EARLIER this year President Christofias urged us to tighten our belts and cut out overeating as a small step towards coping with rising prices and the leaner times ahead.
The President’s advice came as music to the ears of the author of a brand new book on Victorian workhouse food, which is proving to be a surprise hit.
When the historian Peter Higginbotham penned his obscure Workhouse Cookbook, he
had no idea it would become one of the most talked about publications of 2008.
The book was originally intended as an academic work, aimed primarily at those interested in British history, but it has recently become a surprise best seller, as the credit crunch is forcing more of us to make economies.
The Workhouse Cookbook features the food “enjoyed” by the poorest people in Victorian Britain and extols the virtues of frugality – making every single ingredient count.
“I was surprised at how the book has taken off, it is remarkable really,” Higginbotham told the Sunday Mail.
“The main watchword of the workhouse kitchen was economy, so since the credit crunch people have been looking to see what they can learn from this book.”
The renewed interest in workhouse cooking is a part of a wider trend for people to cut back on their food bills.
However, those wishing to try workhouse fare had better forget their taste for the Mediterranean diet, as the balanced intake of vegetables, fruit, fish, nut and seed oils that we are used to in a typical Cyprus -style diet play no part in these antique recipes.
“The Victorians were not overly aware of the benefits of fruit and vegetables, it would be a bit of a shock to people in Cyprus to revert to this fare,” Higginbotham added.
Surprisingly, a variety of dishes including hasty pudding, frumenty, beer, chocolate, cheesecake, and even nettles were regularly served in workhouses.
“It was not all bread and gruel; you’ll be surprised at some of the food on offer in workhouses”.
Nutrition and dietary guidance played no part in the Victorian diet, which was based entirely on cost and weight.
“It was really all based on the actual weight of the food, such as 8 Oz of bread, 1 pint of gruel, etc…the reason Oliver Twist didn’t get anymore, was because he had eaten his ration. It’s as simple as that.”
The Workhouse Cookbook comes with an identical copy of a 1901 National Training School of Cookery Guide, which advises readers to cut costs by boiling meat instead of roasting it, and sets out around 50 recipes designed to produce food at minimum cost.
Many of the dishes it presents, such as shepherd’s pie, dumplings and roly-poly pudding, have become the archetypal school dinner.
The idea of having to “make do” on a small amount of food each week, whilst still providing good food, again became a challenge during World War Two, when Britain introduced rationing.
We’ll Eat Again: A Collection of Recipes from the War Years, has also recently been republished, and like The Workhouse Cookbook, is doing roaring trade.
The book is written by Marguerite Patten, who worked for the Ministry of Food suggesting nourishing and inventive recipes using the rationed food that was available.
At the height of the Second Word War there was little fruit, scarcely any sugar, few eggs, tiny amounts of meat and nearly all foods were rationed.
Families were encouraged to Dig For Victory; grow as much food as possible themselves. Consequently many a flower garden found itself turned over to potatoes, carrots and onions in a desperate attempt to fill up the ever hungry children’s stomachs.
“Food economy is nothing new, it’s been done before in situations far more dire than the credit crunch,” Higginbotham concluded.
The Workhouse Cookbook is available from www.workhouses.org
Try a taste of the past
Sea Pie
Ingredients: 5oz raw meat free from bone (beef stickings or similar quality). ¼oz dripping. Pepper, salt. 5oz carrots, onions and turnips. ¼oz flour. Water.
For crust: 2oz flour. Salt. ¾oz suet. Cold water.
Method: Melt the dripping in the pan, when hot put in the onion sliced; fry golden brown, sprinkle in the flour, add water, and boil. Add meat cut into pieces, also vegetables cut into small dice. Simmer or steam for half an hour. Make crust of flour, chopped suet, salt and water. Roll out to pan size. Put carefully over the meat, and simmer or steam gently up to 2 hours.
Woolton Pie
This recipe was created by the Chef of the Savoy hotel and named after Lord Woolton, head of the Ministry Of Food.
Ingredients:
1lb diced potatoes
1lb cauliflower
1lb diced carrots
1lb diced swede
3 spring onions
1 teaspoon vegetable extract
1 tablespoon oatmeal
A little chopped parsley
Method: Cook everything together with just enough water to cover, stirring often to prevent it sticking to the pan. Let the mixture cool.
Spoon into a pie dish, sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Cover with a crust of potatoes or whole meal pastry.
Bake in a moderate oven until golden brown.
Serve hot with gravy.
Health Bread
Ingredients:
11/2lb self-raising flour
1 teacup sugar
1 breakfast cup syrup
1 egg
1 breakfast cup of raisins with stones removed.
1 breakfast cup of milk.
Pinch of salt.
Method: Mix together the sugar, flour, salt and raisins.
Beat the egg and add it to the milk and syrup.
Mix all the ingredients together. Bake in two well greased loaf tins in a moderate oven for approx. 11/2 hours.
Slice thinly after a couple of days and serve with butter or margarine.
(Will keep for a month in a tin!)
