"What did Europe eat and drink during the Napoleonic Eta?" Topic

"If you were a peasant or poor laborer, you might get by on very little food at all. France's per-capita calorie consumption at the beginning of the 19th Century was only around 2,000 calories per person, well below what an active male laborer needs — and this is an average, which means many people consumed less than that. (Within 50 years, France's per-capita calorie consumption would rise to around 3,000 calories. Today, France and other developed countries consume an average of around 3,500 calories per capita per day.) (1) As a result, malnourishment and a host of associated health problems, including short stature, was quite common in France in the first half of the 19th Century…."

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Armand

In UK Bread and Cheese was maybe all the poorer population could afford. Broths of Veg or pulse's with the occasional bit of cheap meat.

How lucky we are to have our meat and 3 veg.

(smile)

Armand

Food for thought: reconstructing the diet of Napoleon's Grand Army

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Armand

Not Napoleonic, but indicative of how little life changed in the 100 years after Waterloo. Many years ago, my younger brother wrote a dissertation for his history degree on the subject of recidivism. Among other little gems he found, was one that the life expectancy of British men actually went up in the years between 1911 and 1921, despite the Great War, because working men suddenly had access to three square meals a day and immediate medical attention for pretty much everything from goitre to gunshot wounds, plus after the war they returned to jobs that had been made safer whilst being performed by women during the war. Another factor was improved medical care for infants – if you discounted male deaths between 0 and 1 year old, life expectancy for a British working man rose from 40 to 48.

Thanks

Armand

I thought potatoes were popular in Britain and Germany.
In America, several accounts mention cooking potatoes over fires in Red Stick Creek lodges that the Americans had captured in North Alabama. They also cooked corn.

Thanks also…

Armand