A Hundred Years Eating : Food, Drink, and the Daily Diet in Britain Since the Late Nineteenth Century

In the political sphere, the emergence of new ideas and the implementation of new policies aimed at improving the lot of the underprivileged have virtually eradicated poverty of b An Historical Contrast 5 the kind described by Booth and Rowntree at the turn of the century. [...] Indeed, there could be no more striking illustration of the transformation of the economy and society of Britain during the course of +e twentieth century than the contrast between the diet of the British people at the turn of the century and that of today. [...] Slightly lower down the social scale, dinner parties continued to provide the middle-class family with the opportunity to display not only the culinary savoir faire of the mistress of the house, but also the economic well-being of the household. [...] In the field of food distribution, the arrival of the multiple retail store, along with the growth of the Co-operative Wholesale Society and Co-operative retail societies, helped reduce prices even further, in addition to improving the quality and increasing the availability of a wide range of products both new and old. [...] The most convincing evidence of the continuing monotony of the diet of a large section of the working class at the turn of the century can be found in a brief perusal of some family budgets of the period.