Sign In
Create Account
Reset Password
Thread
ChristyK
@ChristyK
A
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
0
6
Quote Spout
Echo / undo
0
ChristyK
@ChristyK
A
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
1
Quote Spout
Echo / undo
0
ChristyK
@ChristyK
A
In response to 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?
09:16 AM - Feb 15, 2023
1
Quote Spout
Echo / undo
0
ChristyK
@ChristyK
A
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
1
Quote Spout
Echo / undo
0
ChristyK
@ChristyK
A
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
In response to ChristyK.
09:20 AM - Feb 15, 2023
1
Quote Spout
Echo / undo
0
ChristyK
@ChristyK
A
In response to ChristyK.
In 1800 the British government passed a bill requiring that bakers let the bread sit for 24 hours before selling it, on the basis that people ate less stale bread and it was thought to be more filling. Fresh bread was said to be a luxury. The bill didn't last a full year.
09:21 AM - Feb 15, 2023
1
Quote Spout
Echo / undo
0
ChristyK
@ChristyK
A
In response to ChristyK.
But the idea of 'solving' poverty and food prices by policing the diets of the poor continue today. People wanted the poor to grow gardens too, thinking it would not only help feed them but provide 'virtuous' activities to keep them busy.
09:22 AM - Feb 15, 2023
0
Quote Spout
Echo / undo
2

 

{{ notificationModalContent }} {{ promptModalMessage }}
Trending Splashtags
#attention
#dailypicturetheme
#music
#341
#spoutiblebakes
Show More