wild ones in the nation's diet. The big landowners gained control over the wild game on their land owing to the new land enclosure acts and the enforcement of severe gaming laws.
The poor, on the other hand, suffered in London as they did elsewhere. Thousands of rural laborers had lost their small homes and vegetable plots as a result of land enclosures, and were reduced to poverty and a diet of bread and potatoes. In London, working class families ate bread, potatoes, poor- quality meat and offal, fish, milk, tea, sugar, beer, butter, lard or dripping, and cheese. Supplies were inadequate and many were almost starving.
A busy scene at Billingsgate fish market in London in 1935.
Advertisement posters from the 1930s for two popular meat extract drinks, Bovril and OXO
However, as the eighteenth century drew to a close, food production increased in the United States, South America, Europe, India, and Australia. Transport became cheaper, and food processing techniques, such as freezing, canning, and bottling, were developed. Food prices fell, "whilst wages remained the same, and consequently the poor were able to afford a better diet.
South London became an important center for manufacturing branded foods: Crosse and Blackwell, who made pickles, sauces, and condiments, had a factory in Southwark; Peak Frean and Company made biscuits in their Bermondsey factory; and Thomas Lipton started jam production.
In 1869, John Sainsbury opened his first grocery store in Drury Lane, offering a wider range of culinary goods than ever before, and aimed at the new middle classes. This store became the predecessor of the modern-day supermarket. By the early 1900s, several were operating in Britain and the "multiple ownership" culture was born. It wasn't until 1949 that the first self-service shops were opened, and supermarkets only became commonplace in the 1960s.
By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Britain was dependent on imports for half of all its food. Shipping losses during wartime began to cause food shortages. Strict pricing controls were enforced, and in 1918 rationing was introduced with the result that both the rich and poor were eating the same food. Ironically, it enabled many working class people to have a better diet than prior to the restrictions.
In 1939, with the outbreak of World War II, the Government began another system of food rationing which remained in operation until 1954. Rations were strictly calculated to ensure that the population remained healthy. Many everyday foods became unobtainable, and ingenious substitutes were developed for eggs, cheese, bananas, and chocolate.
An important factor in London's recent culinary history is its migrant population. It has seen its fair share of migrant workers throughout its history, but the twentieth century witnessed the largest ever rise in its immigrant population. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Irish established their own community in West London. Many Poles arrived in postwar London, mainly servicemen fleeing occupied France, as well as those who had been in Germany as prisoners or conscripts. Many Italians also came to London and successfully merged into the local communities, opening up bistros and pasta restaurants. Greek Cypriots started arriving in the 1920s, bringing with them their flair for catering.
After 1945 West Indians were recruited to work for public service companies. Brixton and Notting Hill are well known for their colorful markets selling exotic produce from the Caribbean homelands. The relaxation of emigration restrictions in India and Pakistan in the 1960s created a rush of migrants, and many settled in London. Today, Brick Lane is synonymous with curry houses and Asian cuisine, and Southall and Tooting are popular Asian centers. Other areas of London famous for their ethnic populations are Golders Green and Muswell Hill for the Jewish community, Soho for London's Chinatown, and the Edgware Road for the Arab quarter. London is now a truly cosmopolitan city, and it is possible to eat out in restaurants from all corners of the globe.
Most families sit down to a large Christmas lunch of roast turkey; roast potatoes; roasted seasonal vegetables, such as parsnips; and dessert of rich Christmas pudding and brandy butter.
Feasts, Festivals, and Celebrations
Contemporary London food is still influenced by the traditional feasts of the past
by Kathryn Hawkins
Throughout the year, all over Britain, festivals and celebrations take place to commemorate specific events or to maintain religious, pagan, historical or sporting traditions. There are also quite a few unusual and often superstitious traditions which take place in London. Many traditions involve feasting and the preparation and baking of special food for the occasion. Londoners also have their own festivals which relate specifically to the city's multi-ethnic society and the individual cultures that make London so cosmopolitan.
One of the traditions carried out in the theater world occurs on January 6 at the Drury Lane Theater, where the cast eat cake and drink wine as directed in the will of a comedian called Baddeley, who died in 1795. Another less well known event takes place two days later on January 8, or the first Sunday after, when the Chaplain of Clowns preaches a sermon and recites a prayer over the grave of the great clown Joseph Grimaldi. A wreath is also laid. This ceremony takes place by the former St. James's church in Pentonville. In January or February, depending on the lunar calendar, London's Chinatown becomes alive with the sights and sounds of Chinese New Year celebrations. Gerrard Street in Soho (in London's West End) is decked out in symbolic red and gold; lanterns and lights are hung from windows and street lamps, and the streets are packed with people all eager to see the Dragon dancers performing to the Chinese drummers and musicians. All the shops, bars and restaurants prepare themselves for a busy few days at this time of year.
Depending on when Easter falls in the calendar, the day before the beginning of Lent, Shrove Tuesday, heralds the start of a forty-day period of fasting for Christians, which ends on Easter Sunday. Although nowadays, few people observe Lent, nearly everyone eats pancakes, and it is now usually referred to as Pancake Day. Pancake races are held, in which competitors have to run with a pancake in a skillet, flipping it up in the air and catching it again. If a pancake is dropped, the participant is disqualified.
Pancake racers on Shrove Tuesday. This tradition is still practised all over England to mark the beginning of Lent.
On the fourth Sunday in Lent, Mothering Sunday is celebrated. In medieval times it was the day when people traveled to their Mother Church or Cathedral to worship. It wasn't until the mid-seventeenth century that it became linked to the family. A favorite bake was the Simnel cake—a fruit cake with a marzipan topping. The cake is decorated with twelve marzipan balls to represent Christ's apostles and is a popular addition to the Easter tea table.
One of the oldest Druid ceremonies takes place on March 21st on Tower Hill to celebrate the spring equinox. Later in the year (around September 23), they meet again to celebrate the autumn equinox.
Good Friday is the most solemn day in the Christian calendar, and church services are held all over London. After morning service at St. Bartholomew the Great in Smithfield, 21 widows of the parish collect a bun and sixpence from the top of a tomb in the churchyard. Two days later, Easter is celebrated, marking the end of Lent, and it is an opportunity for families to gather for a feast of roast lamb. The shops are stocked with Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies. In London's Battersea Park, the annual Easter Parade is held.
The feast of St. George, patron saint of England, falls on April 23.
