ChristyK on Spoutible

Yesterday my reading topic was potatoes in the early 19th century. William Cobbett wrote a newspaper and he spoke often about how people pushed potatoes as the food for the poor, since grain prices were high. He wrote against that. (Can we thread things here? I'll reply to myself with more...)

09:14 AM - Feb 15, 2023

ChristyK

@ChristyK

In response to ChristyK.

William Cobbett pointed out that potatoes required long boiling times before each meal, whereas bread could be baked once a week. It increased fuel costs. He also spoke of it taking up the wife's time doing all that extra cooking. I was impressed he mentioned that.

09:15 AM - Feb 15, 2023

ChristyK

@ChristyK

In 1813 Cobbett mocked the courts for charging a baker with crimes for adding potatoes to the bread. The poor were told to eat potatoes, and the baker had found a way to make it palatable, and no one had complained about the quality, so why charge him with a crime?

In response to ChristyK.

09:16 AM - Feb 15, 2023

ChristyK

@ChristyK

In response to ChristyK.

Of course poor nutrient additions to bread were quite serious and Cobbett might have been wrong about no one complaining. I don't know on that. I don't know either if Cobbett was right that the people who bought the bread could have just changed bakers.

09:19 AM - Feb 15, 2023

ChristyK

@ChristyK

In response to ChristyK.

The thing that strikes me most is the way in which the early 19th century British parliament and establishment attempted to to 'solve' grain shortages by recommending dietary changes to the poor. The worst example is not potatoes, but the short-lived attempt to regulate that only stale bread be sold

09:20 AM - Feb 15, 2023

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