London, 1850 food and entertainment?

Question

What are some foods popular in London 1850? Meaning what did a family typically eat? Also, what did people in London in 1850 do for entertainment?

Answer 1

There were of course Flea Circuses in London around the 1850s.

Also a place called the Cosmorama rooms which was a venue for the wierd and obscure exhibits, I heard it once had a mermaid shown there.

The diorama was put up in Regent's park around that time, that was a large 360' picture.

There was also a few theatres build around that time so we can presume that plays were popular.

There was also the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace (1851 I think).

Answer 2

For foods and recipes, see The Book of Household Management

by Isabella Beeton, circa 1860 but still following the customs of the earlier decade. Free online for at http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/b/b...

Oysters were very cheap. French foods considered very fashionable (altho the English were always at war with the French, go figure).

Lots of drinking wine, gin and rum for the men. Women were supposed to drink only slightly spiked fruit juices (but I'm sure behind closed doors that all changed.)

Dinners had a least 3 courses (for the middle class). Fish and chips were just getting popular for the poor.

Entertainment for the family circle included reading aloud to others, singing accompanied by piano, women did needlework, men read books, a very quiet situation.

Social events centered on dancing and dining at select balls. Very restricted for the women. Men had clubs that they would socialize at, drinking and gambling the night away. More scandalous activities for the guys were music halls and theatre, which was a kind of bawdy vaudeville with women dressed as men (showing off their legs... gasp!). Children were not included in any evening recreation outside of the home.