Victorians at table
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Victorians Enjoying Indian Food
One of the most entertaining Victorian cookbooks I’ve read so far is called “Culinary Jottings: A Treatise in Thirty Chapters on Reformed Cookery for Anglo-Indian Exiles, Based Upon Modern English, and Continental Principles, with Thirty Menus for Little Dinners Worked Out in Detail, and an Essay on Our Kitchens in India.” This fun book was first published in 1878 and written by Col. Arthur Robert Kenney-Herbert under the pen-name Wyvern. You can find the book online here: https://archive.org/stream/culinaryjottings00kenn#page/306/mode/2up The Colonel arrived in India in 1859, when the ‘old ways’ of the British East India Company still held sway. In the days of the Company, the Anglo-Indians, or British-born people who…
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Food, Glorious Food!
Food in the Victorian era advanced as a result of technology. In 1830, about 90 percent of all food consumed in Britain was grown in Britain. By 1900, the United Kingdom could enjoy food that came from around the globe. Food preservation became more reliable and more widespread in the Victorian era. In the late 18th century, Emperor Napoleon, concerned about feeding his armies, had offered a prize to anyone who could develop a way of preserving food. The tin can was invented by Nicholas Appert, who realized that if food were sealed tightly enough and then heated, it wouldn’t spoil. In 1810 Englishman Peter Durand found a way to…
- Gilbert and Sullivan, Lucy Agnes Blois Turner, Victoriana, Victorians at home, Victorians at table, W S Gilbert
Christmas, Victorian-style
During the Victorian era, Christmas became centered around the family. Celebrating the holiday became a matter of bringing together the whole family to share in the feasting, gift giving, entertainments and parlor games. This is thanks in large part to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The Illustrated London News in 1848 showed a picture of the royal couple and their young family (the couple had had six children by then: Victoria, Albert Edward, Alice, Alfred, Helena and Louise) celebrating around a decorated Christmas tree, and soon Britons adopted the Germanic tradition of having a tree lit by candles and adorned with home-made decorations including tiny baskets of goodies, fruits, and…
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At Home for a Victorian Breakfast
During the Victorian era, many English people shared the belief that one ought to “breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dine like a pauper.” In those days, most of London had breakfasted by 9:00 am, with the poorest tucking into their bread-and-butter and tea at daybreak, while the middle and working classes enjoyed more substantial fare (whether at home or in a chop-house) in time to be at their jobs by 10:00 am. However, the “upper ten thousand,” also known as the leisure class – made up of members of the aristocracy, the gentry, officers in the British Army and Navy, members of Parliament, Colonial administrators, and…
