Week 3 - learning about Victorian eating and drinking

We all know I love food.  My life pretty much revolves around food - or at least how I plan each day is underpinned by what, or where I will be eating.  So I was genuinely looking forward to my third week of learning all about eating and drinking in the Victorian Age.  This was one of the new brunchtime lectures, all about the impact that Queen Victoria had on culture, philosophy and society, that take place at Kensington Palace.

Food historian Marc Meltonville was leading the lecture in the very room that Queen Victoria was born.  Rather apt and a nice touch, I felt.  Marc began by saying that in terms of Royalty, it is incredibly difficult for historians to discover what was eaten in the Victorian era because although Queen Victoria kept a diary, she never talked about the food she ate.  I was initially a little disappointed at this as a small part of me thought that we might all be presented with a huge array of sumptuous and excessive Royal dishes to contemplate, but actually what Marc talked about was super interesting - it was more about how the Empire shaped trade, taste and trends during that time.

What became abundantly clear to me was that the Victorian era and the 19th century was when absolutely everything changed.  The 19th century was the beginning of our modern world and it affected everything including our food.  For example, before the turn of the century everyone, including the wealthy would cook on an open fire.  By the turn of the century, this became using a cast iron range with oven and hot plate. The technology and advancements just kept going throughout the 1800's but, this was perhaps the second half of the century.  If we think about the first half of the century, this was a time when there were a lot of farm labourers living outside of the towns in rural locations and providing all of their own food. 

In terms of the Royals though, they didn't want locally sourced products like we do today.  That wasn't a sign of wealth - they wanted as much foreign food as possible.  At that time, if you had money you dined "A la Française" which has nothing to do with the French, it just meant that one dined with lots of dishes being served at the same time i.e a buffet-style where you could pick from several dishes on the plate.  Here is an example of how a dining table may look for "A la Française".

Post 1830's when Queen Victoria came to the throne, everything changed for a number of reasons.  The first is that Britain and Europe were suddenly flooded with lots of fancy French chefs whose employers had met with a rather sharp blade through their necks during the French Revolution.  Their dining style was a little different and so people with money started dining "A la Russe".  Again, nothing to do with Russia, it just meant "foreign" or "exotic".  This was where chefs were designing menus for the first time i.e. you'd get one dish and only one dish at a time rather than the buffet-style.  This took off in Britain because it was cheaper, in fashion, but also because it required lots of accoutrements - fancy crockery that wealthy fancy-types absolutely had to have for every single dish.  Things like pickle forks and these pretty but pointless asparagus tongs!  

With less dishes on the tables, there could now be lavish flower arrangements and also several glasses for each person.  This also worked at the time because of the fashion - people didn't have such big sleeves like in Tudor times so could stretch across their plates without getting a sleeve in their soup.

This is a typical "A la Russe" setting.

So this is all in the first half of the century. Poor people lived on not much other than potato stew and coffee.  The wealthy, on the other hand had no less than five mealtimes a day consisting of breakfast, lunch, dinner, evening tea and supper.  Breakfast might be something light like porridge or bread and coldcuts.  Lunch would just be a small meal of sandwiches and cakes and dinner at around 6pm would be the biggest meal of the day with a proper sit down of five or six courses.  Evening tea would be some more drinks, cakes and sandwiches and then if that wasn't enough, people might have some supper before bed!

In the second half of the century in the wake of the Industrial Revolution, meals and mealtimes changed because there was suddenly a huge increase in city-workers.  Men were going out to work everyday and so needed a huge breakfast - this is where the "full English" came from.  Then there would be lunch and afternoon tea (waiting until the men came home for a later dinner).  This was the creation of the "afternoon tea" that we know and love with scones and cakes and informal chatting for ladies.  Oh, and not forgetting cucumber sandwiches, which apparently need a hell of a lot of preparation.  Did you know that in order to have proper cucumber sandwiches you have to soak the cucumber slices over night in malt vinegar?!  Then you pat down the slices, season and butter the bread.

I think I'd die from all the food consumed back then.  It sounds like when one meal ended another started.  And in fact, Queen Victoria herself liked to get through the meals very quickly.  She apparently ate far too fast and far too much and liked to keep all meals to under an hour.  Its no surprise then, that everyone in the Royal household suffered from indigestion.  They ate a lot of heavy foods too - lots of soups, roast beef, chicken, escalopes, stews and lots of puddings.  Supposedly, the big dessert treat in Victorian times was jelly - they absolutely loved it and would make countless jelly creations.  But what's really interesting is why.  As technology continued to progress the film and photography industry advanced and photographers needed very strong gelatine as an emulsion to make the lenses more sensitive to light.  As such, there was a surplus of gelatine and therefore, lots of jelly.  

Right, so, the lesson for us all, I think, is eat less, eat slower, eat local, don't waste food and always soak your cucumbers in malt vinegar.