Plenty and Want, Third Edition: A Social History of Food in England From 1815 to the Present Day

by John Burnett

What did Queen Victoria have for dinner? And how did this compare with the meals of the poor in the nineteenth century? This classic account of English food habits since the industrial revolution answers these questions and more.

Genres: History, Food, Nonfiction

380 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 1989

Reviews

[Last Chance Saloon]

Extremely well researched and clearly written account of dietary habits and from 1815 to 1970s (I have the second edition).

Chapters:

Part One (1815-1850):
1. England in Transition
2. The Agricultural Labourer
3. The Town Worker
4. The Food of the Rich
5.Food Adulteration

Part Two (1850-1914):
6. The Standard of Living
7. Rural England: Romance and Reality
8. Urban England: Poverty and Progress
9. High Living
10. The Quality of Food

Part Three (1914 to the present day/1970s):
11. The First World War
12. Between the Wars
13. The Second World War
14. Since 1945

It's fascinating, with extensive referencing and the last chapter asks pertinent questions regarding the evolution of soy protein (which thankfully is the success story that the author hoped for).
Very highly recommended for the social historian, but it's not a book for the casual reader as it is highly detailed and contains immense amounts of relevant statistics.

[Jake R]

Impressively comprehensive and largely sensitively written. I read the 2nd Ed., which came out in 1979, need to track down the other two to see the differences in the post-1945 stuff.