The 1890s diet, life

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  • curvymomo3
    curvymomo3 Posts: 253 Member
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    oh dont forget the corsets!!!! :D I have a nice steel boned corset..........I dont know how they wore those things!!!! lol but When I did I ate like a bird!
  • BodyByButter
    BodyByButter Posts: 563 Member
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    I think this website is fascinating:

    http://www.foodtimeline.org/index.html


    I just lost myself in that site and its links for about two hours. Enjoyed it thoroughly!
  • Crochetluvr
    Crochetluvr Posts: 3,143 Member
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    People looked so hot during the Great Depression

    They hadn't invented air conditioning yet.

    A/C was used in movie theaters in the 20's. Tha'ts one of the reasons people went to the movies during the depression....just to cool off for a couple hours. ;)
  • Keiko385
    Keiko385 Posts: 514 Member
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    I think this website is fascinating:

    http://www.foodtimeline.org/index.html

    thanks for the link, interesting reading and may of found a few recipes to try
  • Ruthe8
    Ruthe8 Posts: 423 Member
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    They might have had 20 inch waists but they were probably 5 inches shorter than contemporary women. I highly doubt they drank alcohol. Just jusging by my grandmoms, they are scandalized when I drink wine to diner. My bros can have a bear but drinking alcohol is not "lady like" ... apart from that, I think it is a good idea to look at how our grandparents generation was eating. Sweets were a once a week thing and people did not eat meat more than 2 times a week. They did not eat fancy foreign stuff. They ate locally and didn't overindulge.
    You're 28 years old, I doubt your grandmother lived in the 1890's. Don't make the mistake of thinking that everything before your time was the same in every generation. It's very well-known that men and women drank quite a bit of alcohol at that time.

    Also, your grandmothers aren't a good representation of their entire generation.
  • BodyByButter
    BodyByButter Posts: 563 Member
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    They might have had 20 inch waists but they were probably 5 inches shorter than contemporary women. I highly doubt they drank alcohol. Just jusging by my grandmoms, they are scandalized when I drink wine to diner. My bros can have a bear but drinking alcohol is not "lady like" ... apart from that, I think it is a good idea to look at how our grandparents generation was eating. Sweets were a once a week thing and people did not eat meat more than 2 times a week. They did not eat fancy foreign stuff. They ate locally and didn't overindulge.
    You're 28 years old, I doubt your grandmother lived in the 1890's. Don't make the mistake of thinking that everything before your time was the same in every generation. It's very well-known that men and women drank quite a bit of alcohol at that time.

    Also, your grandmothers aren't a good representation of their entire generation.


    Bingo. Prohibition started in 1920. Even then people drank. Roaring 20s anyone? Attitudes about alcohol are and we're also impacted by geographical areas. I live in the Bible belt and just last week a neighboring county went wet.
  • BodyByButter
    BodyByButter Posts: 563 Member
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    PS I am 43 and my grandma wasn't born until 1917.
  • hmparkin23
    hmparkin23 Posts: 91 Member
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    Remember they didn't have central heating either - you would have used a lot more energy just staying warm sometimes...
  • tragicpixie
    tragicpixie Posts: 71
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    Being "thick" or bigger in Victorian times was a mark of wealth and was considered desirable. There weren't diets to ensure women stayed slim, those diets were probably to ensure that food was rationed enough so they could eat through winter. Even for the wealthy, food was still seasonal and short in supply - all the money in the world isn't going to help you if drought wiped out all the farms around and your garden. Slimming diets didn't come around until beauty standards changed in the 1910's and '20s.

    Definitely some good habits practiced in that time period would have been lack of processed foods, fresh foods, if you were affluent enough, you would keep a garden for fresh fruits and veg. Also likely you would keep chickens, your meat and dairy wouldn't be loaded with hormones and chemicals....
    Bread was a dietary staple, but it was a whole wheat heartier bread than what most find in supermarkets today.
    People got more activity because things were harder: had to walk, take the stairs, possibly pump water, haul things like coal, etc.

    I mean, I would say being more active is always a good habit and eating whole foods. But in general, Victorians were kind of crazy in their ideas of health. (Though you know, I've always wondered about opium cough syrup.)

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