Eating Time in Britain

BBC program “The Supersizers Eat…” with Giles Coren and Sue Perkins recreate the foodways of different time periods:

  • Ancient Rome
  • Medievaldiets based on the 4 humours; religious fasting with fish; meats swimming in sauce; pepper!
  • Elizabethan
  • Restoration
  • French Revolution
  • Regency
  • Victoriandinner service à la française replaced [pdf] by a la russe; adulterated foods.
  • Edwardian – big meals; weight gain; practical jokes; vegetarians and suffragettes; Fletcherism.
  • 1920sthe desire to be thin; smaller meals; more drinks.
  • 1940sWWII rationing; Victory gardening; foraging; Common-Hall Feeding Centers or British Restaurants.
  • 1950s
  • 1970smore calories; more fats; alcohol; more walking, dancing and socializing to work it off; don’t talk about the food; packaged foods; fewer meals in the dining room.
  • 1980s