Who Ate Breakfast in Eighteenth-Century England
The Social Life of the Least Important Meal of the Day
Depending on which dietetic school you subscribe to, you were probably told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, with the amounts you eat gradually decreasing with each mealtime. Or, skip breakfast as part of the intermittent fasting process and have an early lunch.
The breakfast practices of eighteenth-century England aligned with the food ‘ideologies’ mentioned in the preceding paragraph but for reasons unrelated to health. Breakfast was a class issue in the ‘long’ 18th century England (and, by extension, 18th century New England).
I am stepping back to explain the long eighteenth century, and why it was termed so. The reason was the many overlaps between political, ideological, artistic, and intellectual movements, beginning in the final decade of the 17th century and ending in the early 19th century. This period represents a tension between the old order, marked by feudal politics, and the new order, marked by liberalization and increased social mobility (including a rising middle class). That tension remained until the dawn of the Victorian era, which saw ‘progress’ and several repressive moves.
This tension was represented at the breakfast table because who ate breakfast or…
