The Emmerson Room:
Arsenic & Old Lace: A Victorian Cookbook
prepared by Registrar Alexandra Cox
Arsenic & Old Lace: A Victorian Cookbook
At the beginning of the 19th century almost all food was still produced locally, and the population that lived in the countryside had ready access to it. People during the early Victorian period (1820-1860) ate exceptionally nutrient rich diets that included lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, pasture-raised meats and dairy, fish, nuts, seeds, and legumes. Working-class people during this time period had to expend huge amounts of energy just to carry out their day-to-day tasks. Much of the food they ate they grew themselves, or was produced locally, and they ate food in season because it was cheaper. Another contributor to the good health of the early Victorians was the price and availability of fatty fish.
As more people moved into the cities, however, it became imperative to find new ways to transport and store food. The arrival of the railways made it possible to move the basic foodstuffs at speed, and over great distances. Other innovations that made distributing food easier included long-life products such as condensed milk, dried eggs and soups, and bottled sauces. In the 1880s the refrigerated transport of meat became possible. Meat became cheaper, and a regular part of the diet of all classes for the first time.
Unfortunately, increasing imports of white flour, sugar and other processed foods during the last part of the nineteenth century caused a swift decline in overall public health. Today, we understand the dangers of highly processed food, but we don’t realize how far back that unfortunate legacy stretches. Processed food began to hurt public health as early as the late Victorian era (1860-1905). But just before, many urban working-class people had a healthier diet than people today.
While in many respects early Victorian diet was healthier, it could also poisonous, and it all depended on where one acquired their food. Buying food today is a straightforward process. Products are made under strict hygiene standards, the ingredients are usually clearly labeled and the origin of the product is named. In the late Victorian era, it was far more hazardous. The problem was that nothing was as it seemed because almost every kind of food was adulterated in some way. From bread, pickled fruits and vegetables through to sweets, cakes, cheese and butter – they were all adulterated. This meant that foods were being bulked up with other additives to increase the shopkeepers’ profit margins.
Some adulterants commonly used in Victorian foods were well-known to be toxic even then: lead chromate in mustard, mercury and arsenic compounds as colorants in confectionery and picrotoxin in beer. Potatoes, ground bones, plaster of Paris, lime and pipe-clay were often added to bread, as was sulphate of copper and alum. All to either increase the weight or whiteness of the bread. Even more deadly were the poisons that were routinely added to sweets and other confectionery to make them more colourful and attractive. Chromate of lead created a deep yellow but caused lead poisoning. Red sulphuret of mercury (vermilion) produced a bright orange-red hue but was known to be a dangerous poison, while green sweets were usually coloured with verdigris (copper acetate) which was a highly poisonous salt. It wasn’t until around the 1880’s that strict rules governing the production and sale of food and drink for public consumption were being enacted.
At the beginning of the 19th century almost all food was still produced locally, and the population that lived in the countryside had ready access to it. People during the early Victorian period (1820-1860) ate exceptionally nutrient rich diets that included lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, pasture-raised meats and dairy, fish, nuts, seeds, and legumes. Working-class people during this time period had to expend huge amounts of energy just to carry out their day-to-day tasks. Much of the food they ate they grew themselves, or was produced locally, and they ate food in season because it was cheaper. Another contributor to the good health of the early Victorians was the price and availability of fatty fish.
As more people moved into the cities, however, it became imperative to find new ways to transport and store food. The arrival of the railways made it possible to move the basic foodstuffs at speed, and over great distances. Other innovations that made distributing food easier included long-life products such as condensed milk, dried eggs and soups, and bottled sauces. In the 1880s the refrigerated transport of meat became possible. Meat became cheaper, and a regular part of the diet of all classes for the first time.
Unfortunately, increasing imports of white flour, sugar and other processed foods during the last part of the nineteenth century caused a swift decline in overall public health. Today, we understand the dangers of highly processed food, but we don’t realize how far back that unfortunate legacy stretches. Processed food began to hurt public health as early as the late Victorian era (1860-1905). But just before, many urban working-class people had a healthier diet than people today.
While in many respects early Victorian diet was healthier, it could also poisonous, and it all depended on where one acquired their food. Buying food today is a straightforward process. Products are made under strict hygiene standards, the ingredients are usually clearly labeled and the origin of the product is named. In the late Victorian era, it was far more hazardous. The problem was that nothing was as it seemed because almost every kind of food was adulterated in some way. From bread, pickled fruits and vegetables through to sweets, cakes, cheese and butter – they were all adulterated. This meant that foods were being bulked up with other additives to increase the shopkeepers’ profit margins.
Some adulterants commonly used in Victorian foods were well-known to be toxic even then: lead chromate in mustard, mercury and arsenic compounds as colorants in confectionery and picrotoxin in beer. Potatoes, ground bones, plaster of Paris, lime and pipe-clay were often added to bread, as was sulphate of copper and alum. All to either increase the weight or whiteness of the bread. Even more deadly were the poisons that were routinely added to sweets and other confectionery to make them more colourful and attractive. Chromate of lead created a deep yellow but caused lead poisoning. Red sulphuret of mercury (vermilion) produced a bright orange-red hue but was known to be a dangerous poison, while green sweets were usually coloured with verdigris (copper acetate) which was a highly poisonous salt. It wasn’t until around the 1880’s that strict rules governing the production and sale of food and drink for public consumption were being enacted.
Previously in the Emmerson Room: Whale Boning
Baleen Bones: Structure in Victorian Garments
Have you ever wondered how Victorian garments kept their rigid shapes? The answer was usually whalebone, also known as baleen. Baleen is found in the mouths of filter feeding whales. When baleen is used in garments it is called boning. Thin strips of baleen about the width of a pencil were used in bodices, shirt collars, lapels, and waistbands. Boning was inserted into special channels or directly into the seams of garments.
On display we have two dresses and a bodice. On the open bodice you can see the boning channels that encase the baleen. The dresses have lots of small seams around the waist that make the garment very fitted. Each seam you see has a piece of boning in it. Without this structure these dresses would have very different silhouettes. Despite this rigid appearance, these garments were still easy to move around in. Baleen is flexible and very similar to fingernails in texture.
Have you ever wondered how Victorian garments kept their rigid shapes? The answer was usually whalebone, also known as baleen. Baleen is found in the mouths of filter feeding whales. When baleen is used in garments it is called boning. Thin strips of baleen about the width of a pencil were used in bodices, shirt collars, lapels, and waistbands. Boning was inserted into special channels or directly into the seams of garments.
On display we have two dresses and a bodice. On the open bodice you can see the boning channels that encase the baleen. The dresses have lots of small seams around the waist that make the garment very fitted. Each seam you see has a piece of boning in it. Without this structure these dresses would have very different silhouettes. Despite this rigid appearance, these garments were still easy to move around in. Baleen is flexible and very similar to fingernails in texture.