# Lower-class diets in the Victorian era **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 23, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855 "2012-05-23T17:35:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tmoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e5b9ba/32.png) [@tmoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tmoh)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/1 "2012-05-23T17:35:07Z")
If you’d been around in England sometime between 1837 and 1901 and you didn’t have a lot of money, what would you have been eating, and what appliances/utensils would you have kept around to cook it with? I’ve been trying to research this, but I haven’t been able to get very far–surely there must be _some_ information out there, even if less of it made it into the historical record? More specific things I’m curious about if the information’s out there: \*How would diets have differed between urban and rural areas? \*How did family size and/or marital status affect people’s diets? (My assumption is that a single man would eat pretty differently from someone with a spouse and kids, but I’m not sure whether that’s true or how big the difference would be.) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/2 "2012-05-23T19:18:02Z")
Get a copy of [What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew.](http://www.amazon.com/Austen-Charles-Dickens-Whist--Nineteenth-Century/dp/0671882368/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337800433&sr=8-1) Then get a copy of [At Home: A History of Private Life](http://www.amazon.com/At-Home-Short-History-Private/dp/0767919394/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337800556&sr=1-1). Then watch [The Supersizers Go…](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Supersizers...) on The Cooking Channel. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/3 "2012-05-23T19:31:41Z")
In Dickens, poor people are often depicted as eating buttered bread, sometimes with a bit of cold meat. ---
**Author:** ![Anna\_Nimity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Anna\_Nimity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anna_Nimity)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/4 "2012-05-23T19:59:24Z")
I read a lot of Victorian novels and they always seem to be eating wild birds and hares that they’ve caught themselves or poached from some rich landowner. The middle class and poor would buy their ale by the bucket and take it home. I don’t know if this would apply to the poor, but the middle class in that time seemed to be quite fond of meat pies which I think they called pasties, not sure, maybe pasties are something else. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/5 "2012-05-23T20:20:27Z")
There is some info here: [What the Poor Ate](http://www.victorianweb.org/science/health/health8.html) ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/6 "2012-05-23T20:24:48Z")
The best we could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/7 "2012-05-23T20:29:23Z")
You had cloth? Luxury! We had to make do with a handful of gravel. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/8 "2012-05-23T20:31:28Z")
There should also be some info in the “Food and Drink” section of the [Victorian Dictionary](http://www.victorianlondon.org/index1.htm) (which isn’t really a dictionary so much as a compendium of excerpts from period sources). ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/9 "2012-05-23T20:31:56Z")
You had _gravel_?!? Rich sunuvabitch. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/10 "2012-05-23T20:32:52Z")
> [@Anna\_Nimity](#): > > I don’t know if this would apply to the poor, but the middle class in that time seemed to be quite fond of meat pies which I think they called pasties, not sure, maybe pasties are something else. Pasties aren’t pies. Pasties are basically turnovers. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/11 "2012-05-23T21:35:57Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Pasties aren’t pies. Pasties are basically turnovers. The British often call them pies though. In fact, on those odd occaisions when I’ve seen them in the states, they are called meat pies. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/12 "2012-05-23T21:43:51Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Pasties aren’t pies. Pasties are basically turnovers. Depends on where you wear them. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/13 "2012-05-23T21:53:41Z")
[Mrs. Lovett] Shepherd’s pie peppered with actual shepherd on top. . . [/Mrs. Lovett] ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/14 "2012-05-23T22:18:45Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > The British often call them pies though. In fact, on those odd occaisions when I’ve seen them in the states, they are called meat pies. No we don’t. A pie is a pie and a pasty is a pasty. What people call them when they’re selling them in the States is another matter. I’ve never heard the terms used interchangeably, and I’ve been British all my life so far. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/15 "2012-05-23T22:27:30Z")
Gruel. Soup. Oatmeal. Maybe all these things are the same thing? I read a Victorian novel where the mean dressmaker provided the poor slavey-apprentices with starchy food, and they all got fat from carbohydrate overload. The dressmaker could say “of course I feed them well, look how fat they all are!” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/16 "2012-05-24T00:06:07Z")
> [@Teacake](#): > > No we don’t. A pie is a pie and a pasty is a pasty. What people call them when they’re selling them in the States is another matter. I’ve never heard the terms used interchangeably, and I’ve been British all my life so far. The English invented a language they cannot speak. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/17 "2012-05-24T15:58:39Z")
Several years back, PBS was doing some reality series, one of which was called “The 1900 House.” They chose a modern family to live as a middle-class family would in 1900. One of the more interesting aspects of this experiment was that the family was not allowed to eat or purchase anything that was produced after 1900 – the era in which they were supposed to be living. There was a lot of discussion about food & drink, as well as hygiene products and, of course, the chores were heinous with very little technology to make things go more easily. Laundry stands out in my mind as a 2-day backbreaking process. I don’t know if you can still see this series on Netflix or wherever, but you may find answers to your questions [here](http://www.pbs.org/wnet/1900house/index.html). ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/18 "2012-05-24T16:13:35Z")
[Here](http://www.victorianweb.org/science/health/health8.html)’s some other information. And [here](http://www.victorianweb.org/science/health/hunger.html). Some very interesting stuff [here.](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2672390/) A little info [here](http://www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/rcbcmuseums.nsf/Web?ReadForm&id=05CFDA690CB9EA518025773E004D2D4F). ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/19 "2012-05-24T17:08:30Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The English invented a language they cannot speak. [Pie.](http://files.exclusivelyfood.com.au/uploaded_images/meatpie9-721060.JPG) [Pasty.](http://blog.kyliesgenes.com/wp-content/uploads/cornish-pasty.jpg) It’s not rocket surgery. (I have no idea what the shiny metal thing with spikes is in the second photograph, but such tools are never involved in the consumption of pasties in the real world.) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855/20 "2012-05-24T17:13:24Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > [Pie.](http://files.exclusivelyfood.com.au/uploaded_images/meatpie9-721060.JPG) > > [Pasty.](http://blog.kyliesgenes.com/wp-content/uploads/cornish-pasty.jpg) That’s two pictures of the same… thing, right? 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-class-diets-in-the-victorian-era/622855.md?page=2)