Stuart Food

In Stuart times, food took up to four-fifths of an ordinary family's budget.  The diet of the poor remained rather basic: breakfast was taken shortly after rising and was a relatively light meal, such as a few chunks of bread. dinner was taken at midday and was prepared over a fire – such as soup, broth or pottage cooked in large pots or meats roasted on a spit; supper was taken in the early evening and was usually only a single course. Most people drank beer as their normal drink, as the water sold could not be trusted to be clean. Rich people began to enjoy new foods imported from other countries and newly founded colonies, including: bananas, pineapples, coffee beans and sugar (so popular that it was nicknamed ‘white gold’ by the plantation owners who farmed it in the Caribbean). Table manners also improved as many people began eating with forks and using metal pewter for plates (instead of wood).