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Victorian Era Dishes, Diet and Dinner

Victorian era rich people are famous for eating. They were big lovers of food. But unlike today, where people spent major chunk of their time in eating, people during the Victorian era ate only twice a day.

Victorian rich people’s breakfast

But they had full two true meals. Their menu was always full of rich diets. People used to have a very heavy breakfast, a light lunch, and then a very late supper. But supper as breakfast was full of a rich diet.

The Victorian era had a full nine-course meal. Their meal consisted of nine cuisines which comprised of both large and petty sized dishes. Generally, breakfast and supper had nine cuisines on the menu. The rich class of the Victorian era always used to have nine cuisines per meal.

Tradition of afternoon tea

As there was a break time during the day and food was not consumed during that time, Anna Duchess of Bedford, Queen Victoria ladies-in-waiting, started the system of afternoon tea because every afternoon she used to complain about the sinking feeling she used to have.

And thus she created the time for the afternoon tea. Soon after it, many hotels and restaurants also started serving afternoon tea as an integral part of their menu. And thus it became an important part of the diet of the Victorian era which still stands today with equal importance. And now England is known for its tea parties all over the world.

Spices used

Fine ingredients including exotic spices were imported from different countries and used lavishly to prepare meals during the Victorian era. Spices like pepper, ginger, cinnamon, mace etc. were used in great quantity to prepare the dishes. Later on, curry-styles spicing was also practiced which made the food all the more rich. During the Victorian era, culinary schools were also established.

Regarding the cakes and pastries, religious faith was attached to their consumption. Hot Cross Buns were eaten on Good Friday, Simnel cake on Mothering Sunday and Plum Pudding was a special dish for Christmas. However, they were eaten on other days as well.

During the Victorian era, another aspect that came to the limelight was the different recipes. Chefs during this era began coming up with different recipes and also got some of their books published regarding the same. They began doing new experiments with the dishes. These recipes books became very famous with the Victorian women who always wanted to have them. Gradually, this culture of recipe books became famous all over the world.

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