preview

The Victorian Empire During The Victorian Era

Decent Essays

“The empire on which the sun never sets” was used to describe the British empire during Queen Victoria’s reign, also known as the Victorian Era. Queen Victoria assumed control of her reign at the young age of eighteen, and her successful reign lasted for over sixty years. Britain was an extremely large empire during Queen Victoria’s rule; her ruling was filled with powerful changes, politically and economically, and advancements that left a lasting impact. While the Victorian era was an important era, many aspects of it are unique in relation to today’s times. For example, the food eaten during the Victorian era was quite different than the food eaten in today’s period. During the Victorian era, the various social classes ate different types of food. There were three different social classes: the lower class, the middle class, and the upper class. The people of each class’s meals depended on the ingredients available for their circumstances (Brookfield). From the lower class, who ate low-quality food, to the higher class, who ate high-quality food, the type of food and amount of food affected the people of each social class in many ways.
The diet of the lower class reflects the harsh repercussions of being in the lower class (Wohl). Popular meals for the lower class included potato pies, sick and premature farm animals, as well as the waste products of different meats (Wohl). “If the rural poor ate birds then the urban poor ate pairings of tripe, slink (prematurely born calves), or broxy (diseased sheep)” (Wohl). There was a notable difference between the diets of the poor children and the other classes of children. The poor children's meals consisted of rotten vegetables and the waste parts of a potato (“Victorian Food”). Due to the fact that meat was more expensive than the vegetables eaten during the Victorian era, it was a rare event for the poor to have the luxury of eating meat, resulting in cheaper vegetables such as potatoes being the exclusive food eaten (“Victorian Food”). The lower class ate whatever was possible with the amount of money they had, which resulted in a low amount of food (“Victorian Children”). Fortunately for the lower class, the prices of food essentials, such as bread and butter,

Get Access