Food and Cooking in Victorian England: A History

Victorian Life and Times

by Andrea Broomfield

Nine recipes serve as entry points for detailing the history of food production, cooking, and diet throughout Queen Victoria's reign in England. More than that, however, Broomfield offers an introduction to the world of everyday dining, food preparation, and nutrition during one of the most interesting periods of English history. Food procurement, kitchen duties, and dining conventions were almost always dictated by one's socioeconomic status and one's gender, but questions still remain. Who was most likely to dine out? Who was most likely to be in charge of the family flatware and fine china? Who washed the dishes? Who could afford a fine piece of meat once a week, once a month, or never? How much did one's profession dictate which meal times were observed and when? All these questions and more are answered in this illuminating history of food and cooking in Victorian England.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Food, Food History, Food and Drink, British Literature, Cookbooks

224 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2007

Reviews

[Sucheta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book from the library because I had started getting really into the Great British Baking Show and I was curious as to how so many detailed recipes were created decades ago without the convenience of modern kitchens. This book was such an amazing journey back into time and does a wonderful job linking the socioeconomic and demographic changes of England from the late 1700's thru the end of the 19th century to how the recipes and methods of cooking that define the Victorian era were cultivated. The shift from agrarian villages to cities and the impact on the size of kitchens, types of cooking mediums (going from hearth to gas stove and oven), as well as the amount of time devoted to preparing and cooking food, felt similar to our current day conundrum of slow eating versus convenient eating.

[marz · Rating 5 out of 5]

wait i think i actually might know what i want to write about...

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book will be very boring to somebody who is not already interested in the Victorians. As I AM interested, even invested, in the Victorians, it was only fairly boring.

This book contained some fun quirks and facts, and certainly deepened my interest in culinary history, but the writing wasn't particularly captivating. The book could have been punched up by more anecdotal stories, and a more lively narrator. Otherwise enjoyable.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating history of cooking and foodways in Victorian England. I feel like I learned a lot about how Victorian cookery came to be what it was and also how Victorian cookery influenced cooking in the twentieth century. So many things came into being in the nineteenth century that we still have (like canned goods, and many brand names).