The rich children would dine on significant amounts of food and waste food too whereas the poor would have limited meals of low quality. A large quantity of the population were living on dripping, bread, tea and vegetables.
What did rich and poor Victorians eat?
Rich and poor Victorians ate quite different food. Rich children would have eaten very well with lots of choice. For poorer children there would have been fewer options. Farmers tended to eat better with a diet of meat, vegetables and fresh milk.
What did rich people eat in the Victorian era?
Victorians with more money enjoyed mutton, bacon, cheese, eggs, sugar, treacle and jam as part of their meals. Breakfast may involve ham, bacon, eggs and bread. People who lived near to the sea often ate a lot of fish too. Dishes like kedgeree were very popular.
What did poor people eat in 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 was life like for the rich and poor in Victorian times?
There was a big difference between rich and poor in Victorian times. Rich people could afford lots of treats like holidays, fancy clothes, and even telephones when they were invented. Poor people – even children – had to work hard in factories, mines or workhouses. They didn’t get paid very much money.
What did the poor eat?
The poorest people ate mostly potatoes, bread, and cheese. Working-class folks might have had meat a couple of times a week, while the middle class ate three good meals a day. Some common foods eaten were eggs, bacon and bread, mutton, pork, potatoes, and rice.
What did the rich Victorians drink?
Beer was by far the most popular drink in Victorian England. In 1900 annual consumption per head was 32.5 gallons.
What did rich Victorians eat for dessert?
Victorians loved their puddings, and both rich and poor homes would finish off a meal with a steamed pudding. This glorious sponge pudding was easy to make with minimal ingredients. It’s sweetened with golden syrup which was mass produced in the late 1800s, making it affordable to all.
What did 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.
How did rich people live in the Victorian era?
Most rich people had servants and they would live in the same house, frequently sleeping on the top floor or the attic. The rich had water pumps in their kitchens or sculleries and their waste was taken away down into underground sewers. Gradually, improvements for the poor were made.
What did the poor peasants mainly eat?
Peasants tended to keep cows, so their diets consisted largely of dairy produce such as buttermilk, cheese, or curds and whey. Rich and poor alike ate a dish called pottage, a thick soup containing meat, vegetables, or bran.
What did poor people eat for breakfast?
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 poor peasants eat?
The average peasant’s diet in Medieval times consisted largely of barley. They used barley to make a variety of different dishes, from coarse, dark breads to pancakes, porridge and soups. After a poor harvest, when grain was in short supply, people were forced to include beans, peas and even acorns in their bread.
Did rich and poor go to school in Victorian times?
Children in Victorian times
School was not free and only richer families could send their children to school. Some rich children would be taught at home by a governess. With no school to go to, many children hung around the streets. Some ended up in jail for begging or causing trouble.
What did rich Victorian girls do?
More specifically, it was a rich, upper-class, man’s world, and even better if you had land, a large house, a title, and a doting wife. Women of this class enjoyed a life full of all the things money could buy; travel, fine clothes, good food and of course, servants and staff to do chores for them.
What did rich Victorians do for fun?
Sporting pastimes, such as cycling, rowing and horseracing were also popular, and large crowds would often attend sailing events like the Henley Regatta and famous horse races such as the Epsom Derby. One of the largest events of the Victorian calendar was the famous Great Exhibition, held in 1851.
What did Queen Elizabeth 1st eat?
Queen Elizabeth seemed to have taken this to heart, eating lighter meals composed of simple proteins and vegetables at night. A longtime sportswoman, Queen Elizabeth frequently dined on venison, wild birds, or other game — often sourced on one of her properties — or salmon fished from the River Dee at Balmoral Castle.
Why is peasant food so good?
Peasant foods range from plant-based and healthful dishes to hearty comfort foods that are minimally processed, nutritious and affordable. Some ingredients mirror those from the Mediterranean diet, incorporating seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains and legumes, and fish.
How did poor Victorians cook?
Few of the poor had ovens and had to rely either on open-fire pan cooking, buy their hot food out, or make do with cold meals.
What did Victorian gentlemen drink?
The main wines consumed with dinner were port, sherry, Burgundy, Claret and Hock and when entertaining at evening parties, good quality champagne was served to guests.
What did the Victorians eat for breakfast?
The Victorian breakfast was usually a heavy meal: sausages, preserves, bacon and eggs, served with bread rolls. The custom of afternoon tea served before dinner, with milk and sugar, became well-established in Britain in the early 19th century.