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THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
An Introduction to the Nineteenth Century
Let’s begin to understand nineteenth-century British food for the middle-class consumer...
Queen Victoria – the second longest reigning monarch in British history - ruled over Britain between 1837 and 1901. For this reason, the nineteenth century is widely referred to as the ‘Victorian Era’; an era that was characterised by Britain’s rapid industrial development due to the Industrial Revolution, and breath-taking economic and societal changes, all of which were far swifter than their Georgian ancestors. Many of their engineering achievements are still with us today such as the London Underground!
But – did you know the Victorian age was also one of enormous culinary change? Experiencing fad diets, worries about adulterated foods and heavily styled food dishes - the Victorians were truly the trail blazers of modern food culture!
Yet, Britain did not change overnight at the passing of one century and the beginning of another. Likewise, the Industrial Revolution was a lengthy and complex process, affecting different classes and regions of people at different times and in different manners. However, it did not suddenly end one way of cooking and eating, and ignite another as many people held onto old recipe books and continued to enjoy many of the flavours and foods of previous decades, along with the addition of newer, foreign foods.
For instance, raising agents, food moulds, and the use of coal in cooking ranges all pre-dated Victoria’s accession in 1837, while others, such as gas cookers, frozen foods and refrigeration were as much features of the Edwardian period as they were of the decades before Victoria’s death in 1901.
Yet, when a particular dish did fall from favour, it was likely because the technology associated with it was outdated, or because people’s work patterns had altered to such an extent that it was difficult to find time to create lengthy, involved dishes. In other instances, a dish retained its name, but its ingredients changed and evolved because people found substitutes that were cheaper, easier to find, or better-tasting ingredients than what their mother or grandmothers traditionally used.
For example, before the invention of Lyle’s Golden Syrup in 1883, treacle tart was actually made up of alternating layers of pastry and ‘treacle’. However, this ‘treacle’ was before Lyle’s created it in 1950, and meant any viscous syrup that was a by-product of sugar refinery. After Lyle’s invention of golden syrup, recipes began to change to include this new, better-tasting syrup and began to make it as the tart we know today.
The ingredients of cottage pie also changed during this period, however, this change was less about improving flavour and more about saving money! As tinned products were becoming more popular amongst the working-class, canned meat began to be substituted in dishes such as cottage pie, instead of using imported meat.
In short, British cuisine during the nineteenth century was an exciting amalgamation of new and old!
Here's some of the important Dates in Victorian Culinary History:
Famine
Understanding Victorian eating practices through the Victorian period is highly important. Therefore, the famines and agricultural issues of the country should be acknowledged as these greatly affected what foods were available to the Victorians and what they were eating.
The 1840s (or the Hungry Forties) saw YEARS of poor harvests. Most catastrophic was the 1845-49 Irish Famine, during which over a million people died and over two million emigrated to England, Wales, Scotland and across the rest of the world. Three decades later, the 1870s proved equally difficult for English agriculture as it suffered from wet summers, damaging grain crops, while the majority of cattle farmers were hit by foot-and-mouth disease.
In total, these events contributed heavily towards the growing reliance on imports from abroad to Britain’s markets and changing its culinary climate.
Feeding Britain Pre-Industrial Revolution
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, food, for all social classes consisted of seasonally, locally grown and produced foodstuffs, including vegetables and fruits. And since around 80% of the population lived in rural areas in the early 1800s, many people were largely employed in agriculture, they had ready access to it. Or if you could not raise, collect or make food themselves, people obtained it at weekly markets in the nearest market town.
Feeding Britain During The Industrial Revolution
Fuelled by the game-changing use of steam power, the Industrial Revolution marked a period of development that transformed Britain from a largely rural, agrarian society into an industrial, urban one. For example, the introduction of the railway system in the 1840s provided the first major advancement in land transportation for centuries and brought a rise in commuters and relocation, causing cities to swell enormously and urban populations to rise on unparalleled levels.
In London for instance, its population increased from 1 million people in 1800 to 6.7 million by the early 1900s as many families used this to seek out better economic opportunities, becoming newly educated experts, skilled labourers, teachers and white-collar workers.
As a result of this mass migration from countryside to city, people lost their self-sufficiency when it came to procuring their food and became reliant on others to do it for them. Therefore, the railway also became a keystone for distribution and enabling the fast and cheap transportation of fresh basic British goods, such as dairy or meat all over the country from rural producers, as well as of people.
Take a look at some of the most important transport developments
By the mid-1850s, developments in refrigerated transportation as well as in canning resulted in not only lower food prices, but also what would become a twentieth-century norm: perishable and exotic foods becoming widely available regardless of the growing season. This, partnered with less fear of food becoming spoiled meant that purchasing canned meat also became possible, opening up an option of large scale imports from the Americas and became highly popular across the social classes.
So – what did this mean for British cuisine?
As the nineteenth century progressed, the working-class pantry might include items such as cans of corned beef, sweetened condensed milk, jams and margarine, while the middle-classes whose incomes had risen, and mass production meant the cost of purchasing processed and imported foods had dropped, might also include any number of assorted canned fruits, including apricots and peaches, canned vegetables such as peas, baking powder and self-raising flour.
Victorian Britain, especially the second half of the century, saw the arrival of brands such as Bird’s custard powder and Heinz Baked Beans, who used their packaging, such as tinned cans, to heavily advertise their manufacturer’s name, product and cement the quality and reputation of their products in consumers minds.
Additionally, cookbooks proliferated the nineteenth century, and works such as Mrs Beeton’s Book of Cookery and Household Management became hit sensations! Mrs Beeton’s reportedly sold over 60,000 copies in its first year of publication and nearly two million by 1868, to a largely middle-class audience who sought to dine and entertain in a socially acceptable way.
"I have always thought that there is no more fruitful source of family discontent than a housewife's badly cooked dinners and untidy ways." ~ Isabella Beeton
Eating and drinking have always been at some level about displaying social status, social skills and securing membership in protected social circles. However, the Victorians took this to an unprecedented level by using domestic handbooks such as Mrs Beeton who were at the forefront of change in British cuisine in terms of introductions to cookery, English cooking recipes and international styles of cooking.
However, while mid-century middle-class Victorians could indulge in new and exotic foods, they had to contend with an epidemic of foreign substances in food items, known as adulteration. This is because as many families relocated to cities, they no longer had a choice but to purchase many readymade items either due to growing their own food no longer being viable or because time was now at a premium. This loss of self-sufficiency made many become dependent on others to supply their food and the risk of buying adulterated products be at an all-time high. As more people lost knowledge of how to cook competently, they also lost a sense of how food should taste, how it should look, even how long it should last and food became heavily adulterated.
Therefore these topics are fundamental in understanding the Victorian era, what types of foods were consumed and what shaped the British cuisine we know today.
"Dine we must and we may as well dine elegantly as well as wholesomely." ~ Isabella Beeton