BBC program “The Supersizers Eat…” with Giles Coren and Sue Perkins recreate the foodways of different time periods:
- Ancient Rome
- Medieval – diets based on the 4 humours; religious fasting with fish; meats swimming in sauce; pepper!
- Elizabethan
- Restoration
- French Revolution
- Regency
- Victorian – dinner service à la française replaced by a la russe; adulterated foods.
- Edwardian – big meals; weight gain; practical jokes; vegetarians and suffragettes; Fletcherism.
- 1920s – the desire to be thin; smaller meals; more drinks.
- 1940s – WWII rationing; Victory gardening; foraging; Common-Hall Feeding Centers or British Restaurants.
- 1950s
- 1970s – more calories; more fats; alcohol; more walking, dancing and socializing to work it off; don’t talk about the food; packaged foods; fewer meals in the dining room.
- 1980s
And here’s another British time-line of cookery in video…
