In Victorian times few slum dwellers would have had ovens or cooking utensils. Many didn’t even own plates or spoons. They lived mainly on bread, gruel and broth (made from boiling up bones).