What’s for dinner? Food in the 17th Century

Above: Samuel Pepys gives us many insights into what folk ate and drank in the 1660’s.

If you were living in London around the time of the Great Fire on 1666 WHAT would you be eating and drinking? Today in the blog I look at this subject.

Firstly the city of London – and elsewhere – would contain a number of Chop Houses. Chop houses were places where city folk, traders and businessmen discussed their commercial affairs over plates of traditionally cooked meats such as steaks and chops, which were usually grilled. These were consumed  with beers or fine wines.

The 17th century is when the forks began to be used in Britain. They were introduced from Italy and were seen as unmanly at the start but gradually became accepted over the next century.

This was also the century when many new foods were introduced into England. By and large these were only for the wealthy. These new foods included fruits from exotic locations in the new world such as bananas and pineapples.

This period also saw the introduction of chocolate (as a drink) coffee and tea. In particular it was the arrival of coffee that brought with it a new phenomenon – the coffee house. The first coffee house in Britain was opened in 1652 in Oxford and the first in London the same year in Cornhill. They spread rapidly and by the end of the century over 3000 would exist around the country. By the time of the fire there were many in London. They became places just like today to meet friends, exchange news and gossip – to the extent that Charles II actually tried, and failed, to close them as they were seen as hotbeds of sedition and criticism.

For the majority of the population food was basic and boring like bread, cheese and onions. Pottage was an almost daily part of the diet. This was a stew that was prepared by boiling grain in water to make a kind of porridge. If you could obtain it you might add some meat or vegetables.

For the better off  pies, pastries and puddings were popular – in many cases richer than what we would eat today. Due to the fact that Prince Charles I had a French wife more elaborate dishes with strong sauces were introduced and were called kickshaws, after ‘quelquechose’, the French word for ‘something’. Charles II married a Portuguese princess and so the fashion for European food remained strong in his reign. So we see the use of anchovies, capers and wine, roux, ragouts and fricassés. Salads using raw uncooked vegetables started to be eaten as well in this time.

It is interesting that when Samuel Pepys saw the fire approaching in 1666 the items he choise to bury and save was a large parmesan cheese and his wine – showing what he valued.

A Samuel Pepys Feast

Taken from a superb source on food at this time “Pepys at Table” here we have a typical festive feast:

Soup from Ox tongue spiced with nutmeg
Sliced leg of lamb with artichoke heart, kidneys and topped with rasperies and redcurrant.
Herring pie
Scambeled eggs, anchovies and nuts
Stewed prawns.
Minced Pies (with meat in as well as fruit and spices).

Chesecake   or Syllabub to finish.

Washed down with spiced wine.

So some foods are familiar today. Many have changed and in particular combinations of foods and spices are maybe a bit outlandish to today’s palate. Indeed often folk ate food at breakfast (such at lamb chops and kidneys) less common in this modern age. Nevertheless it is obvious that the better off ate and drank well as can be seen in this entry by Samuel Pepys in 1661:

“I went with Capt. Morrice at his desire into the King’s Privy Kitchin to Mr Sayres the Master-Cooke, and there we had a good slice of beef or two to our breakfast. And from thence he took us into the wine-cellar; where by my troth we were very merry, and I drank too much wine.”

This is a series of articles written to celebrate the release of the new paperback of The Last Seal – a historical fantasy set during the Great Fire of 1666.

Check out the book’s Facebook page here:http://www.facebook.com/TheLastSeal

Read part of the book here: http://www.richarddenning.co.uk/thelastseal.html