Peasantry In The 18th Century

The manor was surrounded by an estate which consisted of grazing lands, common fields, a mill and a village in which the tenants lived. Since roads were of a very poor quality in the Middle-Ages, very little food was transported from one place to another, and for this reason each manor was almost self sufficient in food.

Like the Romans the Normans introduced many new culinary skills to the British Isles but with the growth of the feudal system. It was mainly the aristocracy who enjoyed the new culinary innovations, while the staple diet of the peasantry remained to be then gruel accompanied by milk, cheese, butter, cream and eggs known collectively as white meats. Fresh meats and spices were the true mark of the rich man’s diet. After

It was only at the beginning of the 18th century with the advent of the Industrial Revolution that drastic changes in lifestyle and eating habits occurred for the poor. The great change in the lifestyle of the poor was related to the phenomenon of rural or urban migration during which Britain was transformed from a rural-agricultural society to a predominantly urban-industrialised society. Rapid population growth was another phenomenon of the 18th century. A population increase of 5.5 million in 1702 to 9 million in 1801 meant that there was great pressure for space on the land and this was one of the main reasons for migration to towns. The fundamental change in lifestyle during the 18th century was that when people were driven off the land they were cut off from their natural food supply and were compelled for the first time to buy

There was an associated gradual change in the eating habits of the population. The degree of change however depended on social class. As the eating habits of the British and Irish people is traced down the centuries it becomes increasingly ore evident that food choice has diversified enormously from the scanty food supply of primitive man to the huge, complex variety of food available today, thanks to modern food