Reports

South Tyneside Meeting - January 2003 "Food in History, Literature and Humour" by Malcolm Grady A Report by Margaret Stafford

You will have heard me say that Malcolm's talks usually give us food for thought - well last night he took this literally and food was the topic of the evening, though you will not be surprised to hear that sex reared its head once or twice!

Malcolm wanted to look at what history, literature and humour tells us about food during the 1830s,40s and 50s. The experience of food would be different depending on class, religion and whether you lived in a rural or urban area.

He reminded us that adulteration of food was a huge concern for our ancestors as evidenced by national and local bye-laws and the prevalence of disease and squalour and referred us to a book by Malcolm Sweet on the history of vegetarianism, "the heretic's feast" which shows how concern about adulteration of food contributed to a big rise in the popularity of vegetarianism in the 1860s and 70s.

Malcolm also recommended the book "early Victorian Britain" by JFC Harrison which takes complex issues and makes them understandable (do you think he was trying to tell us something?!).

To set the scene our working class ancestors would have had no guaranteed job or income, disposable income would have been variable. This was before the industrial prosperity of the 1860s began to improve conditions and the general standard of living.

Harrison refers to the staple diet for the poorest as being potatoes, bread, tea and fatty bacon, the latter being on the menu twice per week. For domestic servants not living in one of the perks was to take home the used tea leaves. Tea added flavour to dry bread and contributed generally to a feeling of well-being - still today hot sweet tea is prescribed for shock and trauma.

Notice there is no mention of milk or cheese or fresh vegetables. Clothing and shoes were not budgeted for and there was no money to set aside for savings - from a weekly income of 15s in 1841 for a labourer, 12s went towards food.

For the middle classes, a profession gave a steady income, more variety of diet but there was still an emphasis on conservation of food and re-use.

Regarding the adulteration of food, there were issues about companies maximising profits. There were no laws to regulate matters and no trading standards inspectors until the 1880s. Harrison relates tales of ale and porter having poison added as a substitute for malt, sulphuric acid added to beer (remember we meet in a pub so we all put our glasses down at this point!), alum added to bread to whiten the flour, potatoes, chalk and pipe clay added to bread, tea leaves with leaves from the local hedgerow added and milk diluted with water.

Malcolm suggested that if we had a shopkeeper ancestor it was likely he/she would have been involved in this practice - often without malice aforethought. (He has a knack of making us suspicious of our ancestors!). The consequences of the dilution of milk on vulnerable babies of course heightened the infant mortality rate.

The medical officer of health in South Shields reported that the perpetrators of the adulteration were the main suppliers. In 1887 for example in South Shields of 5 samples of milk inspected 2 were adulterated - but beware, of 3 samples of gin - 3 were impure! There were reports of unwholesome food being destroyed eg after a clampdown in 1877 78 stones of beef were destroyed, 18 stones of pork plus 5 baskets of fruit.

During the 1850s and 50s however the food chain changed in 3 major ways 1) the ability to create ice 2) the ability to can food in tins 3) the ability to take food from A-B quickly - the coming of the railways.

The advances in tinned food meant that by the 1870s and 1880s even the poorest families had access to a richer range of food, it also changed the way food was sold. The Rochdale Co-operative began in 1844 with the mission to give access to healthier and more wholesome food and of course the Co-op is still with us.

It is interesting to look at how the use of food materials is cyclical. In the 1830s,40s and 50s for example fresh food was the norm, the changes in technology meant that tinned food was widespread.

The coming of the railways meant that the distribution of both raw and processed food was transformed. Refrigeration meant food could be imported from overseas. This was vital for survival with the potato famine which affected the UK in the 1860s.

In the 1700s tea had been a luxury, often smuggled, when only 20 thousand lbs were legally imported By the 1800s 20 million lbs of tea were imported.

One other aspect of Victorian life which had a major impact on our ancestors was the tommy shop or truck shop - the requirement to be paid in kind by your employer or to buy from the shop the employer ran or recommended. Coal whippers in the London docks in 1843 for example had to spend half their earnings with specific publicans. Unmarried farm servants living in had part of their earnings taken for board and lodging, often people were paid in kind not cash - they weren't in control of their own income.

At this point (and I'm not quite sure how) the topic of sex was introduced) with a dubious link suggesting the similarity of language used for sex and food shows the importance of both matters eg pregnant women have a bun in the oven, lovers talking about wanting to eat each other, a handsome man is referred to as a nice piece of meat, an attractive woman as a peach. (Malcolm assured us he was quoting from a book by another Malcolm - Malcolm Sweet " the language of love" page 83 but we didn't have time to check!).

As usual we had a thoroughly enjoyable evening with much laughter, provoking memories as wide-ranging as the delivery of milk in cans, ingenious ways to keep milk cool pre-refrigeration, not eating pork when there was an "r" in the month, the dangers of early tinned food when lead was used (leading to the demise of the Frankland expedition) and various unrepeatable tales of squalid eating houses in South Shields which I hope are long gone!