Eighteenth Century
Society
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
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To understand the importance of food to the average middle consumer, you first need to learn the three characteristics of eighteenth century society.
CURIOSITY
SOCIABILITY
LUXURY
Once you know these, understanding eighteenth century British food culture will be easy.
Curiosity
A term used to describe a strong desire to know or learn something.
This “curiosity” was a peculiar trait amongst many men and occasionally women before the modern age. From 1660-1820 scientists, journalists, some women, critics, collectors and middle class consumers asked questions that challenged the status quo. They enquired into forbidden topics such as: sex, religion, social customs, human nature, history and hierarchy. This spiralled into a need to acquire items from new and distant lands, and a desire for commodities above and beyond sensible values.
An excess of curiosity has long been associated with the eighteenth century. It was at this time when, curiosity DEFINED fashion. The need for the new, the undiscovered or the limited edition was paramount. This lust was driven by the explosively popular and new phenomenon that changed the entire course of English society; empiricism.
Empiricism itself extended to all corners of English culture, transforming early modern natural science and flooding literature. There was an obsession with foreign luxuries and the need to display a connection to the colonies during and after the eighteenth century.
The easiest way to display your connection to the empire was around the dinner table. The use of foreign luxuries not only displayed your wealth, but also your status and connection to the New Worlds.
Illustrations of some foreign luxuries.
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New possessions from the colonies became the emblems of London’s increasing power and wealth which appealed to the new class of consumers- the urban sophisticates! These people prided themselves on being at the height of fashion a somewhat archetype of cultural ambition!
Curiosity was fashion!
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The urban sophisticate defined himself/herself as someone who looked towards new fresh horizons, who conquered, collected and classified objects from a range of new social, physical and geographical worlds.
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Sociability
'Sociability', 'gentility', 'politeness', and 'worldly' are all words that have come to define the eighteenth century.
Eighteenth century Britain is often positioned in time as the ‘polite age’.
Sociability and display became the ethos of the middling urbanities of Georgian England, who considered politeness and gentility as essential attributes for a gentleman or lady. Gentlemanly characteristics included moderation, mutual toleration and social comity as well as a high esteem for conversation and conversability. All these qualities were necessary means to bring out the best in oneself (and in others).
Through sociability and display, one could improve oneself to advance in the social hierarchy and therefore the emerging middling urban elite would adopt these characteristics to better themselves in society and climb the social ladder.
Cookery, etiquette books and domestic advice manuals became all the fashion over the eighteenth century as they gave instruction on how to live and were concerned with all aspects of life; including what, how, when and where to eat.
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These books were addressed to middle class women particularly who aspired to better themselves and appear as part of a higher social elite.
Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Simple (1747), was a popular domestic manual published during the eighteenth century- at the height of sociability and display. Glasse became one of the most famous cookbook authors of her time- the book had over 40 editions with many of her recipes using imported ingredients such as cocoa, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
It instructed her middle class female readers how to cook, lay a table and the importance of a good dessert.
Fun Fact
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington all owned a copy of her book!
How Does This Link To Food?
Sociability and display was about HOW you presented yourself to society and the subsequent potential to better oneself. Whether that be through clothing, where you shopped or what you ate.
To be a gentleman or lady in London, you not only had to consider how polite you were, but where you socialised and who with; where you shopped and what you bought; did you uphold the ideal home environment and did you conform to the correct societal norms? It was this presentation to society and the need and desire for acceptance into the upper social bracket that lead to the explosion of consumption during the eighteenth century.
The way food was prepared, presented and consumed became a marker of important social distinctions. The elite and middle class used exotic ingredients, such as chocolate, sugar and spices, to demonstrate their social status to others (almost as a confirmation of their acceptance into the upper social bracket).
Luxury
‘Luxury’ is something that is desired by many, but only obtained by few.
Food for example: Foodstuff that is desirable and hard to obtain but not essential to human nutrition. Food such as sugar, chocolate and coffee are all ingredients that embellish the basic diet.
Luxuries are culturally specific:
Today, a Louis Vuitton handbag is a luxury. But in the eighteenth century, Tea and Coffee were luxury items.
These imported yet exotic ingredients enchanted buyers by providing access to the social elite, as they offered a way to display a higher and more civilised way of life. This mass consumption of exotic and luxury goods refined the narrative of this period, transforming society into a centre for consumption with primary concerns with status, display and excess.
By the mid-eighteenth century, one quarter of all shops in London were grocers, and each competing for access to the same expensive luxury produce. Coffee, tea, chocolate and sugar were sought after luxuries that were considered a necessity by middle class and elite households. In fact, by 1784, London shops carried 146 tonnes of tea and in 1770; the custom office recorded a total of 7,639,917lb of coffee entering England! 10% of all household budgets expenditure went on tea and sugar alone! The consumption of luxurious and exotic produce from the New World was a clear favourite amongst the middle classes!
Illustration of a street scene in eighteenth century London.
Curiosity, sociability and luxury are three terms that are fundamental to understanding the importance of exotic foods to the Georgian urban elite.
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