What is gruel, anyway? And why is it always mentioned in connection with orphans?
I think it’s just a stew made from whatever leftovers happen to be available. So… depending on your tastes, and how old the leftovers are… it is not necessarily bad stuff.
Gruel is a thin porrige, basically water and oatmeal or cornmeal.
It’s mentioned in connection with orphans because in the 18 and early 1900’s, there was either no government oversight for orphanages in the US and Britian, or what there was was only token and not enforced.
However, people who ran orphanages did collect a stipend per child from state or city governments, and were also allowed to either farm the children out to various sweat shops, or to run sweat shops in the orphanages themselves.
Many unscrupulous people ran orphanages as profit making concerns alone, and were only interested in how much money they could squeeze out of their little slave laborers. Food was a major cost, and gruel was a cheap substinence diet, keeping the kids alive, but not costing much.
And, of course, the thinner the gruel was made, the cheaper it was.